Democrats in Palm Beach risked arrest for voting rights. LePore done.

[madfloridian]

SNIP..."It was a hard-nosed standoff.

Supervisor of elections officials growling on one side of the counter, telling Democratic Party activists they had to get out of Dodge — or at least off the premises.

The Democrats insisting on their rights, refusing to budge and risking arrest.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/news/epaper/2004/09/02/m1a_elex_0902.html

SNIP..."In the end, all of the results released the previous night stood — including Arthur Anderson's victory over incumbent Elections Supervisor Theresa LePore. But the fact that the recount was carried out without members of the public present angered some Democratic political activists, office holders and other observers.

The scene deteriorated until the elections staff called a deputy sheriff to confront the Democrats. Deputy Jason Hager, who looks bigger than your average NFL defensive tackle, filled the doorway, and diminutive state Rep. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, gazed up as if he were seeing The Terminator....."END SNIP

You say we can be nice? I say good for these Democrats in Palm Beach!

[Trajan]

1. Bev MUST get this ....

Andy ? ... Pat ? ... Eagle ? ...

This is TRULY relevent: the absentee ballots were GROSSLY miscounted ....

Geezus: how brazen ! ...

-snip-

In the end, by creating suspicions, the staff ended up compounding the original mistake — the miscounting of the absentee ballots. Although only 31,095 were received, somehow 37,839 were counted.

When the canvassing board met at 11:30 a.m. to announce final results, Palm Beach County Court Judge Barry Cohen, the chairman, was forced to make the embarrassing revelation of the need for a recount.

"We don't know what happened," Cohen said, although apparently some ballots were passed through counting scanners more than once.

Election workers began feeding the record number of absentee ballots through the machines at about 11 a.m. and finished several hours later. Official results will be presented at 10 a.m. today.

-snip-

[madfloridian]

3. Dean mentioned this on Randi Rhodes last night. He was in Palm Beach.....

campaigning for Anderson, a Dean Dozen, last week. He did not seem to know the whole story then, but he did say unfortunately there was a recount going on.

This needs publicity.

[goclark]

2. Wow! Kick um brave patriots!

What patriots they are to stand up to evil this way.

I am convinced that they were stealing this one BIG TIME.

We must shine a huge floodlight on this one.

Go crazy Democrats,go crazy!

It should be NATIONAL NEWS that MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC COUNLD NOT SEE THE RECOUNT. This should drive it home to us that they will stop at nothing. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

That LePore should be arrested and but in chains. If she could dare to do this after the 2000 election ,they will do anything, I mean anything!

The nerve,the bold face nerve.

[aquart]

4. Not enough. This still needs to go to court.

Counting in secret cannot be allowed to stand.

[AlCzervik]

5. Is Lepore out or not?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

8. i read/heard that LaPore is out

[LisaL]

9. She is out

Even with the new re-count, she ended up behind.
But who knows, maybe they will count again and she will end up ahead.
It's a disgrace.

[SoCalDem]

19. This is why we need OVERWHELMING numbers

They WILL try it again..and again..

A tweak here and a tweak there, and who's to say what the "real" numbers are...??

There is so much room for manipulation.. This is why I really do not like the whole process of registration of voters..

I say ANY US CITIZEN should be able to vote without registration.. If the registrar's office didn't know how many dems & how many repubes there were , they would not have a clue about how many people would show up to vote.,..

States have databases on births, and it should be NO PROBLEM to just send every 18 yr old a "voting card" on their 18th BD.. Naturalization ceremonies should end with the presentation of a "voting card"..

The parties could still try to woo voters to their "side", but I would love it if we ended the partisan primary system all together...and just let people vote on the same day..... the top 5 or 6 "candidates", regardless of party.. the "winner" of each party would be on the ballot in November that way there would be no incentive for a repube to vote in a dem primary, by changing (or the other way too.) Their vote would be too precious to "waste" that way..

[librechik]

10. she's out! n/t

[AlCzervik]

14. Thanks, i needed that.

[wildeyed]

28. I read that LePore is out but not until after the Nov election.

[Zorra]

6. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"

I think every Dem and other concerned American should all do a weeklong general strike and boycott in October, and we should demand that voting on evoting machines be suspended for the Nov. elections. Paper and pen balloting can be substituted.

If our demands are not met, we shut the economy down until they are met.

Sometimes preserving freedom takes more direct action and sacrifice.

[TankLV]

24. I agree - but it's not gonna happen in today's sheeple amerikkka.

People just don't care.

Period.

[JusticeForAll]

7. Why isn't CNN carrying this

Maybe I was out of the room at some point this morning...

[loudsue]

11. No....I'm afraid CNN was out of the room, too!

They just refuse to report any real NEWS! You aren't missing it, CNN is...probably hoping it will go away.

:kick::kick:

[KurtNYC]

21. CNN is "Bush Campaign Headquarters"

They aren't drinking the KoolAid - They ARE the KoolAid.

If you could see CNN kissing GOP butts here in NYC for the last 3 days you would know why they don't cover these things.

[Freddie Stubbs]

27. Probably because LePore won

It would have been a story if she had 'won' after counting the ballots in secrect. But no one (including the guy who beat her) is contesting the results.

[madfloridian]

12. I saw an article that said she was not answering calls today.....

and that she would not come to her door at all. I can't find it now, and there is not much coverage of this horrible fiasco.

[hang a left]

13. THis story just really gets my goose.

snip> Gerald Richman, an attorney for the Democratic Party, finally arrived with a pertinent document: a copy of Florida Division of Elections Rule 1S-2.031, which states clearly in its top line: "All procedures relating to machine and manual recounts shall be open to the public."

At the same time, Charmaine Kelly, the highest-ranking elections official on hand, was speaking with Nieman, the county attorney. It also turned out that the recount already had been completed and it was decided that the results would be given to the Democrats immediately.

That calmed the protesters to a degree.

"We were just waiting for the call from the attorney," Kelly said. "We wanted to make sure we did the right thing."
snip>

[madfloridian]

15. I am afraid the media will ignore it completely .

I intend to send it to some TV news outlets. Then I will know they are willfully ignoring it.

[uhhuh]

17. She should be removed from office immediately

If she violated election law, she should be removed NOW!!

As it stands, she gets the opportunity to stay until after the election to steal another one for the chimp.

[madfloridian]

16. Let's keep this kicked and get some media to pay attention.

:kick:

[spotbird]

18. kick

[Debi]

20. Vote Early, Vote Often, Vote Twice???

:shrug:

[goclark]

22. Vote Early and Kick LaPore out of her job

She was doing her best to steal that election.

[Eloriel]

23. Like a broken record, I'll say it again

(esp. since this story helps demonstrate it), absentee ballots are NOT a good alternative to touchscreen voting this year -- not unless everyone can be absolutely sure that they are properly taken care of.

But think about this: there's a REASON Jeb sent an absentee ballot to every registered Repug in FL in 2000, with his photo and the governor's seal, asking Repugs to vote absentee.

There's a REASON there are recorded calls from George Bush going out to Ohio Repugs asking them to vote absentee.

Absentee ballots are historically problematic, but if the Repugs are promoting them, you KNOW there's something up their sleeves.

All that said, at least with absentee ballots, unless they get tossed or lost or destroyed or fraudeulently changed, you DO have a paper ballot. So I'm not saying don't use them (since with touchscreens and other electronic methods, you don't even have a paper record). It's just that I don't trust the counters AND any push to go absentee as an alternative to electronic voting MUST be accompanied by STRINGENT MEASURES to ensure there no funny business is allowed.

[goclark]

25. I agree

The problem is that there are so many different options for voting machines.

How is a person to know what to do?

Is there some website that has it clearly outlined, by zip code for example, what kind of Machine will be used in your town? Then, it should list what the downside and upsides are to each machine. It should also be updated daily.

For example, if you live in Florida and LePore is counting the ballots in your area,there should be a RED ALERT! The red alert should tell the voters of any tricks that have been uncovered or law suits pending in that area.

It should update them of ANY changes in their polling location etc.

[cthrumatrix]

26. funny how repugs all of a sudden like the paper trail...? I agree

[rocktivity]

29. REVENGE!!!

:headbang:
rocknation