Lapses close polls to 2,500 (Florida)

[G_j]

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/08/28/news_pf/Tampabay/Lapses_close_polls_to.shtml

Lapses close polls to 2,500

Various groups' failure to turn in registrations on time means these Pinellas voters will be turned away in the primary.



By MICHAEL SANDLER, Times Staff Writer
Published August 28, 2004

LARGO - More than 2,500 Pinellas County residents who thought they had registered for Tuesday's primary will not be allowed to vote because voter registration groups failed to turn in their applications on time.

Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark said various groups turned in 2,519 registration forms after the Aug. 2 deadline.

The majority of the late registration forms - more than 2,100 - came from the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, a national activist group that organizes low-income voters.

Its mistake in Pinellas follows a similar problem in Hillsborough County, where the group failed to turn in about 1,000 forms to Supervisor Buddy Johnson's office on time.

..more..

[mbperrin]

1. Gosh! Voting problems in Florida!

Whodathunk?

[yardwork]

2. Hasn't ACORN been around forever? What's their excuse

for making such a mistake?

[AndyTiedye]

3. Could They Have Been Infiltrated?

It could just be incompetence, of course.
But to make the same mistake twice seems a bit much.

Fouling up voter registrations of likely Democratic voters is
just the sort of thing the Repubs delight in doing, and they
could do it so easily if they just had a few of them "volunteer" for
some of these voter registration programs. If Rove hadn't thought of
it before, he did when he read this news article.

We are depending on new voters to win this election!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

10. Their excuse is they are NOT organized, don't pay their staff on time

and as the poster below stated they very well COULD have been infiltrated since they aren't organized well. ACORN now is not the ACORN of the past.

[dionysus]

12. correct. I remember last year

reading posts from a former DUer worked for them and left after only a couple of weeks because their organization was nonexistant.

edit for spelling

[King of New Orleans]

4. That's a bad mistake but

better the primary than the general election. Now, you've gotta make sure these people get to the polls this fall.

[DeepModem Mom]

5. Sounds like we might need, if possible, coordination with grps registering

voters, especially in Florida. I'm sure any slip-ups like this will result in disqualification, and fewer Democratic votes.

[dumpster_baby]

6. SUE!

Why should one even have to register?

[Misunderestimator]

7. Great... a group that organizes low-income voters forgets to file them?

Well, ain't that a pisser. Let's just shoot ourselves in the foot a little more. We've got enough to worry about in overseeing groups that may corrupt our system, we don't need to be worried about our own incompetence. Anyone know much about his group ACORN?

[Misunderestimator]

8. Now that I've read the whole thing... this is a bit scary:

"Stringer learned recently that the group changed her from being a registered Democrat to "no party affiliation." Now, she cannot vote in Tuesday's Democratic primary."

NOW, I am seriously putting on my :tinfoilhat:

This is a VERY critical primary. There are some SERIOUSLY right-wing "democrats" running. There are good choices, but if voter turnout is low, it could be these RW democrats running against the more seriously right-wing CONSERVATIVES. Mel Martinez has Dubya prancing all over his campaign ads and proudly calls himself a pro-life CONSERVATIVE. When did calling yourself a conservative become a positive thing?

[jus_the_facts]

9. This is gonna be happenin' all over the country come November.....

....call it intuition! :eyes:

[alfredo]

11. around here we make sure those who are in charge of

the registration cards, get them down to the county clerk. Even if it is just one card, it goes.

[jus_the_facts]

13. it's those *county clerks* that worry me too.........

....just wonder how many have been infiltrated and bought off!! :tinfoilhat: :shrug:

[alfredo]

14. Our group tells everyone to expect a reply from the

county clerk in a few weeks. If not, contact them.