St. Lucie elections supervisor mum on problems (Allen West related story)

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Many questions about the county's elections and ever-changing results remained unanswered Monday.

No one from the state, county elections office or Canvassing Board was available to answer questions because offices were closed for Veterans Day. Supervisor of Elections Gertrude Walker did not respond to a cellphone message and her attorney, Cynthia Angelos, couldn't be reached for comment.

Among those who want answers are the Fort Pierce mayoral candidates, who've seen the totals and the winner change twice, heading into Wednesday's state-mandated recount of regular ballots and "under and over" votes — where voters marked no choice or two choices.

Results had Vince Gaskin ahead by five votes after Election Day and then ahead by 21 votes after provisional and unread ballots were counted Thursday and Friday. Linda Hudson then took the lead by 61 votes after early votes from Nov. 1-3 were recounted Sunday.

"I don't know why we're not getting answers right now," Gaskin said. "We deserve some answers, and hopefully we'll get them sooner than later."

Hudson, who noted Assistant County Attorney Heather Young has begun speaking on behalf of the elections office instead of Walker, was ushered out of the office after Sunday's recount along with the rest of the public.

"Nobody would answer any questions," Hudson said, "and there were a lot of questions there."

Neither candidate would say whether he or she plans to pursue legal action before or after Wednesday's recount, but Hudson said she is exploring her options with an attorney.

Gaskin said he understands why voters may have doubts or lost faith in the county's election process because "things are constantly changing," he said, and Hudson agreed.

"I hope that it all gets explained and that it gets adequately explained," Hudson said. "Until that happens, people are going to wonder. ... When you don't have information forthcoming, it makes you speculate about what it is."

Hudson is "trying to come to grips" with having faith in the elections results, she said. Gaskin said he can't say whether he has faith because during Sunday's recount, additional votes "came up from nowhere" in both Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie races while votes were lost in countywide races.

Neither candidate is casting blame on anyone. Hudson said she watched elections employees work long hours during early voting and beyond Election Day. Gaskin blamed the machines and said he doesn't believe there were missing ballots.

"There's definitely a problem," Gaskin said. "I don't think anybody put votes in or took votes out. From what I see, it's got to be a problem with the machines."

Both candidates wondered how different the results would be if all early votes were recounted Sunday and not just the last three days. Both also want to make sure each registered and qualified vote counts in what Hudson called a "roller coaster" of a race.

"I'm kind of just trying to take it day by day and deal with my situation and trying to make sure that the person who's supposed to be elected Fort Pierce mayor is the one who's certified," Hudson said. "In the end, that will be justice served."

Gaskin said he doesn't know if he would be satisfied even after Wednesday's recount. The elections office needs to get new voting equipment or perform a hand recount to give voters confidence in the results, he said.

"If I lose and know that the votes were counted accurately, then I can accept that, and I'm pretty sure my opponent can too," Gaskin said. "We just want a fair and accurate count. ... We've got to get the confidence back in the Supervisor of Elections office."

Voters, including many who were first-timers, don't know if their votes counted, Gaskin said. He ran a grass-roots campaign that got residents registered to vote, he said.

"People have been kind of disappointed because, a week later, there's still no clear winner in this race, and problems are still occurring as we go along," Gaskin said. "We don't want to discourage people from voting by this happening. ... We want to encourage people and want people to know and trust and believe in our system. This is the American way."

They are on different sides of the same first ballot — so unless they alter the settings to conveniently only read the second side or just get a reading on that one Mayoral race, they should get new numbers for all races on that first ballot which includes West’s race.

Regardless of the outcome — both races should be followed up with a hand count.

I’m curious as to why there would be so many ballots that would vote only for President and not House and Senate.???Why so many Blanks in those races??? Are those the ones stuffed in when others were taken out.

Unless I am mistaken, it looks like only about a quarter of the jurisdictions in the county voted for that mayoral race. So they may just be checking only those 14 jurisdictions on Wednesday and not running the entire county.

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