Higher absentee voting possible in state (Florida)

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Mon, Aug. 02, 2004


Higher absentee voting possible in state

Despite a new technology intended to avoid a repeat of the tangled 2000 election, many voters may use paper ballots this year, voting absentee.

BY GARY FINEOUT

[e-mail]


A week ago Adrian Siegel became part of what may become a fast-growing trend this election year in Florida.

Bothered by ongoing reports of problems with touch-screen machines, the southwestern Miami-Dade County resident mailed in an application to request an absentee ballot. Even though she works with computers for a living, Siegel says she wants a paper ballot this year.

''How can we get a paper trail?'' said Siegel, a Democrat. ``We can't get it any other way. If there's a problem with the machines, we want our vote to be counted. That is the most important thing.''

The touch-screen machines now used in 15 counties, including Miami-Dade and Broward, were advertised as a way to avoid the embarrassing paper-ballot trouble of the 2000 election. The idea was to eliminate hanging chads and agonizing recounts.

Yet it appears that this year thousands of voters will stick to paper. So far, more than 35,000 voters in Broward and Miami-Dade counties have asked for absentee ballots for the primary with a month left before the election.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/9298776.htm
(Free registration required)

[murielm99]

1. Will those absentee ballots be counted correctly in Florida?

nt

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. I predict...

there will be at least one precinct that will stash them in a box and forget about them until after the election. Considering the history of this state, the odds are not in our favor.

[nodictators]

6. Will Dem's absentee ballots be counted???

In 2000, the Orlando Sentinel had a story about a black lady who sent in her absentee ballot on time (8 days before Election Day), but the election officials didn't open it before the counting was finished.

So sad, they said. Of course, with all the apparent election fraud in Florida, one can't help but wonder if the officials simply looked up the voter's registration info from the return address, and found it was a black Democrat.

[Skidmore]

3. I think if I lived in Florida, absentee ballots are the way I'd vote

and I'd be mailing my vote in certified mail after photocopying it.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Here's a slight reminder that Florida has been practising goofy voting

for a long time:

Probationary Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez loves to churn out initiatives. First came a five-point plan to clean up and beautify Miami. Then a proposal to light up Flagler Street. This week he is scheduled to debut his monthly "Faith in the City" prayer meetings. Leaders of several local churches have been asked to gather at city hall on January 8 for nondenominational prayers. "We'll have them say things like, 'Lord, bless the city; Lord, help the holders of different elective offices, and Lord, help the mayor,'" explains Rev. Josue Morales, a minister at the House of Praise in Little Havana and the mayor's liaison with Miami's religious community.
During an interview last week, Suarez revealed an even newer proposal: combatting voter fraud. "Voting is the most important right in a democracy," he proclaimed. "Certainly it's a civil right. We need to protect civil rights."

Some city hall observers might consider this latest initiative to be odd, especially in light of Suarez's close association with an ongoing criminal investigation into -- well, voter fraud. As is now well-known, Suarez (along with Commissioner Humberto Hernandez) collected absentee-ballot votes in the November election from people who live outside the City of Miami and from at least one person who doesn't live at all: Manuel Yip, four years dead.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators have already arrested Suarez campaign volunteer Miguel Amador because he allegedly offered to buy three absentee ballots from undercover agents. The Dade State Attorney's Office has convened a grand jury to look into the issue.
(snip/...)

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/1998-01-08/metro.html

[whistle]

5. Here is the problem with this....

...the republican party has mass mailed absentee ballots to all of their republican constituents, but anyone else who attempts to get the application forms are stonewalled. I tried to sign up on-line to get an absentee ballot application and the link is closed.

[seafan]

7. Call your county's Supervisor of Elections office. They will mail

you an absentee ballot. Given the choices in voting methods as it stands right now, absentee is the way to do it, IMHO.


Meanwhile, I'm still agitating my elected reps and Senators Graham/Nelson to create an emergency order for our state to vote ballots with paper and pen statewide, which are hand counted at the precinct immediately after polls close, and reported directly to Tallahassee before anyone leaves for the night.


But for now, make arrangements for absentee, by all means!

[graywarrior]

8. Or go to your local Dem office

They should have supplies of applications for your taking.

[Pallas180]

9. Yup, I'm thinking of doing paper/absentee ballot too.

Did you read Krugman of the NYTimes on Jeb Bush refusing
to make proper voting accomodation, refusing to check machines,
living in Fl, it's no surpirse.

He also hired former Arthur Anderson, Accentuate to strip people off
voting list....once again.

There better be a lot of lawyers down here.