Fla. County to Replace Absentee Ballots

[baldguy]

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - With voters jamming phone lines saying they haven't received absentee ballots in the mail, elections officials planned to mail out thousands of replacement ballots.

As election workers and the U.S. Postal Service traded the blame Wednesday, Broward County elections supervisor Brenda Snipes moved to solve the problem with less than a week left before the presidential election by sending duplicates to people who had not returned the original ballot.

...

"This isn't a blame game," Snipes told The Miami Herald. "What we're concentrating on is getting the ballots to the voter." She was named to the job by Gov. Jeb Bush after the 2000 elections supervisor quit during the bitter presidential vote recount and her replacement was suspended for bungling.

more
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041028/ap_on_el_pr/missing_absentee_ballots


Let the GOP whining begin!

[Blue_Roses]

1. This is such blatent fraud

Somebody ditched the ballots on the way to the post office. It doesn't take 2 weeks to get a ballot. :mad:

[FlaGranny]

5. I hope it doesn't take two weeks to get a ballot.

We ordered absentee ballots 10 days ago (hand delivered the applications) and did not get the ballots yet. If they don't come in time, we'll have to sign affidavits to vote and hope that someone doesn't give us a hard time.

[AndyTiedye]

36. Ditched? Or filled-out for Boooosh and returned?????

How do 58,000 absentee ballots (out of 124,000) get "lost"?
Almost HALF of the total. Any bets on WHICH half?
That is at least 2 TONS of absentee ballots -- more if they're
huge like California ballots.

That's not quite as bad as losing 377 tons of high explosives.

I hope they're getting writer's cramp filling out all those ballots. :grr:

[Sideways]

2. More Like Let The "Sniping" Begin

[gnofg]

3. Astounding

It is absolutely astounding what these jerks will do to win an election.

[Sideways]

6. It was a play on words the woman demanding ballots be re-sent is

Brenda Snipes. FYI sniping also means to speak harshly to, to criticize....the word means other things besides shooting at someone from a hidden location.

[havocmom]

4. Two questions for FL election officials:

1) Has the deadline for returning ballots been extended since the ballots were not delivered to voters in a timely fashion?

2) Are those ballot return envelopes unique enough that whoever (not affixing blame here made the outgoing ballots disappear can see them in the tons of mail and make them disappear again on their return trip?

Sorry, but any election supervisor of appointee of Jeb Bush is gonna be suspect. And by the way, GOP, all the stunts being pulled this election have pretty well convinced even the most truly unbiased voters that the election in 2000 was stolen by you unAmerican thugs. All but the kool-aide drinkers are seeing what really matters to the neocons is retaining power at any cost and by any means. Expect surprises if the vote count is suspect in the least this time around. Mr. & Mrs. Middle of the Road America just might bite some GOP ass.

[Raster]

7. ANYBODY appointed by jeb bush to ANY POSITION is suspect.

After all, this is his family's fortunes and future political dynasty at stake. Not to mention BFEE's historical reckoning. In 2000 no one wanted to believe that jebbie and his hench(wo)men would be so blatant in their successful attempts to steal the election by disenfranchising the electorate. Now we know better.

[Tansy_Gold]

15. And where is the address?

A caller on Randi Rhodes yesterday said he mailed is FL absentee ballot from (I think) New York, but because his address was on one side (from when it was mailed to him) and the FL elections dept address was on the other side of the envelope, the PO delivered it back to him!

I've had this happen with similar materials -- especially packages of items being returned to a supplier -- so now I always make sure the intended address is marked TO and the return address just as clearly marked From.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

8. Wonder how many Repubs will get two ballots now

what a fucking mess

[David Zephyr]

16. And It's Just The Beginning.

Wait until the Grand Old Party peels back layer after layer of long-planned and time-table-scheduled election surprises to this nation's naive population over the next five days. This is just the beginning.

[TahitiNut]

9. The utter silence from the right on this is a clear indication of guilt.

The mere fact that the right wing has voiced absolutely no concern for illicit voter disenfranchisement is a clear indication that this has been orchestrated by covert right wing electoral saboteurs. All we hear is "don't blame us" from the GOP shills. Appalling.

[havocmom]

14. No utter silence. Here is email Marc Racicot sent out yesterday

The unmitigated gall of this man is beyond belief. He works very hard at maintaining the delusions and paranoia of their base and covertly encouraging hateful actions much like anti-choice 'preachers' who then act surprised when clinic workers are killed. Presented for your perusal:

"Dear ######,

Just a few short days stand between us and the election. If the activities taking place in battleground states are any indication, our opponents plan a long, bitter, and vicious fight. Let me share just a sample of what is going on across the country today, 6 days before you vote. And let me tell you what else you may expect to see.

We have already seen 35 lawsuits filed in 17 states - some before the first ballot was even cast. So far, the Democrats have failed in their attempts to win this election in the courts, rather than the ballot box.

The shadowy groups aligned against us will stop at nothing, and I mean nothing, to win. That is why we must prepare for every possible outcome next Tuesday. That is why we must have the resources necessary to fight any legal battle. Will you ensure we're prepared?

www.GeorgeWBush.com/Recount

Our offices have been broken into, vandalized, and robbed. Gun shots have pierced the doors and windows of several offices. Fortunately, no one was hurt in those attacks, but unfortunately, when union members stormed an office in Florida, a volunteer's arm was broken.

Our GELAC account (our legal fund, really) can be used to pay for some of the damage done to offices we occupy. More importantly, though, it allows us to pay the costs of a recount. It allows us to guard against the kind of lawsuits we have seen, and which we expect to see in the days after the election.

Those allied against us will not go quietly when the voters speak. They have already made clear they consider the election to be only the opening battle in a much larger war - a war we must also be prepared to fight. Will you make sure we're ready?

www.GeorgeWBush.com/Recount

We do not want to go through another election where the outcome is held hostage by the courts and those who were defeated at the polls try to reverse the outcome through legal wrangling and endless litigation.

We want the people's will, not the will of high-powered trial lawyers, to determine the President. To make that happen, we need you. We need you to make one last contribution to our GELAC fund and help us secure the outcome of this election against those who would use violence, theft and assault as tactics - and those who would use the courts to claim a victory they did not earn.

Please give all you can.

Sincerely,

Marc Racicot
Chairman

P.S. Those who oppose us have already used theft, vandalism and assault as weapons to win this election. Their next stop will be the courts. Will you make a contribution to our legal fund and ensure we have the resources to uphold the vote when the people speak next Tuesday? Please give all you can. www.GeorgeWBush.com/Recount"

[loudsue]

30. That makes me MADDER THAN HELL!!! What a ******* Nazi!!!!

This man is declaring civil war, and PROMOTING it!! He is the one that needs to be locked in jail for inciting riots.

Marc Racicot is NOT an American. He is a terrorist, undermining the stability of our country.

:kick::kick::kick:

[havocmom]

32. Yep that is what it sounded like to me too

Reminded me of the anti-choice preachers stirring the fires up then acting all surprised when clinic workers are murdered by fanatics

[Kahuna]

10. If they actually took the ballots to the post office there would be a

receipt of some kind. Why isn't the media asking for proof that they took the ballot to the post office? :grr:

[LisaL]

12. Post office does not give out receipts.

[Kahuna]

18. Really??? My post office does.

:wow: There would be some record of the tranaction. I'm sure that the post office isn't mailing them for free. What kind of crap is this/

[jaysunb]

13. That amount of mail

would have been taken to the dock or some other secure location and while there may not be a receipt, there are cameras everywhere. One need only ask who took them and when, then look for the tapes.
This is too easy to track down. Somebody ought to have to answer for this NOW !!

[Kahuna]

19. They would at least weigh them to get the bulk rate. There would

be a record of how many pieces were sent. You don't just mosey into the post office with 58,000 pieces of mail and leave without a record that something was mailed.

[CAcyclist]

24. They probably postdate them themselves, not at the post office

The office probably has their own post dating machine for bulk mail. Small businesses have these all the time if they send out lots of mail. I believe there has to be some kind of record the machine makes, so that the post office can check to be sure its being used properly. But once they are postmarked, the letters cold just be tossed in the trash. Someone should try to go through this office's trash - see if there's an oversized amount of shredded documents.If that's even possible

[jaysunb]

26. you're right

about self metering, but they would still need to take that much mail to a dock or caller box area to send.
They would also probably have the same persons employed as drivers who would regularly make mail runs.
As they say..."even Ray Charles could see through this".

[CAcyclist]

29. Maybe I haven't thought this through, but

once they postmark it, why send it out at all? If they are trying to dump the mail, they could shred it onsite and then just sit and watch everyone hunt for the mail.

[jaysunb]

33. Actually

this sounds like a worker taking things into their own hands....just my never to be humble opinion.

[young_at_heart]

11. It's ALWAYS Florida.....people there ought to stop trusting the "system"

How many times must we hear of "bungling" in this state? It's so obvious that corruption is going on.

[steve2470]

17. kick nt

[sickofit2]

20. Typical....

This is what I had expected in FL BUT!! To get into their head (eww if that is possible) could Florida be a diversion? What if something else even worse is going on somewhere else while everyone is so focused on FL? I mean that is how the work isn't it? I am in no way saying nothing is wrong in Florida, that is a given, but they KNEW we would all be looking there... just my two cents

[loudsue]

34. Eeeeewwwwww! You're right. Sounds just like 'em, dunnit?

BTW, :hi::toast::beer: WELCOME TO DU, SICKOFIT2!!!!! :hi::party::silly:

We need to stay on top of every single county until after the election....AND BEYOND!!

:kick::kick::kick:

[progressivehere]

21. "Florida's Computers Have Already Counted Thousands of Votes for George W.

Florida's Computers Have Already Counted Thousands of Votes for George W. Bush
by Greg Palast

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1028-02.htm

Before one vote was cast in early voting this week in Florida, the new touch-screen computer voting machines of Florida started out with a several-thousand vote lead for George W. Bush. That is, the mechanics of the new digital democracy boxes "spoil" votes at a predictably high rate in African-American precincts, effectively voiding enough votes cast for John Kerry to in a tight race, keep the White House safe from the will of the voters.

Excerpted from the current (November) issue of Harper's Magazine
by Greg Palast

[Skarbrowe]

23. The ATM machines are mostly in the heavily Dem areas, SO IF

the machines already started out thousands of votes ahead for *, fellow Democrats, just forget about Florida. Get out your Tim Russert drawing boards and do the electoral math with Florida solidly in the * column.

I ask for a absentee ballot in Broward County right before the last hurricane. It took me about 3 (or whenever hurricane Jeanne was here) weeks to get it. I filled it out that night and turned it in on October 15th at the Post Office. I double, triple, quadruple checked that damn thing and I'm still not convinced my vote will count.

But if Palast is correct about thousands of votes showing up for Bush in these major Democratic counties BEFORE the early voting started, all is lost. And so much damn HARD and I mean really HARD, not like *'s job, work went into canvassing and getting out the vote by so many people. My roommate, who happens to work a 60 hour plus week, even found the time to knock on about 400 doors in our area. Got well over a 150 "yes, I will got vote for Kerry", and many more that had already voted for Kerry. She will be back out this weekend.

Damn, Florida should go to Kerry. Believe me, the voter intent is there. We out-number the Republicans and we always have. There are more than enough Democrats in Miami/Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County to off set the Republican vote in the whole rest of the state. I've heard that Orlando has had a huge jump in Democratic registration this year also.

If Florida is lost, it is by theft. The Republicans are now going to have people at the polls questioning the registration of anyone they want. That will slow down the lines that have been very long in many voting places all through the early voting period to a crawl. Just another way they can get people to turn around and not vote. But, I don't think people will fall for it this time. I think they will stand in line for hours if needed. I hope it's a nice semi-cool day in South Florida November 2,2004.

[jdj]

22. "suspended for bungling. "

WTF?

[Qutzupalotl]

25. This part is good, at least:

People who requested absentee ballots can always vote early or on Election Day, officials said. If a voter who asked for a ballot shows up at the polls, the absentee form is flagged so only one vote counts.

Hopefully, most of the 58,000 people were just voting absentee because they were concerned about touchscreen voting and not because they're travelling. They can still show up and vote.

[Sinnerman]

27. Repuke Caught cheating on Ballots in New Jersey

New Jersey elections official says an investigation is pending after computer catches republican requesting absentee ballots over 110 times

Proof repukes trying to steal election

[Mike Niendorff]

28. a rather obvious question:

Do they know for sure which ballots were lost, and can they ensure that those ballots won't be counted (in the event that someone actually *got* them and decides to submit them, say, with all-Bush votes)?


MDN

[flying_blind]

31. HEEHAWLARIOUS - new FLORIDA E- VOTE DEMO

http://www.boomchicago.nl/Section/Latest-News/BoomChicagoVotingMachine

[PATRICK]

35. Impugning the Postal Service

Any idiot would side with the USPS on the merits. That would leave a very narrow custody trail for the couriers and actual mailing. Any decent pressure of investigation would then ferret out the truth. work at the Post Office and yeah I can tell you horror stories, but this one looks like a no go. Many more mistakes and damage are made by the mailer than the USPS, believe it or not., but who gets the blame?

The USPS would find and own up to missing mail. Any fool would be caught, any smart guy would not dare. For every stooge that might do something like this there would be everyone else against them. Political mail is handled with extra care for obvious reasons.

Another Florida cover up.

[UCLA Dem]

37. makes me sick!!! why can't they get it right????????