Fla. Campaign, Vote Search Continue

MIAMI (AP) -- Workers waded through stacks of voting machines Saturday, pulling them out one by one in a search for uncounted votes from Florida's disputed Democratic primary.

At the same time, leading candidate Bill McBride was back on the campaign trail, saying it was time to get past the primary election fiasco and work on unseating Gov. Jeb Bush.

McBride spoke to a raucous crowd of about 200 chanting ``Bill! Bill! Bill!'' at a Florida Education Association meeting in Orlando.

``What we've got is a party I think is ready to unite and party that's ready to get on with the business at hand, and the business at hand is defeating the current governor,'' McBride said.

But former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, who trailed McBride by 8,196 votes in unofficial totals from Tuesday's primary, said the business at hand is counting all the votes -- including thousands that may have been missed in her South Florida strongholds of Broward and Miami-Dade.

``I just want the votes to be counted,'' Reno said on NBC's ``Today'' show. ``I'm happy to concede when the votes are there.''

Reno didn't fault McBride for starting to campaign against Bush, who has run negative campaign ads about McBride.

``If I were Bill, I'd be campaigning now,'' she said. ``I'm not stopping anybody.''

On Friday, state elections officials rejected Reno's request for a statewide recount. But counties are allowed to amend the vote totals due Tuesday to the state, so any votes that are found before then can still count.

After Wednesday, candidates have 10 days to challenge the results in court, although Reno has said she doesn't plan a lawsuit.

Instead, she is hoping counties find votes that went uncounted because of technical problems Tuesday. So far, Miami-Dade County has found more than 1,800 such votes and is searching for perhaps thousands more.

In a dimly lit warehouse in Medley, about 25 workers searched through hundreds of stacked machines -- which look like hard-sided suitcases -- looking for equipment from precincts where totals have been questioned.

In some cases, the machines were mislabeled, further slowing the process. Workers had collected votes from 11 machines by Saturday evening and gathered other machines to download the voting information.

``We are relabeling as we go, so when I get the next list, it may be easier to find them,'' said Emil Phillips Jr., the county's assistant election director in charge of systems.

Miami-Dade officials would not release details about their vote review until Tuesday, the state deadline.

In Broward County, workers were examining more than 20 machines Saturday. Officials would not say how many they wanted to check.

Although McBride agreed that every vote should be counted, he said the Democrats should not get distracted with the election less than two months away.

``We've waited a hard couple of days, because what I wanted to do is to make sure that while we didn't get out ahead of ourselves,'' he said. ``We've got to start now, we've got to start today. We can't lose any more time.''

The election woes reminded many of the five weeks it took to straighten out the 2000 presidential election in Florida.

The state and counties spent millions on new technology to prevent a repeat of the debacle with paper ballots, but the high-tech equipment caused new difficulties, including charges of disenfranchisement.

Bush, accepting the endorsement of a retired policeman's organization Saturday, rejected any claims that Republican state leaders were trying to plot against Reno.

``We will follow the law. We can't have a manual statewide recount, as Ms. Reno has suggested,'' he said. ``She, as a former attorney general and former state attorney ought to know what the law is before she goes off and asks for these things.''

Associated Press reporters Tim Reynolds in Medley and Mike Branom in Orlando contributed to this report.

The rat voters of Florida have made Florida the laughing stock of the
nation. What is it about those people living in the
three most populous south counties of Florida? I mean,
we have old geezer rats everywhere here, yet the rats
in the southern tip just can't get it right. No wonder
Reno thinks these counties are her stronghold.

I have many friends in FL (all Republicans). To a person, they say neighbors and co-workers do NOT blame Jeb for this, and they are mortified about the 'voters' of these three counties.

I watched McBride on t.v.; now I know why he was the Manager of a law firm, not a trial lawyer. He is inarticulate. I laughed watching him 'lose his place' in a short speech.

Jeb will mop the floor with him in a debate.

Glad to hear it, (mopping the floor)!

This state is such a mess, (or at least a few counties are). Vote fraud HAS to play a part in some of these messes. It's just too big a coincidence that it's Miami-Dade & Broward again. These election officials need to be replaced. I just don't believe for one second that they are just "finding" 2000 votes here and there.

I just don't believe for one second that they are just "finding" 2000 votes here and there.

I do. We just got these same machines, and a lot of the poll workers didn't seem to understand that the votes weren't counted until the cartridges were somehow delivered to the central election office (modem or by hand).
The training in these FL counties was much worse. The voters aren't the problem - the election commission is.

``We are relabeling as we go, so when I get the next list, it may be easier to find them,'' said Emil Phillips Jr., the county's assistant election director in charge of systems.

That such an obvious action, relabeling mismarked devices as they are found, would be newsworthy speaks volumes about the smartitude of the folks in these counties.

The rat voters of Florida have made Florida the laughing stock of the nation. What is it about those people living in the three most populous south counties of Florida? I mean, we have old geezer rats everywhere here, yet the rats in the southern tip just can't get it right. No wonder Reno thinks these counties are her stronghold.

The problem is that the DemocRATs are the election officials in Miami/Dade, Broward, & Palm Beach counties! It is their incompetence and/or corruption that are to blame here!

Either they are morons or deliberatly 'lost votes' that were cast for Reno.

Seems to me I recall Janet being involved in something about voter fraud years ago before she was AG of Us. Any Florida freepers know about this?

This state is such a mess, (or at least a few counties are). Vote fraud HAS to play a part in some of these messes. It's just too big a coincidence that it's Miami-Dade & Broward again. These election officials need to be replaced. I just don't believe for one second that they are just "finding" 2000 votes here and there.

I could not agree more! I mean, what are the odds of this happening again randomly? No way. These people just cannot be this stupid!

Yes, I remember (I think). Two reporters were investigating allegations of voter fraud, and broke into the warehouse where the blank punch card ballots were kept. They found stacks of prepunched cards, and took them to the D.A (Reno)-- and she arrested them for breaking and entering, and theft.
As I recall, nothing ever came of it- no investigation, no nothing. Shortly after, Clinton named her AG, and it was never mentioned again.

So how hard would it be to have a few cartridges pre-loaded "just in case" they were needed? Not too hard I'd imagine. Kind of like pre-punched ballots "just in case".

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