Florida Republicans Tell Some Voters to Skip Touchscreens, Vote Absentee

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Republican Gov. Jeb Bush has tried for months to persuade Florida voters touchscreen voting machines are reliable. His own party apparently hasn't gotten the message.

The state GOP paid for a flier critical of the new technology and sent it to some south Florida voters where a primary election is scheduled next month.

"The new electronic voting machines do not have a paper ballot to verify your vote in case of a recount," the message states. "Make sure your vote counts. Order your absentee ballot today."

That's what Democrats and a coalition of civil rights groups have been saying in legal challenges, trying to force the state to provide a paper trail in case the touchscreen machines malfunction.

"It is insulting that the leadership's own party would believe that the system is broke," said Sharon Lettman Pacheco, spokeswoman for People for the American Way.

"I think he was disappointed that there would be any message that's out there that criticizes these machines," Bush spokeswoman Jill Bratina said.

Neither was President Bush, whose picture was featured on the GOP flier. "We did not authorize the use of the president's image," said campaign spokesman Reed Dickens. "It was inappropriate. I speak for the president and it does not represent the views of the president."

Earlier this week, state election officials reported that a computer crash erased detailed records from Miami-Dade County's first widespread use of the touchscreen machines in the 2002 gubernatorial primaries and other elections.

Florida's voting system has been under scrutiny since 2000, when it took five weeks of legal maneuvering and some recounting before Republican George W. Bush was declared president over Democrat Al Gore.

Hmmmmm, let's see. The people who run the voting boards in Rat-infested South Florida are a bunch of incompetent, affirmative action hires who are overqualified to work at the car wash and suddenly Gov. Bush is the bad guy for alerting GOP voters to be wary of their incompetence.????

The AP sucks.

I do not fear technology. My career is based upon it. However, my skills are in hardware; not software.

However, software is only as honest as those who write it, and the people who control the boxes. Historically speaking, Democrats have shown themselves to be cheats.

IF (Vote_Total >250,00)
THEN
Vote_DEM = Vote_DEM + 50 (Add 50 for each Dem vote count)
Vote_REPUB = Vote_REPUB - 50 (subtract 50 from Republican vote count);

(Software hacks - I freely admit I made numerous syntax errors; and this won't compile worth beans - however it illustrates a point).

All you have to do is set the software to trigger after a large number of votes have been cast, then scale future votes; or scale existing votes as you wish.

With a paper ballot, be it magnetic or optical (punch out, fill in black ovals); we have tangible evidence to do a recount. We have a name, and a voting record. With a machine, you don't know if this box was given to a pre-school as a toy, used properly, or hacked by someone.

To discourage this, I would like to see a manditory 10 yr sentence. I see absolutely no difference between tampering with the vote, and a hostile revolution. Both replace the will of the people.

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