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Re: News from inside the FL recount: A Democrats perspective



Agree. They should try voting with their sunglasses off.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Tim Lohrmann <timlohr@yahoo.com>
To: <vision2020@moscow.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 11, 2000 11:31 AM
Subject: Re: News from inside the FL recount: A Democrats perspective


> Visionaries,
> Did anyone see the figures on registered Reform Party
> voters in Palm Beach County?
> Apparently, the area has significantly MORE Reform
> Party types than surrounding areas. So the # of PJB
> votes don't seem out of line when that is taken into
> consideration--especially since the number of actual
> Buchanan votes was much less than the # of the
> registered Reform'ers. 
> 
> Also, once a vote has been cast, how is any election
> official to know that the person claiming to have made
> a mistake isn't simply motivated by the desire to cast
> more than one vote for the candidate of their choice? 
> 
> The fact is that this ballot was approved without
> objection by a Democratic election official and
> published in widely cirulated newspapers for comment.
> Therefore the period for raising objections under Fla.
> State Law has passed and the right to object was
> waived at the expiration of that time period.
> 
> Also it has been reported that in the 1996 election
> there were 14,000 invalidated ballots in the same
> county. Given the fact that the turnout in '96 was
> significantly lower, the number of invalidation seem
> plausible. 
> 
> Unfortunately, there will always be some who are
> unable to vote correctly. The remedy for this is for
> election officials to carefully design ballots and
> raise timely objections to those that are unclear, NOT
> to seek to invalidate elections after votes have
> already been cast. 
> TL
> 
> 
> 
> --- Bob Hoffmann <escape@alt-escape.com> wrote:
> > At 11:33 AM 11/09/2000 -0800, Cliff Todd wrote:
> > >  In the case of the
> > >Palm Beach County Ballots there is a big fat arrow
> > pointing to the punch
> > >hole. What is so confusing about that?
> > 
> > Agreed, I'm sure I would have figured it out.  But
> > given such discrepancies 
> > as the high Buchanan vote for the county, and the
> > high number of 
> > invalidated (two-vote) ballots, perhaps the ballots
> > should have been more 
> > idiot-proof.  Can anyone verify the claim that the
> > ballot was actually in 
> > violation of the layout prescribed by Florida law? 
> > That will certainly be 
> > a crucial question.
> > 
> > What disturbed me more than the layout was an
> > interview last night on NPR 
> > with a first time Palm County voter.  She went to
> > vote for Gore, then 
> > noticed that she probably punched the Buchanan hole.
> >  She took her ballot 
> > to an election official and said "Who did I vote
> > for?"
> > 
> > The official said "Buchanan."  The voter said, "But
> > I didn't want to, could 
> > I have a new ballot?"  The official said, "No, once
> > you've cast your vote, 
> > we can't let you do that."
> > 
> > The voter pointed out that the voting envelope
> > explicitly stated, "If you 
> > make a mistake, return your ballot to an election
> > official and take a new 
> > ballot."  The official told the voter, "No, it's too
> > late," and TOOK HER 
> > BALLOT and dropped it into the box.
> > 
> > If this is true, it is indeed an outrage.  And how
> > many more people did it 
> > happen to?
> > 
> > 
> > Bob Hoffmann
> > 846 Mabelle St.
> > Moscow, ID  83843  USA
> > Phone: (208) 883-0642
> > Fax: (877) 495-2279
> > 
> 
> 
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