Re "Vote System Chaos Triumphs Again in Florida Election" (news article, Sept. 11):

After the 2000 presidential election, Florida spent millions of dollars on its voting technology.

Yet chaos reigned again in this week's elections. This is not surprising. It was not the technology itself that caused many of the problems in 2000. It was the inability of voters to use that technology properly and the lack of trained poll workers to instruct them.

Election administrators across the country know that the key to better elections is improving poll worker and voter education. As Congress considers federal election reform, it should once again heed the lessons of Florida in deciding where to put scarce resources.

TOVA ANDREA WANG
New York, Sept. 12, 2002

Tova Andrea Wang is a Senior Program Officer and Democracy Fellow at The Century Foundation.

This article originally appeared in the New York Times on September 13, 2002.