Posted on 09/19/2002 5:33:15 AM PDT by Elkiejg
FORT LAUDERDALE -- Gov. Jeb Bush asked the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday to help ensure that the widespread voting problems that plagued last week's primaries in South Florida are not repeated on Election Day.
Most of the problems in Florida's Sept. 10 primaries occurred in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
Florida's top election official, Secretary of State Jim Smith, told Attorney General John Ashcroft the state wants the Justice Department to help review what went wrong last week and help run the Nov. 5 vote in the two counties.
Polls opened late and closed early, and uncounted ballots were discovered after the counties submitted their initial tallies to the state. In Broward, election officials ended their count without reconciling the number of votes cast with the number of people who voted.
The secretary said he does not envision the Justice Department taking over elections but said he would like the agency to send election observers and provide other assistance.
The Justice Department said the letters from Bush and Smith will be reviewed to see whether it has any jurisdiction.
"We just received the letter today," said agency spokesman Jorge Martinez.
The request is one of only a few solutions left in Broward County after Supervisor of Elections Miriam Oliphant rejected an offer from county commissioners to take over much of the responsibility for the Nov. 5 vote.
A combative and defiant Oliphant refused to cede any control or accept any blame.
Instead, she pressed commissioners to fork over $4 million and loan her employees for the November election even while she attacked them for buying voting equipment she didn't want.
Broward officials initially thought they had a deal to salvage the November vote and were dumbstruck by Oliphant's stand. In the hours before Oliphant's statement, Bush and Smith strongly urged her to accept the commission's offer.
"The Broward County Commission cannot conduct the elections of Broward County," Oliphant said at a news conference in commission chambers. "They are not the election officer. I take the responsibility for running an efficient election."
Smith was disappointed by Oliphant's decision and held open the possibility of asking Bush to remove her from office for misconduct.
Bush decided last week not to take that step, but Smith said he would weigh his options once he read a report Oliphant must submit on the election problems. Bush required Broward and Miami-Dade to submit reports by 5 p.m. today on what went wrong.
"I can't imagine any supervisor in America doing that," Smith said of Oliphant's rejection of the county offer of help.
He had described the Broward commission's proposal as "a generous offer," while Bush touted it as a way to "give all of us a lot confidence that we'd be in better shape."
In Miami-Dade, Mayor Alex Penelas has feuded with Bush and Smith for chastising the county about election difficulties. But Penelas spokesman David Perez said the mayor welcomes "coordinated assistance" with the Justice Department.
"The mayor has already requested independent oversight, which the Justice Department is welcome to be a part of," Perez said. "However, the tone of the letter continues to bother the community. It continues to lay blame, which is partisan in nature."
County's idea rejected
Broward County Commission Chairwoman Lori Parrish proposed Tuesday a contract with Oliphant under which county employees would be responsible for opening the precincts on Election Day, setting up the computerized voting booths, running the precinct during the day, troubleshooting technical problems, closing the precinct and returning the machinery that night.
Deputy sheriffs would take the tabulators to regional centers, which also would be set up by the county's technical staff.
Oliphant said she would welcome some form of county assistance, including money and personnel. But she said she would not go as far as the county wanted.
Parrish and County Administrator Roger Desjarlais said the deal was not negotiable.
Anything short of total control of the inner workings of Election Day would be a recipe for disaster because no one person would be charged with making sure changes are made in the short time before the November vote, they said.
"If you're in the military and have to build an emergency airstrip in a week, would you assign it to committee?" Desjarlais said. "This is the same situation. Whoever does this is compelled to be successful."
'It is unprecedented'
Election experts said the county's proposal would have been difficult to pull off even if Oliphant had agreed.
They said Oliphant and Desjarlais would have had to cooperate intimately because of overlaps between what would still be her responsibilities of ballot preparation, voter registration and vote counting and those duties taken on by the county.
"It is unprecedented, but the situation down there is pretty unprecedented, too," said Pam Iorio, Hillsborough County's election supervisor and former head of Florida's association of election chiefs.
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
Broward officials initially thought they had a deal to salvage the November vote and were dumbstruck by Oliphant's stand. In the hours before Oliphant's statement, Bush and Smith strongly urged her to accept the commission's offer.
"The Broward County Commission cannot conduct the elections of Broward County," Oliphant said at a news conference in commission chambers. "They are not the election officer. I take the responsibility for running an efficient election."
Do you think I am worrying too much?
A good place to be from.. Maybe it's something in the drinking water that makes these people so stupid. It needs to be stressed that these people seem to be suffering from some sort of disorder that causes confusion and brain farts when entering a voting booth.
If I lived in Florida I would be furious that the people in these two countries were making the whole state look like a bunch of morons and would be protesting clear to the state capitol.
If they aren't stupid, they have an agenda to disrupt elections. Which is it?
Chiefs? I thought the Seminoles only had chiefs in FL.
I could be wrong, however my understanding is that the lack of education by these counties concerning the new voting machines was responsable for the problems experienced in the primaries.
If I am not mistaken, Palm Beach county was one of the counties that had problems in the past presidential election.
Therefore my questions are:
1. If Palm Beach county is controlled by democrats, as are Miami-Dade and Broward counties, why didn't they experience the same problems as these other two counties?
2. I understand that there was to be a large sum of money spent to fix this voting problem in Florida, where did this money go in Miami-Dade and Broward counties?
I know that you probably don't have any more information than I do TM. Perhaps one of our Florida members could help me out.
In 65 of Florida's Counties the voting went just fine. In only two Counties -- Broward and Miami-Dade -- were there any significant problems, and primarily in one where Mirriam ("the Arrogant") Oliphant holds court. These facts appear in the article, but putting them in the lead paragraph would have undercut the Democrat mantra that this is a "state" problem, and therefore is "Jeb Bush's fault."
The truth is much simpler. A small number of LOCAL, Democrat officials failed to do their jobs with even a modicum of competence. As I understand it, fourteen other Counties used the exact same touch-screen machines as Miami-Dade. None of them had any significant problems. That points the finger pretty squarely at Miriam Oliphant, now doesn't it?
Congressman Billybob
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Maybe the residents of these counties just lack sufficient intellect to vote.
This whole mess is looking more and more like a set up and there does seem to be evidence of an agenda.
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