Election Reform

News clips

(news clips have not been kept updated - check archives)

Duval County, civil rights groups, reach election suit settlement - Duval County and civil rights groups have settled a lawsuit sued over widespread voting problems in the 2000 presidential election in Florida, county officials said.-- The county has agreed to replace voting machines, offer provisional ballots and add laptop computers at precincts under a settlement reached with the NAACP and four other groups 8/1/02

Cut Exorbitant Filing Fees - ...... Florida voters in 2000 passed a vital election reform. It lets independent and minor-party candidates qualify the same way as Democrats or Republicans, by paying the filing fee or submitting the same, smaller number of voter signatures.-
...But Florida lawmakers and voters still must make another key reform: Sharply reducing extreme qualifying fees, a huge obstacle. ...Florida has America's highest filing fees, equal to 6 percent of an official's annual salary for candidates with party labels, 4 percent for independents. Most states charge only 1 percent or 2 percent, some only $50. 7/22/02

After mock election, new voting machines continue to be criticized
The votes are in: Tiger Woods is America's best sports star, apple pie is the nation's favorite dessert, and the embarrassment over the 2000 election debacle won't end anytime soon. 7/22/02

Voters not on ballot
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Film shows why a trial run was needed.7/21/02

New voting machines won't let Palm Beach forget 2000 election 7/21/02

Judge rejects felons' voting rights suit
A U.S. judge dismisses the challenge to Florida's method for restoring rights of felons. 7/19/02

Felons lose bid to alter vote ban
A group suing the state on behalf of about 620,000 felons lost a bid Thursday to overturn Florida's 134-year-old lifetime voting ban  against convicts.7/19/02

Palm Beach County tests touchscreen voting machines
WEST PALM BEACH — Hoping to avoid a repeat of the 2000 election debacle, Palm Beach County tested the county's new touchscreen machines in a mock election Saturday. In an effort to test the county's 3,100 new touchscreen machines, 3,810 residents voted at malls and supermarkets across the county. 7/14/02

3,800 turn out for mock election
Voters in the county's mock election seemed pleased with new touch-screen technology 7/14/02

CORRECT THE VOTER ROLLS
STATE SHOULD ACCEPT SETTLEMENT The state of Florida played a big role in disfranchising hundreds of eligible voters before the presidential election in November 2000. Now it should be a willing partner in righting that wrong. Voters whose names were removed erroneously from the voter rolls mustn't be cheated twice. 7/10/02

Jeff Lytle: New rules will affect the strategy in this fall's primary elections
A few things to remember as you follow the jockeying for local fall elections: In partisan races (county commissions, governor and Legislature, for example) the rules are different this year. No party runoffs. That means a candidate can earn less than a majority — normally 50 percent plus one — of his or her party's votes and still get launched into office. In a primary with two or more opponents, the victor needs only to beat them by a whisker.6/30/02

Justice Reaches Plan With Counties On Voting - ORLANDO - The Justice Department and two Florida counties reached agreements Friday over voting rights violations, ending the possibility of a protracted court battle. 6/30/02

ACLU helping Florida's ex-felons regain right to vote
APOPKA — Anthony Flowers was a long-term menace to society, with a life of violence and drugs interrupted only by stays in the penal system. Flowers, now 43, feels he's paid his debt after living seven clean years paying his taxes, attending church and raising a family. But as an ex-felon, he's lost many of his civil rights, including the right to vote. Until he gets those rights back, Flowers will wonder if he'll ever finish serving time.6/30/02

Federal scrutiny of law could let felons vote
Questioning by the U.S. Justice Department may hold up elections officials' use of a state list to purge voting rolls. 6/27/02

Voting database under fire
Federal rejection of Florida's plan to stop felons from voting doesn't mean many ex-cons will illegally cast ballots, state and local elections officials said Wednesday. 6/27/02

Elections officials: State likely won't stop felons voting
TALLAHASSEE — Florida might not be able to stop felons from voting illegally in the September primary because of federal concerns a new state law might keep legal voters from casting ballots. The U.S. Justice Department this week ordered the state to delay implementing a new law that makes local elections supervisors purge those suspected of being felons from the list of legal voters. 6/27/02

Voter-discrimination suit against state to proceed - TALLAHASSEE -- A lawsuit alleging rampant voter discrimination in Orange, Volusia and other counties during the 2000 presidential election will go to trial in Miami this August. 6/27/02

Osceola County reaches terms of settlement with DOJ
KISSIMMEE — Osceola County will avert a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice by agreeing to make voting easier for Spanish-speaking citizens. Orange County this week could finish hammering out a settlement similar to Osceola's proposed agreement, which requires more bilingual poll workers and a new "facilitator" in each precinct to trouble shoot any problems, elections officials said, The Orlando Sentinel reported Thursday.6/27/02

Orange settles vote complaint
Orange County Election Supervisor Bill Cowles reached a deal with the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday to hire more bilingual poll workers, heading off a threatened lawsuit over complaints that Spanish-speaking voters didn't get enough help in the 2000 election. 6/27/02

Felon Votes May Plague Fla. Primary
TALLAHASSEE - Florida likely will have no way to block felons from illegally voting in the Sept. 10 primary, and the problem could spill over into November's general election, officials said Tuesday. ... The U.S. Justice Department on Monday ordered the state to delay implementing a new law that compels local elections supervisors to purge those suspected of being felons from the list of legal voters.- - Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Pam Iorio applauded the delay, citing the example of one county resident wrongly denied the right to vote in 2000.-- Earlier this month, more than 1 1/2 years after the 2000 election, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement acknowledged it was wrong when it informed Iorio three times in 2000 and 2001 that Wallace McDonald was a convicted felon and prohibited from voting. 6/26/02

Deadlock on Florida lawsuit over 2000 election
MIAMI — The state and counties have reached a deadlock with civil rights groups who sued over the bitterly disputed 2000 presidential election, attorneys told a judge Tuesday. "As far as I'm concerned, this case is going to trial," U.S. District Judge Alan Gold told the attorneys on both sides after they told him mediation had failed. "It's disappointing, but it is what it is." 6/26/02

Voting rights lawsuit headed to trial-- A voting rights lawsuit against the state, Miami-Dade and several other counties stemming from the disputed 2000 presidential election is headed to trial later this summer after attorneys deadlocked on a settlement, a federal judge said Tuesday.6/26/02

LePore cleared in election inquiry
Palm Beach elections chief Theresa LePore did nothing corrupt or criminal. 6/26/02

Phil Lewis: More conflict than usual on election scene
Florida's newspaper editors get together once a year to exchange ideas, discuss the craft and bestow awards. This year's session was held a week ago in Cape Canaveral. Normally, a portion of the two-day conference is reserved for speeches from political leaders, who often welcome a chance to meet with editors. Last June, Janet Reno addressed the conference as she primed for her current run for governor. 6/23/02

Election reforms get more review
Some major players in Florida's 2000 post-presidential drama won't be on hand as the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights reconvenes today to assess election reforms.6/20/02

Election reforms get more review
Some major players in Florida's 2000 post-presidential drama won't be on hand as the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights reconvenes today to assess election reforms.6/20/02

Feds: Confusions, delays caused Florida 2000 election chaos
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department says confusion and delays in three Florida counties, not intentional denial of voting rights, may have led to some voters leaving the polls before they could cast their ballots in the 2000 presidential election. But the numbers of voters who walked away were too small to change the results in the state that handed George W. Bush his margin of victory, the department concluded Tuesday.5/30/02

Justice downplays voters abuse
Poll problems affected only a few Florida voters, a Justice official said.5/29/02

Orange County polls criticized
The county is the third in Florida to be notified of problems involving the federal Voting Rights Act.5/24/02

THE JUSTICE LAWSUITS
The U.S. Justice Department deserves a round of one-handed applause for its belated decision to file lawsuits in five jurisdictions alleging voting irregularities during the 2000 election.5/23/02

Probe of Florida vote needs decisive result 5/23/02

New system for finding dead and felon voters ready to go online TALLAHASSEE — State and county officials are spending the holiday weekend conducting the final test on a new system to check lists of registered voters against those of felons and dead people.
The new database matching system was required by the Legislature in the wake of the 2000 election, when several voters complained they were improperly prevented from voting because they were wrongly identified as felons. 5/25/02

Ex-felons seek voting rights - ...The ACLU has been hosting workshops throughout the state since the 2000 election, when the group received a private grant to start the workshops. The ACLU also has filed a class action lawsuit challenging how the state informs ex-felons of the clemency procedure and processes the applications. Last year the state's clemency board reported a 12,000 case backlog. 5/12/02

Voting receipts: Yes or no?
Critics of an election paper trail say such a backup system would compromise ballot secrecy.5/5/02

NPR Finally Examines Duval County's 27,000 Uncounted Votes, and Completely Misses the Point 4/23/02

To the point
The state of Florida clings to antiquated and discriminatory laws that deny ex-felons the right to vote. Lawmakers should scrap the laws; but they stubbornly refuse to do so. As a result, the commission charged with restoring ex-prisoners' rights is virtually paralyzed by a backlog of thousands of applications.

GOP's equating soft money,speech a bit disingenuous
After reading Republican Party State Chairman Al Cardenas' letter opposing the campaign-finance reform bill ("Finance-reform bill would weaken parties, shift power," Feb. 25), I had to wonder whether he is clairvoyant or just a con artist.

Ex-cons may get voting rights back faster
James Robert Minnis of Miami got into a scuffle with a customer at an auto parts store, was charged with aggravated assault and in the process lost not just his taxicab permit but also his right to vote.

Bills would aid disabled voters
One in five Americans and an even greater percentage of Floridians have some kind of disability. This makes them 20 percent less likely to register to vote, and those who do register are 15 percent less likely to participate when election day rolls around.

Voters' rights suit set for trial
State reforms are not enough to eliminate lawsuit MIAMI - A federal judge warned Friday that he intends to stay on track for a trial in August on a voter lawsuit challenging the way Florida ran the flawed November 2000 presidential election.

Chadless Florida Has Hot Races, High Profile
TAMPA - Get ready, Florida. Politics is going to put you back on the nation's center stage again. This year Floridians will see a sequel to the 2000 presidential election that made the state the butt of chad and ...

Editorial: Plan to purge voters deserves close scrutiny
The U.S. Justice Department has approved all but one part of 

Editorial: Save campaign reform
The Palm Beach Post
Republican leaders in Congress have said that disclosing donors' names is the best way to keep big money from corrupting politics. So why have they tried to give secret donors a place to hide? Last year, big majorities in both houses of Congress...

State's election reforms on hold - TALLAHASSEE -- Questions about a controversial statewide voter list have led federal authorities to delay final approval of Florida's sweeping election reform law, enacted to erase the embarrassing stigma of the 2000 presidential election.

Justice Reaches Plan With Counties On Voting - ORLANDO - The Justice Department and two Florida counties reached agreements Friday over voting rights violations, ending the possibility of a protracted court battle.

View databases of ballot examinations

Hacker detection program is key
A recent article referred to consideration being given to hiring computer-smart kid hackers to see if the proposed election computers can be hacked into and election entries changed. It is safe to assume that the election computers can be hacked into. Programs have to have entry points to enable developers, testers and service personnel to work on the programs  9/7/01

Democrats.com Exclusive: Florida Legislature Secretly Authorized A New Felons Purge
Paul Lukasiak

Democrats.com has learned that Florida has passed a secret new felons purge law for 2001. This law allows the Republican-controlled Florida Division of Elections to send lists of voters that it "believes" are felons to county election supervisors for purging. As before, the disenfranchised voters would be predominantly African-Americans. To make matters worse, the new purge law uses the state funds that were set aside to help counties buy new voting equipment - especially counties with large minority populations that use the error-prone punch card machines that disenfranchised so many voters in 2000.  More...

Justice Department Blocks 8 Provisions in Florida's Election Reform Law
"The U.S. Justice Department blocked implementation of part of the voting reform package that Florida adopted after the November presidential election, seeking more data to decide if it discriminated against minorities... The Justice Department action came at the request of a voting rights coalition led by the American Civil Liberties Union, which also sued in a federal court in Miami last week to block provisions of the new law that it said discriminated against members of minority groups." The challenged provisions include the posting of a list of "voters' responsibilities," which amounts to an illegal "literacy test," as well as the felons purge scheduled for 2002. The Justice Department's action does not address the secret felon purge law for 2001, which was recently exposed by Democrats.com ...More.

Harris: Criticisms are 'ludicrous...hypocritical'
TALLAHASSEE -- One day after the Florida Democratic Party called for her to resign, Secretary of State Katherine Harris said it was ludicrous to suggest she shouldn't have acted as a Republican booster and supported George W. Bush during his campaign. 8/11/01

Harris won't allow media experts to monitor computer check - 

FL "Secretary of State Katherine Harris won't allow computer investigators hired by several Florida newspapers to monitor the work of a computer scientist hired by her... A consortium of newspapers is seeking access to the hard drives of two computers at the Department of State used by two Republican strategists during Florida's famed election recount, which gave George W. Bush the presidency by 537 votes... Ramakrishna Gummadi, researcher with the computer science department at the University of California at Berkeley, said it is not difficult to erase material from a computer's hard drive and that, without constant monitoring of an inspection, 'you could lose data completely.'"

Florida Panhandle most likely site for Election nite tampering 7/30/01

While Deborah Clark worked as a top official in the Pinellas Supervisor of Elections Office, her husband's employer was awarded more than $400,000 in business with the office.

Now, Clark heads the office, and that company, Elections Systems & Software, is a leading contender to land a lucrative contract -- worth as much as $15-million -- to sell new voting machines to Pinellas County, records show.
...  More  --St. Petersburg Times 7/12/01 

No more messy recounts

Florida is getting ready to purchase computer voting systems that have no paper trail.  We won't have to worry about recounts ever again.  We won't have to worry whether our vote has been counted or not - because we'll never be able to find out.  Another grand idea from Bush Inc.  -- I saw the following emails and had to send them in. Please post these on your Tampa Page.
... Brad R, Tampa 6/20/01

Please read below ... I have tested software for 15 years and what Bill is saying is absolutely correct:


LETTER TO THE EDITORS AND OTHERS:


I just got back from a demo of the systems Supervisor of Elections Pam Iorio of Hillsborough County is looking at to replace the Punch Card systems. Before I go into what I saw, I need to give a quick background on myself. I have been the computer software business for thirty years. In that time I have worked on embedded processors like the one used in the Touch Screen systems. I just got off contract with a company that has a scanner that scans luggage for explosives at airports. A couple years ago I worked on a two-story high satellite named Terra that went up in Dec. 1999. So I know the current technology in the embedded processors used today.


I have no problem with the optical scan systems with scanners at a Precinct level. They have a paper trail. Not only do they quickly report back the results and reject double votes, but they also have the original ballots that on a spot check basis can validate the reported votes versus the paper originals. 


The problem I have is with the Touch Screen Systems Ms. Ioria is pushing. There is no paper trail with the THREE systems she demonstrated June 14, 2001. I talked for about five minutes to Ms. Ioria about the lack of a paper trail and voter fraud. The three systems she showed are the ones the State of Florida is about to certify. ... MORE

Editorial: Purging election reform
The Palm Beach Post
Legislators who studied the 2000 election looking for ways to avoid another national embarrassment saw the need to overhaul the state's flawed voter database. So lawmakers gave the secretary of state $2 million and instructions to work with one agency, the Florida Association of Court Clerks, to develop a comprehensive, accurate list of eligible voters.
Because Florida's secretary of state still is the self-absorbed Katherine Harris, the reform effort probably never had a chance....

Privatizing the purge
Lawmakers were quite specific about how the state Division of Elections should go about the job of establishing that an accurate voter registration. But, that didn't stop Florida Sec. of State Katherine Harris.

New voter rolls arouse more fears
An accurate and reliable voter database has eluded Florida. Now another outside company is hired to design a system.

Fine me? Abolish you!
Six of the nine members of the Florida Elections Commission are registered as lobbyists. For them to simultaneously sit in judgment of a member of the Legislature is an obvious conflict of interest.

Schultz: The ballot that altered U.S. history
By Randy Schultz, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
The wrong man became president of the United States in January. That isn't an opinion. It's a fact. History will draw its conclusions as to whether the country benefited...

Ballot design caused most spoiled votes, study finds -Poorly designed ballots were the single biggest cause of discarded votes in last year's presidential election in Florida, accounting for a far larger proportion of uncounted ballots than the state's notorious punch-card voting machines, a new study for The Herald and seven other newspapers has found.

Panel suggests election reforms
WASHINGTON - A year after Florida's voting problems deadlocked the presidential election for 36 days, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights approved a slate of recommendations Friday to make the process more fair and accessible.

Faulty part may have voided ballots -A $5 plastic part buried inside hundreds of punch-card voting machines may have caused the loss of thousands of presidential ballots in Florida last November, a Herald analysis has found.

What elections chief didn't know creates political 'mess'
CLEARWATER -- The stumbles have come one after the other.

GOP's 'stealth' amendment: Is it valid?
Don't tell anybody, but there's a rumor going around the Internet. No, not that rumor. This one's from the same source, but it's based on a verifiable fact. This is the one about how Republicans went behind everyone's back and slipped an insidious stealth amendment into the budget that requires the state Division of Elections to purge felons, dead people and other ineligible voters from its voter registration database by July. They'll do it with money that was supposed to go for new voting equipment to prevent a recurrence of the ultra-embarrassing 2000 presidential election. ....article 

House Democrats Proposed Funding for New Voting Machines and Voter Education - 4/18/01 

• Touchscreens: Manipulating totals would be too easy

  How wonderful that "foolproof" touchscreen voting has been approved by Secretary of State Katherine Harris.

  It is also verification proof, with no pesky ballots to recount if the election of Gov. Bush is disputed.

  As a system programmer, I know all too well how easy it will be to alter, manipulate or replace the final electronic count of the election results. Even if you hold a receipt of how you voted, what is there to recount?

  Republicans will not have to bother to even vote to win this election!

  BRYAN MORRIS,Maitland,8/21 (letter in Tal Dem)

   

• Report Calls for Justice Probe of 2000 Election
  A task force composed of state and local elections administrators recommended today that the federal government become more active in developing and financing national election standards and procedural guidelines but not tell the states what voting systems they should use or how they should conduct their elections.

  In the latest report stemming from the prolonged voting recount in Florida during last year's presidential election, the task force also called on the Justice Department to investigate allegations of civil rights violations that denied voters access to the polls in Florida and other states during the election.

  "We need to know the facts," said R. Doug Lewis, executive director of the Election Center, a nonpartisan elections organization in Houston that sponsored the task force study and report. "If there was either intentional or unintentional denial of civil rights, that's unacceptable."
  ... By Edward Walsh ... Washington Post posted 8/11/01

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• Ballot printout 
  Imagine if someone suggested that checking accounts or wills or court records or birth certificates or school records would no longer exist in a hard copy format, nor would it be possible to make one. They could only exist in cyberspace. Not a chance.
  
  Yet, the cyberspace touch-screen voting system that is being proposed is precisely that.
  
  A system that allows for two different ways to count an election (computer results vs. hard copy) will cause disputes in a close election. But eliminating the ability to dispute the election results is far worse.
  
  Optical scanners that only accept a correct mark by the voter are cheaper, equally or more accurate and offer manual recount protection.
  
  Supporters of touch screens are vouching for the absolute competence and integrity of cyberspace and the government. What planet are they from?
  
  Who of us would take $10 from an ATM that refused a written receipt? Why would we want a voting system that would offer just as many doubts?
  Samuel F., PLANTATION, letter to Sun Sentinel
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• Carter-Ford Election Reform Plan -

  The Carter-Ford election reform plan sets forth 13 important policy recommendations, including uniform registration, provisional ballots, holiday voting, restoring felons' voting rights, 2% error rate limits, voting machine standards, valid vote standards, and delays in TV network projections. We support all of these recommendations. Congress needs to get to work immediately to fix the system in time for the 2002 elections, which will soon be upon us. (demdailynews 8/4/01)
  http://www.reformelection.org/data/reports/99_full_report.php

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• Lois Frankel Urges Investigation by Ashcroft and Butterworth

   

  Florida House Democratic Leader Lois Frankel gained national recognition for standing up for Al Gore during the recount fiasco. Frankel will enter the Democratic primary for Governor. In response to the NY Times expose, Frankel declared: "The New York Times investigation reveals the hardball tactics of the supporters of George W. Bush to slant the process by treating votes in an unequal manner. As with the events chronicled by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, this effort to ensure a Bush victory also led to voter disenfranchisement. I believe these are possible violations of the Voting Rights Act that demand investigation by the proper authorities in the U.S. Department of Justice and the Florida Attorney General’s Office."
  http://www.floridademocraticcaucus.com/press.asp

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• The Florida Election Was 'Fundamentally Corrupt'

  "The truth is that because election officials in Florida were so unprepared for so close a vote, we will never know who would have won the fair and legally mandated recount that the conservative Republican majority on the Supreme Court stepped in to prevent, lest their man end up on the losing end. But we do know, because of the Times reporting and previous evidence that augments it, that the Bush forces were unwilling to allow an honest accounting to take place... the Times has done a journalistic service in forcing us, once again, to face up to an ugly, but increasingly incontrovertible fact: The 2000 election was stolen; not from the hapless Gore and Lieberman ticket, but from the democratic process itself. We are all the poorer for it." So writes MSNBC columnist Eric Alterman.
  http://msnbc.com/news/600667.asp?cp1=1

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• "Read the New York Times article and then call and write your congressional representative and senators and ask them to investigate the theft of democracy in Florida.... Buzzflash

  
  

  The first page of the article is printed below.  The full article can be found at:  http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/15/politics/15BALL.html

  
  

  July 15, 2001, THE NEW YORK TIMES

  
  

  How Bush Took Florida: Mining the Overseas Absentee Vote
  By DAVID BARSTOW and DON VAN NATTA Jr.
     
  A look at the controversial overseas absentee vote, and its possible impact on the 2000 Election.

   

  Expanded Coverage
  The 2000 Election: Contesting the Vote

   

  How the Ballots Were Examined (July 15, 2001)

   

  Timely but Tossed Votes Were Slow to Get to the Ballot Box (July 15, 2001)

   

  House Republicans Pressed Pentagon for E-Mail Addresses of Sailors (July 15, 2001)

   

  Lieberman Put Democrats in Retreat on Military Vote (July 15, 2001)

   

  Florida Revisits Laws (July 15, 2001)
   
  In the morning after Election Day, George W. Bush held an unofficial lead of 1,784 votes in Florida, but to his campaign strategists the margin felt perilously slim. They were right to worry. Within a week, recounts would erode Mr. Bush's unofficial lead to just 300 votes.

   

  With the presidency hanging on the outcome in Florida, the Bush team quickly grasped that the best hope of ensuring victory was the trove of ballots still arriving in the mail from Florida residents living abroad. Over the next 18 days, the Republicans mounted a legal and public relations campaign to persuade canvassing boards in Bush strongholds to waive the state's election laws when counting overseas absentee ballots.

   

  Their goal was simple: to count the maximum number of overseas ballots in counties won by Mr. Bush, particularly those with a high concentration of military voters, while seeking to disqualify overseas ballots in counties won by Vice President Al Gore.

   

  A six-month investigation by The New York Times of this chapter in the closest presidential election in American history shows that the Republican effort had a decided impact. Under intense pressure from the Republicans, Florida officials accepted hundreds of overseas absentee ballots that failed to comply with state election laws.

   

  In an analysis of the 2,490 ballots from Americans living abroad that were counted as legal votes after Election Day, The Times found 680 questionable votes. Although it is not known for whom the flawed ballots were cast, four out of five were accepted in counties carried by Mr. Bush, The Times found. Mr. Bush's final margin in the official total was 537 votes.

   

  The flawed votes included ballots without postmarks, ballots postmarked after the election, ballots without witness signatures, ballots mailed from towns and cities within the United States and even ballots from voters who voted twice. All would have been disqualified had the state's election laws been strictly enforced.

   

  The Republican push on absentee ballots became an effective counterweight to the Gore campaign's push for manual recounts in mainly Democratic counties in southern Florida.

   

  In its investigation, The Times found that these overseas ballots - the only votes that could legally be received and counted after Election Day - were judged by markedly different standards, depending on where they were counted.

   

  The unequal treatment of these ballots is at odds with statements by Bush campaign leaders and by the Florida secretary of state, Katherine Harris, that rules should be applied uniformly and certainly not changed in the middle of a contested election. It also conflicts with the equal protection guarantee that the United States Supreme Court invoked in December when it halted a statewide manual recount and effectively handed Florida to Mr. Bush.

   

  After being told of The Times's findings, Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, said: ``This election was decided by the voters of Florida a long time ago. And the nation, the president and all but the most partisan Americans have moved on.''

   

  The Times study found no evidence of vote fraud by either party. In particular, while some voters admitted in interviews that they had cast illegal ballots after Election Day, the investigation found no support for the suspicions of Democrats that the Bush campaign had organized an effort to solicit late votes.

   

  Rather, the Republicans poured their energy into the speedy delivery and liberal treatment of likely Bush ballots from abroad. In a Tallahassee ``war room'' within the offices of Ms. Harris, veteran Republican political consultants helped shape the post-election instructions to county canvassing boards. In Washington, senior Bush campaign officials urged the Pentagon to accelerate the collection and delivery of military ballots, and indeed ballots arrived more quickly than in previous elections. Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee helped the campaign obtain private contact information for military voters.

   

  Republicans provided their lawyers with a detailed playbook that included instructions on how to challenge likely Gore votes while fighting for the inclusion of likely Bush votes. In some counties where Mr. Gore was strong, Bush lawyers stood by silently while Gore lawyers challenged overseas ballots, even likely Gore ballots.

   

  The effectiveness of the Republican effort is demonstrated by striking disparities in how different counties treated ballots with similar defects. For instance, counties carried by Mr. Gore accepted 2 in 10 ballots that had no evidence they were mailed on or before Election Day. Counties carried by Mr. Bush accepted 6 in 10 of the same kinds of ballots. Bush counties were four times as likely as Gore counties to count ballots lacking witness signatures and addresses.

   

  In reconstructing the story of the absentee vote, The Times collected copies of virtually all the overseas ballot envelopes that arrived after Election Day and built a comprehensive database for statistical analysis. The Times also examined thousands of pages of election documents and canvassing board meeting transcripts and interviewed more than 300 voters in 43 countries.

   

  Because the ballots themselves are separated from the envelopes containing voter information, it is impossible to know whether the outcome of the election would have been different had the flawed ballot envelopes been treated consistently.

   

  The Times asked Gary King, a Harvard expert on voting patterns and statistical models, what would have happened had the flawed ballots been discarded. He concluded that there was no way to declare a winner with mathematical certainty under those circumstances. His best estimate, he said, was that Mr. Bush's margin would have been reduced to 245 votes. Dr. King estimated that there was only a slight chance that discarding he questionable ballots would have made Mr. Gore the winner.

  
  

  Separate from this investigation, a consortium of newspapers, including The Times, has hired experts to examine all ballots cast in Florida to see whether the official count was affected by faulty voting machines. The results are expected later this summer.
  http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/15/politics/15BALL.html

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• Elections firm has ties to Pinellas - The county elections supervisor's husband worked for and consults for ES&S, a maker of voting equipment that the county may buy.   

  While Deborah Clark worked as a top official in the Pinellas Supervisor of Elections Office, her husband's employer was awarded more than $400,000 in business with the office.

  Now, Clark heads the office, and that company, Elections Systems & Software, is a leading contender to land a lucrative contract -- worth as much as $15-million -- to sell new voting machines to Pinellas County, records show.

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• An Idea to bring back confidence to our Elections!

  Please Push this Suggestion! his will bring confidence back to our Voters!

  IT SHOULD BE IMPERATIVE THAT A RECEIPT BE GIVEN TO EACH VOTER! This receipt should have a data base number on it so that the voter can check  by computer his or her vote. This would reassure anyone who voted that they were counted!

  If you believe this to be a good idea please push this on

  to important people and into the media. I know this will

  bring back some confidence to our elections.

  ... Cookie.Haviland@worldnet.att.net  7/12

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• DEMOCRATS.COM EXCLUSIVE: Absentee Ballot Counting Fraud Found In Escambia County

  According to an investigation by Democrats.com, a close analysis of the Miami Herald's overvote data provides overwhelming evidence of the fraudulent counting of absentee ballots in heavily Republican Escambia County. George W. Bush beat Al Gore in Escambia by a nearly 2 to 1 margin at the polls (62%-38%), but won absentees by nearly 3 to 1 (73%-27%). The "smoking gun" for fraud is the fact that the Herald data contains not ONE single overvoted ballot in which there were only two marks for President, which is inconceivable when data from comparable counties is analyzed. There is clearly sufficient evidence to launch a criminal investigation into the way in which ballots were counted in Escambia County. A criminal investigation would fall under the jurisdiction of Florida's Attorney General or Escambia County's state attorney. But there are also important grounds for the federal government to launch its own investigation under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. http://www.democrats.com/view.cfm?id=580

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• Jeb Bush's Judge Lets Powerful Republican Keep His Voting Rights Despite Committing Election Fraud

   

  -"Two votes and three felony counts brought probation, not prison time, for Chris Carman, a former Manatee County Republican Party executive and brother of Bradenton city councilman Jeff Carman. It also brought a blast of criticism from the man who oversees elections. '[The] judge just spanked his hands,' said Bob Sweat, the county's elections supervisor. 'Poor people get slam-dunked. Those people with money and some influence, maybe with a brother who's on the City Council, they just walk away.' Chris Carman received his probation sentence Thursday from 12th Circuit Court Judge Marc Gilner, after admitting he had voted using the name of a former roommate during the 2000 presidential election and had cast a vote in his own name." Who appointed Gilner? Jeb Bush, of course (see http://www.state.fl.us/eog
   http://web.bradentonherald.com/ - for article
  ....from democrats.com (posted by RitaW 7/10/01)

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• Lest we forget the early commission hearings:

  Harris rejects voting blame - Panel scolds elections official Published Saturday, January 13, 2001, in the Miami Herald

  TALLAHASSEE -- An angered U.S. Civil Rights Commission scolded Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris on Friday for ``abandoning'' elections supervisors, after she denied responsibility for the problem-plagued Nov. 7 election.

  Harris was the second state official to appear before the commission and reject blame for Florida's balloting woes. On Thursday, Gov. Jeb Bush testified that the secretary of state and elections director, not the governor, were responsible for carrying out elections.

  ``I feel as if I'm on this merry-go-round called denial,'' commissioner Victoria Wilson told Harris. ``Supervisors were desperate for your help, and you abandoned them. They wanted money, they wanted guidance. Voters ended up having to pay the price.''

  The Civil Rights Commission wrapped up two days of hearings in Tallahassee Friday in its probe of allegations that thousands of voters were disenfranchised on Nov. 7. Commissioners will hold hearings in Miami on Feb. 16.

  During 90 minutes of testimony, they questioned Harris about her relationship with the 67 county elections supervisors and how the state handles training, voter education and fraud complaints. They also asked about her role in the manual recount of ballots in the presidential election.

  Harris said her duties included oversight of seven different divisions, including elections. She said implementation of the state election code and daily operations fell to the elections director, Clay Roberts. Local control of elections, she said, fell to county elections supervisors.

  ``I don't have expertise in the management of these activities,'' said Harris, who described her role as ministerial. ``The way I've chosen to administer our office . . . I've chosen [to delegate].''

  Harris deferred most questions Friday to Roberts.

  Under the state constitution and laws, Harris said, her office was responsible for the qualification of candidates for state and federal offices and for district elections involving more than one county, for campaign finance reports, and for keeping a central voter file.

  `VERY GOOD JOB'

  She added that given staff and budget cutbacks, the division did a ``very good job'' prior to the election in giving technical help to the counties.

  ANDREA ROBINSON
  arobinson@herald.com

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• LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS CAPITOL REPORT Issue 2001, Vol. 12 May 7, 2001 
  
  
  The 2001 Regular Session ended just shy of midnight on Friday, May 4. The results appear below. As always with the Session, things move very fast in the final days and the possibility always exists for amendments of interest or concern having been added to bills not otherwise of interest or priority. 
  
  For this reason, a final legislative wrap-up report is prepared after copies of all final approved bills are available and reviewed. 
  
  
  ELECTION REFORM 
  
  The elections reform legislation passed on the last day of the Session. Not surprisingly, it was reported on national television and radio. Linda Vaughn provides this report. 
  
  The election reform issues went to Conference Committee on Tuesday during the last week of the Session. Subject to legislative rules, the final report from the Committee could not be amended by the House or Senate - only passed or defeated. The report may best be described as "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly." 
  
  THE GOOD: Sweeping election reforms were approved as described below in the "Bill Summary". 
  
  THE BAD: The Conference Committee did not accept some the most important reforms advocated by the League, including: 
  
  Limiting the political activity of members of the local and state canvassing boards Nonpartisan election of Supervisors of Elections 
  
  Allowing government employees to serve as poll workers in lieu of their regular work 
  
  High school voter education and registration programs 
  
  Restoring the voting rights of ex-felons. However, the Governor and the Attorney General agreed that they would work with the Department of Corrections to streamline the process and improve assistance to ex-felons. 
  
  This may be all that is needed, given that the provisions for restoration are already in the law, they are just not being followed. 
  
  ACTION NEEDED: Contact the Governor, the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Department of Corrections to let them know that the League strongly supports this new effort and will be monitoring their progress. 
  
  THE UGLY: In spite of the news conference called by the League and Common Cause (which included a significant number of other public interest organizations, as previously reported) public campaign financing was weakened. Contributions from out of state residents will not be counted toward the threshold amounts needed to qualify for public financing and will not be matched. This prohibition is widely considered to be unconstitutional and will almost certainly be challenged in court. 
  
  BILL SUMMARY 
  
  Voting Systems: 
  
  Punchcards, paper ballots, mechanical lever machines and central count voting systems are prohibited in Florida beginning with the 2002 primary election. Over the next two years small counties will receive $7500 per precinct while the larger counties will get $3500 per precinct. 
  
  Additionally, all ballot designs in the future will be uniform statewide. 
  
  Voter Education 
  
  The bill includes $6 Million for voter education and poll worker training. 
  
  The Division of Elections will adopt minimum standards for voter education, but the Supervisors of Elections will have discretion for developing appropriate programs for their counties. A Voters Bill of Rights will be posted at each polling place on election day. 
  
  Poll Worker Training: 
  
  Poll workers must complete a specified number of hours of training and meet minimum standards. Additionally, the Division of Elections will provide a statewide uniform polling place manual to guide poll workers on procedures to be followed on election day. 
  
  Second Primary 
  
  The second primary was eliminated BUT ONLY FOR THE 2002 ELECTION. The primary will be held on the second Tuesday in September to avoid the Labor Day holiday. Various other dates were revised to conform to this change. The Legislature will likely study this issue and decide whether to readdress it prior to the 2004 elections. 
  
  Absentee Voting: Any registered voter may vote an absentee ballot without having to give a reason. 
  
  Military and Overseas Voting: Several changes will improve the process for voting absentee, including late registration, a state write-in ballot, e-mail notification of names of candidates and electronic transmission of absentee ballots and requests from overseas voters. The absentee ballot will include a place to sign, date and witness the ballot. The date the voter writes on the ballot will be considered the official date the vote was cast. 
  
  Ballots: Voters will no longer be required to give their social security number or voter identification number when requesting an absentee ballot. 
  
  Instead, the bill provides for a Voter s Certificate that requires the voter s signature and the signature and address of a witness 18 years of age or older. 
  
  The bill provides for a third degree felony offense for anyone who releases election results before the polls close. Additionally, there will be a study of the benefits and drawbacks of having statewide uniform polling hours, taking into consideration the two time zones in Florida. 
  
  Statewide Voter Registration Database 
  
  The Department of State is required to develop a statewide voter registration database containing voter registration information from all the counties. There is a criminal penalty for any Supervisor of Elections who does not timely implement and maintain the database. 
  
  Provisional Ballots 
  
  When a voter's eligibility cannot be determined, the voter will be given a provisional ballot, which will only count if the voter is in the right precinct. 
  
  Recounts, Certification, Protests and Contests: 
  
  Florida will now have statewide uniform procedures for recounts, certifications, protests and contests. Details about these procedures will be included in our final Report. 
  
  
  CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM 
  
  Though not an assigned Priority to the League lobbyists this year, Bill Jones and Linda Vaughn stepped in to help on this longstanding LWVF concern. Bill Jones offers this report. 
  
  The House and Senate passed CS/HB 273 by Ross. The new law includes the League-supported definition of a Political Action Committee and more disclosure requirements for Committees of Continuance Existence (CCEs). Reporting periods are shortened for political committees, CCE s, and other entities making independent expenditures. 
  
  Senator Al Lawson s SB 1302 and HB 439 by Representative Doug Wiles on campaign finance reform were never heard in committee. However, Representative Wiles and Representative Tim Ryan offered the League' s proposed reforms to HB 273 (campaign finance) as well as the election reform package. The amendments included the following provisions: the elimination of the "3-pack" advertisements by the political parties, requirements to make immediate (24 hour) disclosure by the parties of all contributions over $1,000 dollars, prohibition on large contributions over $5,000 to the political parties, clarification that "issue advertisements" are candidate ads and subject to the same disclosure, and elimination of all current loopholes used by political parties to make excessive in-kind contributions to candidates. None of the attempts to amend these bills were successful due to opposition by House leaders, but we again helped force attention on the issues and needs (and helped to begin educating freshmen members in the process). 
  
  The majority party offered and passed a strike all amendment to the election reform package that included increases in the contribution limit from $500 to $1000 dollars per election, fixed limits on the availability of public financing money to candidates, and various measures devised to make it more difficult for candidates to qualify for public financing of elections. At the end of the day only one provision passed. Although the League vigorously opposed any changes to the law, both the House and Senate agreed to not require a match for any contribution received from someone out of state to a candidate trying to qualify for public financing of elections. We believe this may make it harder for candidates to qualify for matching funds. In the past, a candidate accepting contributions from family and friends living out of state could match these contributions and these contributions could also be used to qualify for the threshold amount. The efforts of Common Cause members and the League members were terrific in helping to contact the Conference Committee members in an effort to stop this and the other above mentioned provisions. Also see Linda Vaughn s report on this issue. 
  
  REDISTRICTING 
  
  Bill Jones followed the redistricting issue and offers this report. 
  
  Both the House and Senate Redistricting Committees are planning to hold a series of 30 to 34 public hearings throughout the state for the purpose of educating the public on the redistricting process and to hear public testimony. They are attempting to hold the hearings in such geographic locations so most citizens would be within 50 miles of a hearing site. The Committees have not yet released their proposed schedules. The House or Senate Redistricting Committees have not adopted any standards for redrawing the lines nor have they decided how they will give the public access to the information. 
  
  Therefore, League members will need to call on legislators presiding over these public hearings to support open access and a fair process for redrawing the lines. To this end, the League is supporting the following access points and standards. 
  
  All the redistricting technology should be available to the public. All plans being considered by a committee should be made available to the public in advance, with the proper supporting documentation. Public hearings should be conducted before the committee drafts a plan and after the committee drafts a plan. 
  
  Districts should be drawn as equal in population as practicable. The district lines should be drawn to form districts that are compact and contiguous. The districts should not be drawn to dilute the voting strength of any racial or minority group. 
  
  The districts should not be drawn to favor any person or political party. The districts should be single member districts including 40 Senate districts and 120 House districts. 
  
  
  GROWTH MANAGEMENT 
  
  Marcia Elder reports the following. 
  
  The House Growth Management bill (CS/HB 1617 & 1487 was approved by the House in the last week of the Session but not taken up by the Senate. When the bill first came to the Floor in late April, it contained only the Governor's priority proposals on school facilities and fiscal impact analysis. Controversial features of the House s separate growth management bill (CS/HB 1929) were amended onto the bill at that time, drawing opposition from the League and others. Other objectionable features were added as well, such as a prohibition on impact fees for private schools and a new proposal (not heard in committee) expanding siting authority for electric utility substations. Proposals to weaken the Governor s legislation were ultimately removed while other problematic measures remained. The bill was revisited on May 3 and several additional changes made, among them removing the infrastructure funding mechanism and removing the denials section of the schools proposal (the "teeth" of that measure). As a further change, a proposal was added to increase the threshold for Developments of Regional Impact (DRI) standards and guidelines by 200% for rural areas of critical economic concern (a list of counties previously designated by the State). The bill passed by a vote of 118 to 1. The Governor s Office expressed support for the bill but it did not move forward. 
  
  Meanwhile, a revised version of the Senate s omnibus bill was offered in the form of an amendment when their bill (CS/CS/CS/SB 310 & 380) was taken up for initial consideration by the full Senate on May 3. Among the changes it embodied were the removal of language exempting marinas from the DRI process (a change that the League had supported), extension of the sustainable communities demonstration project by one year, deletion of the call for development of a fiscal impact analysis model (as suggested by the Governor s Office given their reaction to the earlier removal of the corresponding pilot ram; although $500,000 in funding for the model remained in the bill), and addition of the DRI threshold increase for rural areas. The bill won initial approval and carried over for final action on May 4. An amendment was offered to strike the proposal to allow increases to the local infrastructure surtax by supermajority vote rather than referendum. After encountering objections from one key Senator, that change was approved as was the bill, with a similar provision retained intact whereby increases in the school capital outlay surtax would be subject to supermajority approval. (On both dates, amendments were also filed for deletion of the DRI threshold increase but they were withdrawn by the sponsor due to lack of sufficient support for their passage.) 
  
  Efforts were underway throughout the day on Friday to negotiate a compromise between the House and Senate bills. Major philosophical differences had arisen over the funding issue, where the Senate was unwilling to pass a bill that lacked some form of funding for the schools proposal and the House was unwilling to agree to the funding proposal. The Homebuilders had voiced strong opposition to the Governor s proposals and were adamant about legislation not going through without funding. The Governor had been reluctant to include funding at this time. Negotiations on the two bills were unsuccessful and the House opted to not take up the Senate bill on the final day of the Session 
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• FL-TALLAHASSEE-REPORT@LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG
  
  
  April 26, 2001 statement by Florida Consumer Action Network, Florida League of Conservation Voters, Florida Chapter Sierra Club and Florida Clean Elections Coalition
  
  LOOK REAL HARD: LEGISLATIVE LEADERS WANT YOU TO FIND SOMETHING, ANYTHING THAT SOUNDS GOOD FOR ELECTORAL REFORM
   But we're here to say: look again. There's certainly something missing. Our allies around the country and world are for sure watching. But more important, the citizens of Florida EXPECT COMPREHENSIVE REFORMS. It may be that the bar was set too low, and the committee votes too partisan. Remember the calls we all got on November 7; remember the testimony in November, December and January?
  
  Next week you -and we-will ask:
  
  Did the legislators address the serious reforms that will give Floridians ANY hope for the future of democracy?
  
  1. Did the legislators take seriously the challenge to provide real VOTER EDUCATION and MEANINGFUL TRAINING FOR POLL WORKERS?
  
  2. Did the legislators buy the voting machines to replace the punch cards and chads? NOT YET! And as Ion Sancho warned, there are only a few weeks left to get those machines on order.
  
  3. Did the legislators provide that our elections commission will be independent and above reproach from now on? No, they are struggling to put any limits on any officials, as if Nov 7 didn't happen. We heard the Senate protections this morning.
  
  4. Did the legislators provide for multi lingual capabilities in those many precincts where they are needed? The House Council voted down such simple amendments as recently as last Thursday night, saying that it would "cost too much" to print more languages on the ballots and instructions.
  
  5. Did the legislators address the multitude of problems with the "Motor Voter" program?
  
  6. Did legislators write "Early Voting" into the statutes, so that, like here in Leon County, thousands of voters can vote during the final weeks prior to each election day, and on Saturdays and early evenings? NO, discretion seems to somehow still have credibility, even though it was the individual discretion of 67 different Election Supervisors which caused much of the misery last fall.
  
  7. Did the legislators extend the precinct voting hours to accommodate more voters with shorter lines and more after work voting? Nope, it was specifically voted down, even though MOST STATES in this country keep their polls open later than Florida's 7 pm.
  
  8. Did the legislators re-enfranchise the nearly half million Floridians who otherwise will NEVER be able to vote, even though they have "paid their debt to society" and have returned to live, work and participate in other civic responsibilities? NOT YET.
  
  9. Did the legislators strengthen enforcement of election laws?
  
  10. Did the legislators try to make Proportional Representation more a reality by changing the statutory "winner take all" formula for our state's hard-fought electoral votes? If Florida had had the courage to change winner-take-all to proportional allocation of electoral votes, it would have surely started a trend followed by many other states to change the dangerous results of some electoral college votes.
  
  11. Did the legislators consider same "day registration " which would avoid many of the problems of the last election?
  
  12. Did the legislators consider the proposal for "instant runoff voting" to allow voters to elect candidates and public officials by a majority of voters' support, rather than a plurality?
  
  13. Did the legislators do any meaningful campaign finance reform? Election 2000 has fed the demands in many areas of the citizenry for real spending limits and Clean Money Campaign Reform. But Not in the Florida legislature.
  
  INSTEAD, the House is passing Campaign Finance Deform that is an insult to all Floridians by opening the flood gates for twice as much money in politics at all levels of government!
  
  14. Did the legislators read the bills and amendments they pass next week before allowing a vote on the floor? Thursday's House process is the most recent lesson in why if they "Haven't read it, Don't vote for it!" The last minute campaign deforms threaten to turn the necessary election reform efforts into an "Incumbent Protection Act." Legislators can't expect to come back later and use the excuse that they didn't realize what they were voting for.
  
  We look forward to the return of the US Civil Rights Commission after next week's sine die; we know they're going to be real thrilled by all the so-called reforms being inched through this session. What a wasted opportunity now! Thank you.-- Dan Hendrickson, Legislative Chair, FCAN, 850/ 425-0616
  
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• Florida House of Representatives

  Democratic Office       
  Lois J. Frankel Democratic Leader      Doug Wiles  Democratic Leader pro tempore

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 18, 2001  
  FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Ryan Banfill, (850) 488-9622

  HOUSE DEMOCRATS PROPOSE FUNDING FOR NEW VOTING MACHINES AND VOTER EDUCATION

          TALLAHASSEE - Saying the current House election reform proposal doesn't "adequately provide funding for voting machines and voter education" and relies heavily on "loan schemes that could penalize counties instead of helping them," House Democratic Leader Lois Frankel, Rep. Christopher Smith, of Fort Lauderdale, and members of the House Democratic Caucus today called on the Florida Legislature to pass a meaningful election reform bill to help counties in need acquire new voting machines and provide for voter education. 

          "For 36 days, Florida's broken election system caused the nation to wait to find out who the new president would be. The people of Florida saw this state's stature suffer in the eyes of the world. During this session, we have an opportunity to do something about it but time is running out," House Democratic Leader Frankel said.  "The people of Florida are looking to this Legislature to take the necessary action to renew democracy in our state and repair our broken elections system. That means no excuses. We must acquire the voting machines necessary and provide enhanced voter education so that we will never have to endure another election spectacle like we did in 2000."

          During a news conference, Reps. Frankel outlined two plans to ensure every county that needs new voting machines will have new voting machines for the 2002 election. One proposal provides a total of $40 million to the 41 counties currently in need of precinct-based optical scanning equipment so they can acquire this equipment and have it up and running for the next election.

  "There are some who wrongly say it's not fair to provide some counties with voting machines while others have made the sacrifice to put them in place," Rep. Frankel said, pointing to a chart illustrating examples of the yearly county-by-county inequity in lawmaker local projects. "Every year we fund different projects in all our counties based on the unique needs of each county. This is a long-standing practice of the Florida Legislature. Providing all counties in need voting machines has a greater statewide impact than the member project 'turkey' process. All citizens have an interest in establishing a fair, uniform voting process. With voting machines, when we lift up the counties in need, all Floridians will benefit."

  To address questions of fairness, an alternate proposal would provide $59 million over two years to help the counties in need of new voting machines while also reimbursing counties that have already upgraded their voting machines. The counties in need of new machines would be first in line to receive the state funding. The counties being reimbursed would receive their funding next year.

  "Throughout this election saga one thing has remained clear, the people want this job done. In a year with a $53 billion budget and the House proposing $350 million in tax breaks, there is no reason to pinch pennies on election reform," said Rep. Smith who sat as a member of the Governor's Select Task Force on Election Procedures, Standards and Technology and has played a leading role in developing election reform legislation this year.

            Reps. Frankel and Smith also said that no true election reform would ever be complete without the Legislature making a stronger commitment to improving voter education. To accomplish this goal, Reps. Frankel and Smith propose providing $4.4 million to ensure Florida voters will have the information they need to accurately use the new voting technologies when they go to cast their votes in the 2002 election.

          Reps. Frankel and Smith noted that since the 2000 election, they and other Democrats have repeatedly called on the Florida Legislature to pass meaningful election reform during this legislative session. According to the Associated Press, a recent poll commissioned by the James Madison Institute and the Collins Center for Public Policy shows three of four respondents said it's "very important" for the Legislature to reform voting methods before the 2002 election.

  # # #

       Voting Reform Cost Per County

          Total $ Allocated                       Total $ Allocated      
  County  Based on # of Precincts         County  Based on # of Precincts
  Alachua $           530,000             Lake    $         860,000  
  Baker   $             80,000            Lee     $          1,500,000   
  Bay     $           470,000             Leon    $             950,000  
  Bradford        $ 200,000             Levy    $             210,000  
  Brevard $        1,770,000              Liberty $             80,000 
  Broward $        6,180,000              Madison $       110,000  
  Calhoun $        130,000             Manatee $          1,350,000   
  Charlotte       $ 630,000             Marion  $               960,000  
  Citrus  $           350,000             Martin  $                400,000  
  Clay    $           510,000             Miami-Dade  $    6,170,000   
  Collier $           960,000             Monroe  $               330,000  
  Columbia        $ 310,000             Nassau  $             210,000  
  Desoto  $           150,000             Okaloosa        $   480,000  
  Dixie   $           110,000             Okeechobee      $  180,000  
  Duval   $        2,680,000              Orange  $            2,310,000   
  Escambia        $ 1,080,000              Osceola $         660,000  
  Flagler $           270,000             Palm Beach      $  5,310,000   
  Franklin        $     80,000            Pasco   $               1,320,000   
  Gadsden $        160,000             Pinellas        $      3,450,000   
  Gilchrist       $    140,000             Polk    $                1,630,000   
  Glades  $           130,000             Putnam  $             500,000  
  Gulf    $               140,000             Santa Rosa      $  360,000  
  Hamilton        $      80,000            Sarasota        $ 1,420,000   
  Hardee  $           120,000             Seminole       $  1,330,000   
  Hendry  $           220,000             St. Johns       $     570,000  
  Hernando        $ 510,000             St. Lucie       $     780,000  
  Highlands       $  240,000             Sumter  $             240,000  
  Hillsborough  $ 3,200,000            Suwannee        $ 160,000  
  Holmes  $           160,000             Taylor  $             140,000  
  Indian River    $   380,000             Union   $             110,000  
  Jackson $           270,000              Volusia $          1,720,000   
  Jefferson       $   130,000              Wakulla $             120,000  
  Lafayette       $     50,000              Walton  $             320,000  
                          Washington      $             150,000  
                 
  Total cost for all counties based on number of precincts:                               $58,810,000    
  Total cost for counties not in compliance with proposed state law:      $39,860,000

  Price per precinct = $10,000

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  Civil Rights Commission Findings

•  Editorial, June 08, 2001 -- The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights' draft report on problems with Florida's presidential balloting has serious faults. There's partisan bias from a commission dominated by Democrats, ignorance of state government officials' roles in the election process, and some unjust finger-pointing.

  State GOP leaders: Election study driven by bias

  Panel's conclusions may have overstated findings

  ASSESSING BLAME

  State's election slammed - Black voters hurt worst, report says
  Incompetent preparation and errors at polling places disproportionately hurt black voters in November, but state officials didn't deliberately try to tilt the presidential election to Gov. Jeb Bush's brother, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has concluded.

  Bush rips civil rights panel for leaking election report
  By Brian E. Crowley, Palm Beach Post Political Editor
  Suggesting that there may have been "intentional discrimination" in Florida during last year's election, the chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights said Tuesday that she wants...

  Editorial: Numbers are key issue in voting rights report
  The Palm Beach Post
  Critics of this week's scathing report from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on Florida voting have reason to complain about political agendas. Four of the panel's eight members are Democrats, three are Independents and one is Republican. The chairwoman, Mary Frances Berry, supported Al Gore. The leak of the commission's draft report several days before release rightly raises...

  Florida vote probe to go nationwide - WASHINGTON -- The head of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights said Friday that the group planned to expand its investigation beyond Florida's troubled election to other states, opening an unprecedented study of voting that could continue through Election Day 2002.

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• Seabrook officials pass ordinance on group planning rally

  Associated Press  Sunday, June 10, 2001

  SEABROOK ISLAND, S.C. — A Florida group that wants to protest a conference honoring Florida Judge Sanders Sauls and Secretary of State Katherine Harris has run into problems with the city council.

  Seabrook City Council passed an ordinance last month that required groups that want permission to protest to post a $500 bond in case there are any damages to City Hall, which is left open so protesters could use the restrooms, said Mayor Dean Stewart.

  That means Bob Kunst's group The Oral Majority in Miami Beach, Fla., will have to pay the bond before protesting the June 22 meeting of the South Carolina Chapter of the Free Republic, set to honor Harris and Sauls.
  Naples Daily News...full story

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  Still Mad About Florida? 

  Welcome to the 'SilenCED Majoirty' This is the first poll we've seen that asked how people feel about Florida ...
  (question 19:) "When you think about how the votes for president were counted in Florida this past year, would you say you are more: Angry, or more (58%); Satisfied (28%); Neither (11%); Not sure (3%). Break that down by party, and you discover that 81% of Democrats are "angry or more" - but also 58% of Independents and 36% of Republicans. Remember Nixon's famous "Silent Majority"? Those of us who won't "get over it" are the SilenCED Majority!
  ....foxnews.com in demdaily 6/12/01

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• Florida House Democratic Leader Demands Investigation of Stolen Election

  State House Democratic Leader Lois Frankel said the Civil Rights Commission's report provided "enough ammunition to justify investigations into voting irregularities" in Florida. Frankel sent a letter requesting formal investigations to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth, Gov. Jeb Bush, Secretary of State Katherine Harris and legislative leaders. The Justice Department claims to be investigating, but John Ashcroft's record of denying civil rights to blacks as Governor of Missouri should disqualify him from any investigation.
  http://www.floridademocraticcaucus.com

No more messy recounts

Florida is getting ready to purchase computer voting systems that have no paper trail.  We won't have to worry about recounts ever again.  We won't have to worry whether our vote has been counted or not - because we'll never be able to find out.  Another grand idea from Bush Inc.  -- I saw the following emails and had to send them in. Please post these on your Tampa Page.
...Brad R, Tampa 6/20/01

Please read below and contact Pam Iorio and tell her this is not acceptable. Then contact your Tampa friends and tell them to call her too. I have tested software for 15 years and what Bill is saying is absolutely correct:


LETTER TO THE EDITORS AND OTHERS:


I just got back from a demo of the systems Supervisor of Elections Pam Iorio of Hillsborough County is looking at to replace the Punch Card systems. Before I go into what I saw, I need to give a quick background on myself. I have been the computer software business for thirty years. In that time I have worked on embedded processors like the one used in the Touch Screen systems. I just got off contract with a company what has a scanner that scans luggage for explosives at airports. A couple years ago I worked on a two-story high satellite named Terra that went up in Dec. 1999. So I know the current technology in the embedded processors used today.


I have no problem with the optical scan systems with scanners at a Precinct level. They have a paper trail. Not only do they quickly report back the results and reject double votes, but they also have the original ballots that on a spot check basis can validate the reported votes versus the paper originals. 


The problem I have is with the Touch Screen Systems Ms. Ioria is pushing. There is no paper trail with the THREE systems she demonstrated June 14, 2001. I talked for about five minutes to Ms. Ioria about the lack of a paper trail and voter fraud. The three systems she showed are the ones the State of Florida is about to certify. 


The Touch Screen systems load the information for a vote and program updates from a central point. IT WOULD BE EASY to rig an election without a paper trail. I pointed out to Ms. Ioria that ALL acceptable accounting systems have checks and balances. It is funny that the Touch Screen Systems Florida is looking at do not have any checks and balances. If Ms. Ioria had a private business would she find acceptable that the Accounts Payable person could write checks with out any checks and balances at all?


I pointed out to Ms. Ioria the problem with the Felon purge in this last election. The party in power picked a company that was very supportive of the party in power and they worked together to purge as many voters of the other party as they could. Now that same party in power is picking the NEW equipment and companies for the next election. 


The people programming and the local people feeding the parameters for the Touch Screen both have the ability to commit voter fraud. For example, a low level technician who believes in party A could set the parameters for half the Touch Screens in a heavy party B precinct so all votes for candidate B get recorded for candidate A or small candidate C. Consider Duval counties three precincts with over 10,000 double punch votes. All it would have taken is two people to destroy 10,000 valid punch cards in less than a hour. 


In my talk with Ms. Ioria, she said nobody had shown her a Touch Screen system with a paper trail. In less than 10 minutes on the Net I found one, Gladstone & Smith Company out of New Mexico. Also I found from a Missouri newspaper a quote from their law. "Missouri law should allow for the use of electronic "touch-screen" voting systems in Missouri, if certified for use by the Missouri Secretary of State. Such system should provide for a paper trail for each ballot cast." 


From an article from the San Francisco Chronicleon Monday, December 4, 2000 titled The Risks of Touch-Screen Balloting


"Much more serious objections came from Dr. Peter G. Neumann, and he's certainly not someone to argue with lightly: He's principal scientist at the Computer Science Lab at SRI International in Menlo Park, chairman of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Committee on Computers and Public Policy and author of a book called "Computer-Related Risks," among many other distinctions. Among his areas of expertise is the problem of election security. 

In essence, he argues that the challenge of ensuring the integrity of elections conducted on electronic equipment is much greater than my column suggested. In fact, he describes touch-screen systems as "disasters waiting to happen -- with enormous opportunities for fraud and accidents that are very difficult to detect and almost impossible to rectify." 

Through Neumann I also heard from Rebecca Mercuri, a computer scientist who recently completed a Ph.D. dissertation on "Electronic Vote Tabulation Checks & Balances." In laying out a perspective similar to Neumann's, she focused in particular on the absence of an audit trail with electronic systems: 
"It is essential to elections that there be an alternative method for independently verifying that the votes cast correspond to the totals reported. Since I (as well as many 12-year-olds) can write programs that accept one input value, record a different one and report yet another, computer systems can be no more trusted to provide their own verification than can a fox guarding the hen house.""


I found tons of articles on the net about Touch Screen systems that lack paper output and the security risk they present.


Contact Pam Iorio County Center - 16th Floor · 601 E. Kennedy Blvd. · Tampa, FL 33602 (813) 272-5850 · fax(813) 272-7043 · Email:info@votehillsborough.org


Thank you, William Sterner carsch44@excite.com

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...posted by Rita W, Seattle WA, 6/23/01

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