Florida vote goes from chad to worse - Glitches bedevil new system; Reno trails

Associated Press ^ | September 12, 2002 | Associated Press Staff

[MeekOneGOP]

Florida vote goes from chad to worse

Glitches bedevil new system; Reno trails in Democratic primary

09/12/2002

Associated Press

MIAMI - Despite a $32 million renovation, Florida's new election system crashed in an embarrassment that, like the 2000 election, left residents wondering whether their votes counted, candidates pondering recounts and everyone asking who's to blame.

"You guys have NO idea what a mess this has been," state election monitor Mike Lindsey wrote his Tallahassee bosses in a pre-dawn e-mail Wednesday from Broward County. "The mess was the result of no planning, poor leadership, lack of 'process ownership' and passing the buck."

The debacle, echoing the 2000 presidential stalemate, drew even more scrutiny because, once again, Florida had a high-profile race that was too close to call.

With 3 percent of precincts still to report by Wednesday afternoon, former Attorney General Janet Reno trailed Tampa lawyer Bill McBride for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination by 19,000 votes out of more than 1 million cast.

The voting problems included technical and human error. Workers had problems starting up new touch-screen voting machines; ballot cards tore and couldn't be read on optical scanning machines; and technical problems delayed processing the electronic cartridges used in the touch-screen voting machines. In Miami-Dade, nearly half of the ballots that were still uncounted Wednesday were cast by black voters.

In addition, some poll workers failed to show up, several polling places opened late and some voters were wrongly turned away for not showing a picture identification.

In response to complaints Tuesday, Gov. Jeb Bush extended polling by two hours but that led to yet more abuses: In Hollywood, workers at one precinct who had not been told of the extension held the door shut and cursed at voters.

In all, 14 of the state's 67 counties reported voting problems, including six of the seven that were sued after the 2000 presidential stalemate.

On Wednesday, the blame game was fast and furious.

Voters and Mr. Bush pointed fingers at election chiefs in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, which bought touch-screen machines to replace punch-card equipment. All counties were required to get rid of punch-card ballots.

Others worried that Florida's troubles were a warning of more to come. Several states scrapped punch-card ballots, bought new equipment and changed their laws since the presidential race.

"It's not just Florida. It's a national problem," said Rob Richie, executive director of the Center for Voting and Democracy, based in Maryland. "We will have lots of problems in the next two months."

Ms. Reno met with legal advisers and contemplated legal action Wednesday.

She could demand a recount or sue to overturn the results. Secretary of State Jim Smith said the race may be tight enough to automatically trigger a statewide recount.

By Wednesday evening, with 99 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. McBride had 599,057 votes, or 45 percent, compared with Ms. Reno's 588,034 votes, or 44 percent. State Sen. Daryl Jones had 155,648 votes, or 12 percent.

Among other races across the nation:

Washington, D.C., Mayor Anthony A. Williams had a commanding lead at the end of the first day of counting write-in ballots in the city's Democratic mayoral primary. By Wednesday evening, Mr. Williams had 17,299 votes in his re-election bid, compared with 1,958 for the Rev. Willie F. Wilson. Poll workers were to return Thursday to continue counting.

Two-term New York Gov. George Pataki faced no Republican opponent but lost the Independence Party nomination to billionaire businessman B. Thomas Golisano. That means Mr. Golinsano's name will be on the November ballot, along with that of state Comptroller H. Carl McCall, who won the Democratic nomination a week after former U.S. Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo dropped out.

In Maryland, Democratic Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Republican Rep. Robert Ehrlich won their parties' gubernatorial nominations. State Sen. Christopher Van Hollen defeated Kennedy cousin Mark Shriver for the Democratic nomination to challenge eight-term GOP Rep. Constance Morella.

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Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/091202dnnatflorida.8b9.html

[MeekOneGOP]

[Joe Boucher]

As a Florida Repub. I just love the mess that is affecting just the dims this time. How are they going to blame this mess on the repubs? You know they will try. Go JEB.

[Monty22]

The irony of this is both wonderful and revolting. reno dying by the goron sword as well?

Does any thinking person doubt that these liberal counties are full of fools?

[leftiesareloonie]

Don't be too gleeful about this. Even if no sane person would blame Bush, this is going to have a serious downside for him come the election. It's going to increase the "we wuz robbed" turnout come November. Prediction: whoever wins the democratic primary will get massive support from the loser's voters, because the dems will want to "take back" the election process.

Do not expect a similarly high turn out for Bush. Anger motivates. Complacency dampens turnout.

I'm not arguing the merits of the case here. Just saying that if you look at it from a RAT voter's point of view, you see that it revives and validates all their anger over 2000, which had sort of quieted down before this. So this is not a good thing for Bush. It really could cost him the electin

[Monty22]

That's assuming this crowd has a memory longer than a few weeks, I doubt it.

I see your point though.. This proves that election fraud will happen again in democrat regions as well.

[Diogenesis]

[perez24]

I agree...I think the "problem" was that the machines were'nt able to generate enough pro-Reno votes based solely on how people voted...and they haven't invented the technology to cheat on these new machines yet.

[TxBec]

In Miami-Dade, nearly half of the ballots that were still uncounted Wednesday were cast by black voters.

are the ballots stamped with the voter's race??

[TxBec]

oops! see #9.

[raygun]

I'm unclear how this is of greater importance than:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/DailyNews/sept11_uranium020911.html

[ovrtaxt]

You may find this interesting.

http://www.votescam.com

[Ax]

My sides are still sore from laughing. About 30 minutes ago, I was at a Dunkin' Donuts in Boynton Beach, Palm Beach County. A pickup was parked next to my car. It bore a streamer high up on the rear window, saying: Vote Republican - It's Easier Than Thinking." The Dim-o-crats in south Florida have been thoroughly discredit in the eyes of the world and this clown makes fun of US?

[Charlotte Corday]

What it does show is the extremely high value of a black third party candidate. Al Sharpton would without a doubt be the GOP's biggest asset.

[Dallas]

GO RENO....

Sorry, but I'm enjoying her making a fool of herself. I didn't want it to end this soon...

[DB]

Think about this, the votes were selected and counted electronically. There are no "chads" to interpret. In fact there isn't even a direct physical record of the actual vote. It was a touch screen fingerprint…

They're going to have a good time "recounting" this election…

[chainsaw]

"You guys have NO idea what a mess this has been," state election monitor Mike Lindsey wrote his Tallahassee bosses in a pre-dawn e-mail Wednesday from Broward County. "The mess was the result of no planning, poor leadership, lack of 'process ownership' and passing the buck."

Tell me something that we didn't know before election day.

[Greeklawyer]

They have invented systems on how to cheet with these systems:

1. ballot cartridges go missing (memory device that stores the votes)

2. Precincts with you candidate report last to allow for "adjustments"

3. Absentee ballots.

4. Machines in opposition precincts that do not record anything.

5. Do not tell the public the beakdown of each INDIVIDUAL ballot cartridge

[Lil'freeper]

The problem is not the machines, it's the people using them.

[Greeklawyer]

Just popped over to the votescam.com website. What they wrote about "fixing" the electronic voting machine software fits with all the "mistakes" and missing machines in florida. There should be a law requiring all publicly used voting machines to have their inner workings available for public scrutiny. software, diagnostic routines etc.