FLORIDA REPUBLICAN VOTER COMMENT THREAD (Vanity)

Sept. 12, 2002

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Florida Republicans, share your election day stories with the army of journalists covering the "plague" of Fla. election problems. Let visiting pundits know what Florida Republicans have to say about this latest attempt to blame Dem. incompetence and fraud on our Governor and Republicans.

They wouldn't knowingly choose to disenfranchise Florida Republicans, thus mischaracterizing last Tuesday's Florida state primary election, would they?

[The Person]

Wasn't Alcee Hastings impeached from his judgeship for corruption?

[JulieRNR21]

This breaking AP story quotes official of company who supplied the Voting Machines as saying that poll workers didn't insert the cartridges in the machines which made it appear that no votes were cast.

There should be an investigation to determine of this was done deliberately to hurt Reno or was the result of incompetence due to lack of training or proper supervision.

The Associated Press

MIAMI (Sept. 15) - Election workers in Janet Reno's stronghold of Broward County have found uncounted votes from last week's primary, though officials didn't say how many.

The votes were found Saturday in a precinct that first reported no votes, said Willie Weslie, project manager with Election Systems & Software Inc., which made the touchscreen voting machines used in the county.

That precinct, with 832 registered voters, was among 247 that Reno has asked officials to review in her battle with Bill McBride for the Democratic nomination.

``I don't know what happened in every case. I just know poll workers had procedures and didn't follow them,'' said Weslie.

Weslie said poll workers in the precinct should have inserted a cartridge in the machines, which would have collected the votes when polls closed. But they did not, he said, so the empty cartridge made it appear that no votes were cast.

Workers examined touchscreen voting machines until shortly after 7 p.m. Saturday, and were expected to continue Sunday. The deadline for counties to report official vote tallies to the state is 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Election Supervisor Miriam Oliphant's office would not discuss the uncounted votes.

``Once the process is complete, the supervisor of elections will have a statement with respect to that and every other issue her office feels is necessary to assure the voters of Broward County that every vote will be counted,'' said spokesman Rick Riley.

Reno trailed McBride by 8,196 votes in unofficial counts from the state. The 247 precincts she asked to be reviewed have 15,841 voters.

Reno has also asked Miami-Dade County officials to check for lost votes. Officials there found more than 1,800 uncounted votes from four precincts Thursday, and were reviewing touchscreen voting machines to determine if more were unreported.

Miami and Broward counties used the same touchscreen machines made by Election Systems & Software.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Jeb Bush thought he had the Florida voting booths licked. Idiot proof. Nitwit proof. Lunatic proof. He has yet to comprehend the depths of their black hole brains, the Last Fronteer, a place no sane person has gone before. If Captain Kirk tried to explore that endless void, he would cry, Scottie! Beam me up!

Here is what I suggest to Jeb Bush:

The people running the voting booths in various parts of Flori-duh need to be led by the hand like children.


"This is the enter button. It is spelled, E,N,T,E,R. You take your finger, yes, that's a finger, and push on the Enter Button. No, not your nose. No, your nose is not linked with the computer system. No, don't eat that... This is a cartridge. Yes. This thingie in my hand. I said... cart-ridge. No, I said, CART-RIDGE. Yes. You need to... no. Don't put the cartridge in your mouth...

Don't trust these guys with play-dough.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thanks for the info. Miriam Oliphant should be fired, at least, imho. I'm all for the recount...and for the DNC or the SOEs in the trouble counties picking up the tab.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Arthur, the machines were that easy...really. The problems in these precincts were mostly on the human level...unprepared SOE's/precinct workers who didn't take their jobs..or their right to vote...seriously enough to care (or intentional mischief). Either way, Dems. in SE Florida have lost the right to run either their counties, or the state...imho.

[summer]

There should be an investigation to determine of this was done deliberately to hurt Reno or was the result of incompetence due to lack of training or proper supervision.
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I agree. And how very odd that these major screw ups happened in the counties where she would have won the highest percentage of votes...

[floriduh voter]

Who investigates: AG Bob Butterworth or that so-called commission from Washington?

[floriduh voter]

He was removed from the bench at least a decade ago. Then he went on to become a member of congress if I'm not mistaken.

[Dutchgirl]

Since Jeb's name wasn't on the ballot, this young man could not be accused of attempting to campaign at a polling place. Jeb was unopposed in the Republican primary. Florida law says no signs within fifty feet of the polling place doors.

[Dutchgirl]

In Duval County, my poll at Trinity Lutheran Church opened on time at 7am, and I voted before work. Trinity has an established group of poll workers, and this year, with re-apportionments, they were sharing space with a less experienced group. The old pro's were monitoring the new group to make sure they did it right. I could hear a dispute that ensued when someone was handed a Democrat ballot that they didn't want. On my side, I showed my ID, signed in and was given the correct Republican ballot. After filling it out, I brought it, in its privacy folder, over to the scanner. The gentleman who was manning the scanner explained that I could put it in with either side up and it would be counted, but he recommended that I place it with the marked side down for privacy. I was in and out in five minutes.