Florida Saga Continues- Broward County "Finds" 104,000 Votes, Oliphant, "Only A Small Problem"

Miami Herald ^ | 11/6/02

[11th Earl of Mar]

Broward reports wrong vote totals

By EVAN S. BENN

ebenn@herald.com

More than 100,000 votes went missing on Tuesday between the time they were counted by electronic machines and the time they were reported on cable-access television and on the Supervisor of Elections web site.

A glitch in the vote reporting system left a 104,000-vote difference between Tuesday night's totals and those reported late Wednesday.

Election officials said the error has no effect on the outcome of any races, though voter turnout jumped from 35 percent to 45 percent after it was corrected.

And it raises questions about how the supervisor's office could have missed that many votes.

''The initial reports didn't include everything we tabulated,'' Deputy Supervisor Joe Cotter said. ``It was a minor software thing. Once we realized it, we took the proper steps to fix it.''

Before the county canvassing board members went home early Wednesday, they saw a discrepancy in the vote reports, which showed 402,951 people voted in the governor's race, but only 337,976 total ballots were cast.

''That was the red flag,'' said Charles Lindsey, an election monitor from the state Division of Elections.

Supervisor of Elections Miriam Oliphant said the problem was ''small,'' but admitted she didn't know what prompted it. ''That's what the technical folks, the [Election Systems & Software] people, are trying to figure out,'' she said.

The canvassing board plans to meet at 9:30 tonight to certify all the votes, except for about 3,000 provisional ballots. Those will be certified Thursday morning, before the canvassing board releases official tallies to the state.

[clintonh8r]

Judge Rosenberg. A great guy and a patriot. I'm proud to call him a friend.

[Jeff Gordon Fan]

Opps.... only half of the dead people and felons voted so we just had to add the rest in.... sorry we forgot.....really.....

[Aracelis]

Judge Rosenberg. A great guy and a patriot. I'm proud to call him a friend.

Please tell him that there is at least one FReeper who appreciates his efforts. I understood at the time that this was very hard on his eyes, and thus even more of a sacrifice.

[Real Cynic No More]

... they saw a discrepancy in the vote reports, which showed 402,951 people voted in the governor's race, but only 337,976 total ballots were cast.

''That was the red flag,''

These people put the "duh" in Floriduh!

[Robert A Cook PE]

That difference (between votes counted" and "vpters" was a key indication of fraud (also in these same FL democratic counties) in 2000.

There were (ONLY in these 4 democratic counties that Gore wanted recounted-until-he-won) substantially MORE (percentagewise) republican votes for a republican Senator than for a republican presidential candidate!

And, in each case in each of these 4 counties, there were a much larger number of "invalid" (double-punched) ballots (and ONLY in the presidential race!) than in any other race....

So people ONLY "accidentally" double-punched Bush votes - and haging-chadded Gore votes - while succesfully single-punching every other race? ....

[Thane_Banquo]

Before the county canvassing board members went home early Wednesday, they saw a discrepancy in the vote reports, which showed 402,951 people voted in the governor's race, but only 337,976 total ballots were cast.

Indeed. This is pretty obvious. The Democratic powers in Broward county created extra votes for McBride and accidently created so many more than were actually cast that they had to go into cover-up mode once it was noticed.

[Exit148]

"Judge Rosenberg. A great guy and a patriot. I'm proud to call him a friend.

Yes --- one of the good guys! Everytime I see this picture, I look at it with great affection and warmth. If you do speak with him, please give him our best and thanks.

[clintonh8r]

He knows he's appreciated. He refused to give any media interviews about the Broward County recount. He donated the magnifying glass to the Smithsonian. Without him the recount would have gotten out of control, with Suzanne Gunsberger and some gay judge calling ballots for Gore by the dozen. The photo of Bob was never properly explained to the public. Unfortuantely he became the poster boy for all that was bad about the 2000 election.

[MindyW]

402,951 people voted in the governor's race, but only 337,976 total ballots were cast.

Since when does 402,951-337,976 equal 104,000? By my calculations, that's 64,975.

[Aracelis]

Without him the recount would have gotten out of control, with Suzanne Gunsberger and some gay judge calling ballots for Gore by the dozen.

People need to be reminded of his fine work...

[Yankee]

I wonder how many touch-screen voting stations were destroyed when Dumascrap voters tried to punch out holes next to McBride's name?

[GWfan]

You know I knew he was a Republican and one of the good guys. I think it was explained during the recount. Anyway, God bless him.

[MHGinTN]

Please pass along my profound thanks to your friend for preventing a goreghoul presidency ... without his efforts, the fraud would have been finalized! The democraps tried their best to get him to leave the field to them. He persisted and gore's efforts at criminal fraud failed. Now everyone knows why we don't like goron in Tennessee. [BTW, Katherine Harris was elected, fair and square. She deserves a medal for even remaining in Floriduh.]

[ConservativeLawyer]

Florida alert!

[hexpoppy]

Speaking of Fla---does anyone know if the SC judges were retained or booted out?

[ConservativeLawyer]

Speaking of Fla---does anyone know if the SC judges were retained or booted out?

Retained.

Anstead: Yes: 66%, No: 34%

Wells: Yes: 68.4%, No: 31.6%

[Truth Telling Guy]

They are crooks!

Anyone who trust this computerized voting is a fool.

[Truth Telling Guy]

A voted to boot all the appointed judges in my state.

And I voted against all the bond issues and nearly every other issue. I only vote for issues that increase our rights--not government power or taxes or public indebtedness.

[Truth Telling Guy]

What's a measely 100,000 votes?

Come on they need the POWER!

[Boomer Geezer]

402,951 people voted in the governor's race, but only 337,976 total ballots were cast.

Since when does 402,951-337,976 equal 104,000? By my calculations, that's 64,975.

No, no, no no no! Ya gotta use Million Man Math, as practiced in the many democratic cemetaries, er - precincts of Chicagah, and exported to Florida. Then you'll see how 64,975 equals 104K!
(No offence to Chicagoans -- was born there and lived there for 38 years. Still get homesick.)