Miriam Oliphant
Posted on 09/11/2002 12:19:02 PM PDT by ijcr
Broward County election workers shut down their tally of Tuesday's primary election at 4:30 a.m. today without a final count of 11 precincts -- including six precinct boxes that were never located at the voter equipment warehouse.
Campaign workers observing the count -- including Bill McBride's campaign manager and two observers from the Jeb Bush campaign -- watched in horror as the clock crept past 4 a.m. with Broward's vote count incomplete.
''People like to go to bed knowing how their races turn out,'' said Robin Rorapaugh, McBride's campaign manager. ``It's very clear there were problems here.''
The nightmarish scramble for the missing precinct boxes started after 2 a.m., when a review revealed that as many as 67 of them were missing. The boxes contain the electronic cartridges that are used to tally votes at the precincts.
By 3:15 a.m., election workers had found all but 31 of the boxes inside the warehouse, stacked and uncounted on tables in the back of the main tabulation room.
By 4:24 a.m., all but six of the shoebox-sized clear plastic containers were located. .
Election Supervisor Miriam Oliphant, struggling under the pressure of Tuesday's botched election, had little explanation for how as many as 67 boxes could go missing within her own warehouse.
But even that didn't come until Administrative Judge Jay Spechler, one of three canvassing board members, pressed Oliphant to find the remaining 31 missing boaxes at a 3:45 a.m. meeting of the canvassing board.
''Wherever they are, you better find them,'' Spechler told Oliphant.
He and County Commissioner Diana Wasserman-Rubin suggested that Oliphant, their fellow canvassing board member, call poll workers at hom to make sure they didn't take the boxes home with them or that they weren't left in the polls.
''We can call them first thing in the morning,'' Oliphant said.
''This is first thing in the morning,'' Spechler told Oliphant.
As a result, Oliphant's crews scoured the warehouse. Eventually, this more careful review of the counting room turned up all but six among piles of precinct boxes that had already been counted.
The mix-up probably occurred earlier in the evening, when as many as 100 precinct boxes apparently were delivered to the wrong door of the warehouse, county officials observing the count said.
But the voting snafus started at the precincts, when poll workers were supposed to close out their voting machines and take the cartridges to one of 14 regional tabulation sites. At those sites, election officials were supposed to download the information in the cartridges and transmit results by modem to computers at the warehouse.
Typicially, the cartridges are placed into a counting computer and results are available within seconds.
But when modem lines failed at two or three of the regional sites, Oliphant had sheriff's deputies bring them to the warehouse to be counted. Oliphant's staffers also told poll workers who feared delays at the regional sites that they could drop off their equipment at the main warehouse instead.
As a result, hundreds of precinct boxes that should have been counted at regional centers arrived at the main warehouse in southwest Fort Lauderdale. Chaos resulted. Dozens of sheriff's squad cars cued up outside to drop off precinct boxes. Some pollworkers walked to the warehouse doors, voting equipment in hand.
It didn't appear that any election workers were keeping track of these precinct boxes as they arrived. It took hours for election workrs to discover the full extent of the problem.
When they tallied the precinct boxes counted, they realized 67 were missing.
Oliphant hesitate to cast blame. She accused sheriff's deputies who transported the election equipment from 14 regional tally centers of dumping the equipment haphazardly in the doorways of the election warehouse.
Miriam Oliphant
What dumba$$es!! Broward County's dominated by RATS, ain't it?!
SHEEEESH...MUD
What does an election supervisor have to do in order to get fired?
Florida voting has all the earmarks of massive fraud or massive stupidity in Democrat-dominated counties.
Arcligh remind me not to ever let you hook me up on a blind date should I ever be single again.
You were the one that thought Julianne Malvaux was good looking......ACK!!!!
Hehe. Snap outta it man!
Why am I not surprised that a patronage employee would turn in a job so poorly preformed? You’ve done yourselves proud again, county workers.
Owl_Eagle
”Guns Before Butter.”
Whew! Glad that's cleared up! For a minute there, I thought the mess was caused because she didn't know her ass from her elbow.
Good grief. How could she manage to botch this so badly, knowing that, because of the history, it would be a national story if the management of the election went badly? And also knowing that it would be a national embarassment to her state, county, and herself?
These things only occur in RAT precincts?
Oliphant then responded: "Oh, I remember! I put those boxes in my basement weeks ago! Let me get them, then we can count the votes inside and everyone will be happy."
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