Two Republicans are slugging it out for the GOP nomination for State Senate District 23. Incumbent Lisa Carlton is term limited out. District 23 includes a sliver of Manatee County – and all of coastal Sarasota and Charlotte Counties. WGCU’s Valerie Alker has this look at the two candidates in this extremely competitive race.

A north Florida Circuit Judge is deciding whether a proposed tax swap should be removed from the November ballot. As James Call reports a ruling could come as early as later this morning.

Early voting is underway across the state. WGCU’s Luis Hernandez has this report on some of the basics people should know about casting their ballot before Election Day.

Monday, July 28th is the deadline to register to vote in the August 26th primary election. WGCU’s Valerie Alker has more.

New voters in Florida are choosing to register as Democrats at twice the rate of Republicans. David Pittman reports.

After the Bush/Gore debacle in 2000, Florida invested millions of dollars into touch screen voting machines. But this year they’re at it again - and southwest Florida is at the forefront of ensuring that history doesn’t repeat itself in November. WGCU’s Tyrone Martin was at a recent unveiling of the new machines in Lee County and filed this report.

The Lee County Supervisor of Elections took advantage of the 13th annual Taste of the Beach festival on Fort Myers Beach Sunday to hold a voter registration drive. Officials from the supervisor's office also oversaw the festival's ballot for the People's Choice Award. WGCU's Matthew Kay reports.

A federal judge on Wednesday tossed out a Tampa man's request that all of Florida's delegates be counted at the upcoming Democratic National Convention. Steve Newborn reports.

Collier County’s Supervisor of Elections, Jennifer Edwards will be sworn in as President of the State’s Association of Supervisors of Elections next week. This comes as Edwards stands for a third term in her job in Collier County.

WGCU’s Matthew Kay reports.

Governor Charlie Crist signed a bill recently that will establish a paper trail for all votes cast in Florida elections. The legislation will provide optical scan machines for counties that do not already have them, appropriating nearly 28 million dollars to buy the equipment. Touch-screen machines will still be used to comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. State Representative Dave Aronberg, whose district includes parts of Southwest Florida, says it’s a first step in election reform, not the last.
“We didn’t have any confidence in our voting system. This started back in 2000, we tried to fix things by installing these electronic machines but then we found out the electronic machines were not perfect and there was no paper trail to make sure there was a backup. I just hope we can reduce the chance the of fraud to where it does not impact any elections but don’t think that we’re ever going to get rid of the possibility of it.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida applauded the law as an initial step toward comprehensive voting reform. It says in a release that the pattern of under votes – especially the 18,300 unrecorded votes in the 2006 Congressional election in Sarasota – and the inability of voting machines to allow for a recount, led to the change.