*On this date in 2002, the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) became law. This is a United States federal law that was signed into law by President George W. Bush. The bill was drafted (at least in part) in reaction to the controversy surrounding the 2000 U.S. presidential election when almost two million ballots were disqualified by the Florida Central Voter File because they registered multiple votes or none when run through vote-counting machines. The goals of HAVA are:
HAVA mandates that all states and localities upgrade many aspects of their election procedures, including their voting machines, registration processes and poll worker training. The specifics of implementation have been left up to each state, which allows for varying interpretations of the federal law.
