NYT: In Palm Beach, Results of 2000 Still Stir a Fight

[kskiska]

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Theresa LePore, brushing away tears as she sat for an interview on a hectic morning in the Palm Beach County elections office, wanted to be clear: her contact lens was bothering her, nothing more.

"I'm not crying, you know," she said with a faint smile.

Ms. LePore is clearly intent on showing that she is holding things together. Four years after her county became the red-hot center of the 2000 presidential election standoff, she is under just about as much stress and scrutiny as she was back then, when camera crews from as far away as Japan camped at her office and she surrendered to emotional exhaustion and teared up in public. She designed the infamous "butterfly ballot," and so in this county that bears the most scar tissue from 2000, her name figures prominently in the rallying cries leading up to Tuesday's state primary and the far bigger test in November.

"She is the problem, my dear!" said Donald Kronfeld, a retiree in Lake Worth who said he, like thousands of other county residents, accidentally voted for Patrick J. Buchanan in 2000 instead of Al Gore because of the confusing ballot design. Other votes were invalidated because paper tabs called chads did not properly detach from ballot cards. In all, about 29,000 ballots in Palm Beach County were thrown out because they included votes for more than one presidential candidate or appeared to have no names punched.

"She is exactly what everyone wants in a civil servant!" said Sid Dinerstein, chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party, which has practically granted Ms. LePore folk hero status.

more…
http://nytimes.com/2004/08/28/politics/campaign/28votersx.html?hp

[shockingelk]

1. is Palm Beach Cnty the one with all the new registrations?

There was an article here several weeks ago saying something like 50,000 new voter registrations in a FL county had been Democrats, and Republican registration went down ...

Anybody remember? Have a link? I've googled for it twice, including for about a half hour earlier this evening ...

[DeepModem Mom]

2. LePore is on ballot Tues., Dean and Lieberman campaigning with opponent

"Ms. LePore's opponent, Arthur Anderson, an education professor and former county school board member, has sharply criticized the ballot design and the fact that Ms. LePore's office mailed about 25,000 absentee ballots with old instructions (they asked for a witness's signature, which state law no longer requires). Though virtually unknown, Mr. Anderson is getting high-profile help: former Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont campaigned with him on Monday, and Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, a popular figure in South Florida, is to campaign with him on Sunday."

Pray for victory for Professor Anderson!

[spotbird]

3. Lieberman campaigning with a Democrat.

Will wonders never cease?

[Toots]

4. Isn't Lepore a Democrat as well?

:shrug: I seem to recall her being a Democrat during the 2000 election. I think she was once a Republican and then switched parties and maybe has switched back now that her job is done.

[spotbird]

5. She is registered as one, but in fact is a Republican.

She switched registration in order to win. Her loyalties are, and always have been, on the other side.

[Tatiana]

6. Exactly! LePore is a sorry excuse for a Democrat. n/t