Posted on 09/15/2002 3:44:26 AM PDT by 11th Earl of Mar
By Associated Press
September 15, 2002, 5:32 AM EDT
MIAMI --
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 1/8poll workers 3/8 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.
Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press
In a little article called Reno Hangs Vote Fiasco on Bush , Machines (which I looked for in their online edition but couldn't find) there were some pretty interesting statements and will make the upcoming election really interesting whether McBride or Reno runs.
I think they know they can't pin it on Jeb, so here's the statement from the article:
Among the allegations: Touch screen machines suffer from the buildup of smudges as more people vote that create inaccuracies; some voters saw the wrong candidate's name light up when they touched the screen; many machines may not have calculated votes properly; and some machines showed an unusually high percentage of ballots without a governor's race
They were speaking about the iVotronic machines and the company's statement later in the article was that "its machines accurately captured 100 percent of the votes which were cast. No votes were lost or not counted."
All this stuff is sooooo reminiscent of the 2000 recount, that I fully expect the dems to want a recount in the Nov. election.
(Hey... cigarettes are expen$ive nowadays and the demokrats want their vote/moneys worth!)
I think we need more literate people volunteering to work at the poles. But I'm guessing not a lot of people can talk their employers into letting them take the day off to make sure voting get does right.
They are "smart enough' to take a bribe to do what they're told.
Don't be naive. Don't underestimate the enemy.
The big advantage that Dubya has is that the DemocRATS always underestimate him because they think he's stupid.
Friday: Janet Reno at her campaign headquarters in Miami Lakes, Fla.
"Reno's campaign works to build case against new voting machines
MIAMI - Janet Reno's campaign for governor is trying to build a sweeping case against the now-infamous touch-screen voting machines that campaign officials believe may be responsible for Reno losing the Democratic nomination.
The case, summarized in a draft document obtained by The Miami Herald, would not be used to challenge the results of last week's election, even if Bill McBride is certified Tuesday as the nominee, campaign officials said Saturday.
Instead, the evidence would become part of a larger effort to put the blame for Florida's latest election fiasco at the feet of Gov. Jeb Bush and the election reform law he signed with great fanfare last year. "What we're doing is far more important than whoever the nominee is," said Reno campaign manager Mo Elleithee. According to the draft document, headlined "Suspected Problems with Florida's Electronic Touch-Screen Voting Machines," the campaign has consulted with an expert who has studied the machines in use.
Among the allegations: touch-screen machines suffer from the buildup of smudges as more people vote that create inaccuracies; some voters saw the wrong candidate's name light up when they touched the screen; and many machines may not have properly calculated votes.
Election Systems and Software, the company that manufactures the iVotronic machines used in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, could not be reached late Saturday. Last week, ES&S said in a statement that its machines "accurately captured 100 percent of the votes which were cast. No votes were lost or not counted."
Eleven counties in Florida used the iVotronic equipment Tuesday, but only Miami-Dade and Broward had serious problems. The election supervisors in the four counties that used systems identical to those in Miami-Dade and Broward told The Herald that their elections went smoothly. Reno's campaign officials still made it clear Saturday that they had not given up their hope for victory.
Miami-Dade elections officials continued to examine voting machines from precincts where hundreds and perhaps thousands of votes were not counted. Reno strategists hope that Broward officials will soon begin the same review. Together, the campaign believes, the two counties may contain enough uncounted votes to close McBride's 8,100-vote lead. McBride, meanwhile, is intent on putting the primary behind him, rallying nearly 200 members of the state teachers union in Orlando Saturday and telling reporters that he would spend the weekend at his home near Tampa, organizing his campaign staff.
"What we can't do as Democrats is to have this diversion keep us from what is really important, that is, electing a new governor," said McBride. Reno's lawyers said Saturday that they had not ruled out a lawsuit against the state canvassing board, which on Friday rejected their request for a statewide manual recount. The evidence being gathered about voting machines would not be a part of that challenge, strategists said.
But the strategy of making election reform an issue to use against Bush - specifically targeting the voting equipment - is designed to remind loyal Democrats of their frustration after the contested 2000 presidential election in which Bush's brother, George W. Bush, narrowly won the White House."
The only problem in Florida were in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. And the ONLY problem in those two democrat strongholds were uncounted votes. The voting machines put away, untallied, were from strong Reno precincts, clearly because democrat officials did not want them counted.
I can't believe the Justice Department wasn't monitoring these areas. They were monitoring in Cynthia McKinney's district this time around, that's one reason why her defeat was so overwhelming....democrat poll workers couldn't monkey with results.
September 12, 2002
ES&S is concerned with the problems which occurred in the voting process in Miami-Dade and Broward counties during this weeks primary election. We will be doing a thorough analysis of all reported issues and providing details on our findings to our clients at the respective County Election Boards.
At this time, we want to ensure that the public is aware of the following facts:
The iVotronic equipment manufactured by ES&S used by the Boards of Election in Miami-Dade and Broward counties accurately captured 100% of the votes which were cast. No votes were lost or not counted.
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