 |
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Check the new
WhoseFlorida for
updates
Kathryn Harris, I am one of the
names who was taken off the rolls in 2000. Thank you Cruella.
My Grandfather,Father,3 Uncles and Brother fought in this nations
wars and shed blood on the battlefields of this country's
wars. I believe in justice Ms. Harris, and I pray that
someday you are held accountable for what you did to democracy and
to me..... zeek, 6/27/02
Let
the races begin
Qualifying has closed for Florida elections, and, in far too many
races, so have the voters' options. Improved election machinery
doesn't mean much when a candidate, unopposed, is elected without
a vote. - TALLAHASSEE -- Florida's presidential debacle produced
eternal truth in a hot-selling T-shirt that said, "It's not
your vote that counts, it's how your vote is counted."-- For
2002, here is a sequel: "There's no vote that counts if you
have no vote to be counted." --- When it comes to electing
our Legislature this fall, nearly half of us will have no vote to
be counted. ---Anybody who claims Florida is a democracy is, to
put it kindly, being disingenuous. 7/28/02
Controversy
over state's 2000 ballots hangs on
They were hauled across the state; counted
and recounted. With leadership of the nation at stake, they were
perhaps the most scrutinized pieces of paper in American history.
Now Florida must decide whether to preserve them or throw them in
the garbage 7/28/02
Florida
earns ‘D’ on NAACP’s election reform report card -
Dissatisfied with the pace of election reform, the NAACP issued a
report card on Monday branding six states with an ‘F’ and Florida
with a ‘D’ for their attempts to upgrade polling practices after
the marred 2000 presidential election. 7/9/02
Cabinet
hopeful outlines plan for election reform
George Sheldon, candidate for attorney general, calls for an
independent, bipartisan elections board. 7/9/02
Sheldon
proposes new state elections panel
Recalling the partisan fight after Florida's 2000 presidential race,
Democrat George Sheldon said Monday the state should set up a
nonpartisan commission to certify future elections.7/9/02
Voting
files' errors targeted-- A
controversial database that led to the wrongful removal of voters
from county rolls two years ago will be reprocessed in search of
names that should be reinstated, under a settlement announced
Tuesday in a federal voting rights lawsuit.-- It would be the
first time since the contentious 2000 presidential election that
the central voter files would be corrected for errors. 7/2/02
THE GREAT FLORIDA EX-CON GAME
How the “felon” voter-purge was itself felonious
by Greg Palast
In November the U.S. media, lost in patriotic reverie, dressed
up the Florida recount as a victory for President Bush. But
however one reads the ballots, Bush's win would certainly have
been jeopardized had not some Floridians been barred from
casting ballots at all. Between May 1999 and Election Day 2000,
two Florida secretaries of state - Sandra Mortham and Katherine
Harris, both protégées of Governor Jeb Bush- ordered 57,700
"ex-felons," who are prohibited from voting by state
law, to be removed from voter rolls. (In the thirty-five states
where former felons can vote, roughly 90 percent vote
Democratic.) A portion of the list, which was compiled for
Florida by DBT Online, can be seen for the first time here; DBT,
a company now owned by ChoicePoint of Atlanta, was paid $4.3
million for its work, replacing a firm that charged $5,700 per
year for the same service. If the hope was that DBT would enable
Florida to exclude more voters, then the state appears to have
spent its money wisely.
.... MORE
Harper's Magazine, 3/1/02
....posted by jkeels, 3/5/02
Arizona Democracy Group Launches Campaign to Help 'Take Back the
State'
The Arizona Democracy Group, "…for Everyone
Left of the Radical Right", is a multi-partisan group of
2,500+ members that first came together out of concern about the
process, result and aftermath of the 2000 Presidential Election.
It is dedicated to help achieve electoral reform, advocate key
issues for The People, and champion civil liberty and equal
opportunity for all residents of Arizona. The AzDG intends to be a
united, active and effective force in legislative processes and in
upcoming elections of public officials. Its diverse membership
collaborates with like-minded individuals and groups so as to
optimize impact and make effective use of the resulting strength
and solidarity. If you live in another state, consider using this
as a model for organizing a reform movement in your state. http://www.arizonademocracy.com
1/6/02
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MY STRUGGLE WITH GETTING OVER IT
7/1/01
League
of Women Voters session summary2001
Sierra
Club Report 2001
Questions
about the 2000 presidential election
continue as media consortium
results are completed - see
Our struggle getting over it (the election)
|
(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
Payday
loan firm to sign up voters
In the quest to sign up more voters for this year's election,
voting-rights organizations are taking all the help they can get. The
People for the American Way Foundation and Arrive With Five announced
Tuesday that they are teaming up with Advance America, a payday loan
company that is currently under investigation by the state Attorney
General's Office. 7/31/02
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
Elections
officials worry over wordy ballot
A rerun constitutional amendment aimed at ending frivolous appeals of
death sentences has election supervisors considering a legal challenge of
their own 7/7/02
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
Refusing
to see injustice
TALLAHASSEE -- This may come as news to Sen. Locke Burt, a legislator
who is running for attorney general, but people whose criminal
convictions are overturned are just as innocent, in every legal sense,
as he is. 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.
Lawmakers
aren't rushing to fix gap in donor law
Campaign donors who disguise political contributions by using a fake
name are no longer penalized.
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 ...
Chad
theories continue to pile up
What if they held the most talked-about election in American history
and a year later, when no one seemed to care anymore, you thought you
had found the smoking gun? ... Jones found he could create an
impenetrable jam with just 317 punches on a Votomatic. It took him
longer, 668 punches, to create a logjam on the Data Punch machine, the
king of under-votes in Palm Beach County.
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...
Most
of new election law approved
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.
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
Online Journal researchers Elizabeth Jordan and Oliver Dawshed
have done a preliminary statistical analysis of Florida voting
patterns. They conclude that the most likely site for election
night tampering was north Florida, especially the Panhandle.
Ballot spoilage in Escambia County was clearly systematic. Excess
ballot spoilage alone accounted for about 500 net Bush votes.
Minting ballots from overvotes, as Lukasiak's work suggests,
amounted to perhaps another 200. In 11 other Republican counties
(Bay, Bradford, Calhoun, Columbia, Dixie, Gulf, Hamilton, Jackson,
Suwanee, Union, and Washington), voting patterns consistent with
fraud were observed. Precincts in some counties had discard rates
of over 20% of ballots cast. A simple model suggested that 7,100
ballots may have been destroyed in these 11 counties. Fraud has
not yet been excluded in a half-dozen other counties. The evidence
to suggest a statewide criminal investigation is compelling.... MORE
....from DemDailyNews 7/30/01
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.
... More
--St. Petersburg Times 7/12/01
After winning the open seat on the King County Personnel
Board in the June 5 election, Ray Goforth (the winning
candidate), recently asked the county to consider nullifying
the election results and holding a new election. More...
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
NPR's Juan Williams visited Jacksonville, FL, in the heart of Duval
County, where 27,000 votes went uncounted on Election Day 2000. Of
those, 16,000 (60%) were cast by blacks, who voted over 90% for Gore -
more than enough to change the outcome of the election. But the
Republican Supervisor of Elections, John Stafford, refused to tell
black leaders about all the uncounted ballots until it was TOO LATE to
file a challenge. Was there a conspiracy to spoil ballots cast by
black voters? No one is seriously making that allegation. But was
there a conspiracy to keep black leaders from finding out about the
27,000 uncounted ballots? Absolutely! John Stafford, like Katherine
Harris, belongs in jail.
... from democrats.com
Even Palm Beach's Poll
Workers Had Problems with Punchcard Machines -
Here's a story that could have changed the outcome of the recount - if
it had been reported in November 2000, rather than December 2001. The
punchcard machines in Palm Beach County were so error-prone that even
experienced poll workers had trouble running tests on the machines
before the polls opened. Theresa LePore insists the poll workers were
trained to replace malfunctioning machines, but not a single one did -
despite the fact that 261 of the county's 531 precincts had
malfunctioning machines. These machines produced 10,311 ballots without
a Presidential vote, over 5,000 of which had some kind of dimple. This
is just one more piece of evidence that the problems in Florida were not
"stupid voters" as the Republicans screamed, but rather
"stupid machines," "stupid ballots," and
"stupid officials." But don't expect the Republicans or their
national media slaves to correct their lies. http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/
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.
Charge
taints vote device bid...Lancaster and other top county staff
members said all they knew was that Sequoia had some type of
procurement problem in Louisiana. Betsy Steg, a county attorney, said
state officials had told her that "each one of these companies
had issues."
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)
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| 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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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)
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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."
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"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.
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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.
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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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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
(Top)
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-"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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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 $&n | |