Something Looks Weird In Broward County

[applegrove]

Something Looks Weird In Broward County

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/09/something-looks-weird-in-broward-county/

November 9, 2018 at 1:37 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 235 Comments

"SNIP.....

Nathaniel Rakich: “Unusually, the votes tabulated in Broward County so far exhibit a high rate of something called ‘undervoting,’ or not voting in all the races on the ballot. Countywide, 26,060 fewer votes were cast in the U.S. Senate race than in the governor race. Put another way, turnout in the Senate race was 3.7 percent lower than in the gubernatorial race.”

“Broward County’s undervote rate is way out of line with every other county in Florida, which exhibited, at most, a 0.8-percent difference… To put in perspective what an eye-popping number of undervotes that is, more Broward County residents voted for the down-ballot constitutional offices of chief financial officer and state agriculture commissioner than U.S. Senate — an extremely high-profile election in which $181 million was spent. Generally, the higher the elected office, the less likely voters are to skip it on their ballots.”

“Something sure does seem off in Broward County; we just don’t know what yet.”

.....SNIP"

[jberryhill]

1. To be fair, quite a few things might look weird in Broward County,

...depending on your personal threshold of "weird".

I've seen weird things there. Scary things. Things no one should really have to see or think about.

[sandensea]

9. I don't doubt it! We're intrigued.

Inquiring minds want to know.

[volstork]

10. Like Rick Scott?

N/T

[superpatriotman]

2. Look no further than the ballot design

Now let the attorneys fight over undervote intentions.

[Snotcicles]

13. I heard the stuck the senate vote off in a cornor on the ballot. nt

[Awsi Dooger]

3. It looks like we got screwed by ballot design in Broward and specifically FL-24

Senate undervotes throughout Broward, due to the senate race and local House race squeezed below lengthy ballot instructions running down column one.

However, this is apparently the weird variable that may have cost Bill Nelson the senate race: FL-24 is so lopsided the Republicans do not contest it. This is the 3rd or 4th cycle in a row the race has been unopposed. Under Florida law the uncontested races do not appear on the ballot. Consequently the Broward ballot design in FL-24 had nothing below the senate race.

That means some Broward voters apparently didn't notice the senate race and thought the words were merely a continuation of the ballot instructions. They started atop column two, which was the high profile governor race.

This was much less likely to happen in FL-23, where the House race below the senate race was enough to cause eyes to go there, and realize there were voting options low on column one. More bubbles in sight. That's what we are talking about.

I realize this sounds bizarre. There are right wingers mocking it all over the internet. But we are talking about an older electorate, and only 2-3% or thereabouts making this mistake.

It doesn't take anything to reach 2-3%. I used to sit behind poker machines in Las Vegas and it was unbelievable the mistakes some people would make, while holding cards to play those machines.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

5. Good observation and explanation...

Your post reads like a lesson in creating print advertising. This type of print layout is not accidental.

[Corgigal]

7. Yes, I saw the ballot

and it is shady. So who allowed this ballot to be authorized? The Sec Of State ?

[at140]

4. Judge finds Broward County violated constitution??

Link to tweet

[joshcryer]

6. You just know they do this on purpose.

They purposefully design the ballots to mess with certain people. Think classic literacy test.

[Hekate]

22. Remember the butterfly ballots of 2000 that led to Pat Robertson "winning" a heavily Jewish district

Design of ballots can make a huge difference.

[joshcryer]

24. Yes, and they no doubt "copy test" them.

They'll put the ballots in front of a panel of people and have them fill them out.

If the ballots are filled out differently by different people they will try to figure it out.

They will then push the ballots that fit the characteristics they want.

There is absolutely zero, ZERO, logical progression to the design of their ballots.

It's psychological warfare.

[PeeJ52]

8. Something also looks weird with these white women trying to pick a fight...

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/11/watch-republican-activists-harass-black-people-see-florida-election-theft-demonstration/

what do you want to bet they have some muscle waiting for someone to talk back to them so they can start some violence. I've never seen anyone acting like this before. They are looking for a fight. This is some sick shit...

[karin_sj]

16. It's really bizarre...

Not to mention disgusting, disturbing, and racist. What the hell is wrong with these people?

[BigmanPigman]

11. Which county do the Parkland students live in?

I read that their area, who would you would expect to vote due to the school shooting, had really low voter turnout. That seems suspicious.

[LeftInTX]

14. Broward.......

[BigmanPigman]

15. Uh oh...Something is rotten in the state of Denmark!

[uponit7771]

33. yep, somethings screwed up

[elmac]

12. hmmm

[StTimofEdenRoc]

17. Broward County has a strange ballot in 2000 as well

so maybe there needs to be procedures and standards on ballot design.

[Jersey Devil]

25. The infamous "butterfly" ballot (nt)

x

[watoos]

18. People aren't that stupid

It wasn’t ballot design. How about pulling out a couple of machines and auditing them? Or were these paper ballots?

[In It to Win It]

20. Yes! This is too stupid for words!

[StTimofEdenRoc]

26. By definition half the population is below average.

[jberryhill]

28. A lot of people don't appreciate that

[In It to Win It]

19. I live in Broward. The ballots are simple...

These races aren’t hard to miss. I saw every single one of them. I don’t understand how that happens.

[Amaryllis]

21. Not the first time this has happened where we had suspicious results. Only in states with voting

machines.

[SoCalDem]

23. Probably because people cannot seem to design a usable ballot

Instructions across the top..broad black line under them

space

Gov.............................Senate.......................House......................

I mean. HOW HARD IS THAT????


Put all the other stuff after those three..

[MaryMagdaline]

27. It could very well be a scanner issue.

There is likely to be a hand recount that will count all of these votes and will catch problems that were scanner related.

[Awsi Dooger]

29. Hopefully it is scanner but we probably lost 1988 Florida senate for same reason

It was hardly 2000 alone. Buddy MacKay may have lost to Connie Mack for the same reason Nelson trails Scott...lousy ballot design that sticks the senate race low on the page. There were high number of undervotes for senate in many huge Democratic counties. MacKay lost by 35,000 votes, at 50.4% to 49.6%.

Article from 1988 is included within this article:

https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/11/08/deja-vu-from-1988-many-voters-overloooked-floridas-senate-contest/

[MaryMagdaline]

30. I didn't remember that

Thanks

[Awsi Dooger]

32. We should have someone assigned to check every ballot design across the country

Or at least wherever we have some say in the matter.

It reminds me of when a local gives directions. Obviously they sound perfect to a local. You can't miss it.

But they can be incredibly confusing to an outsider. Likewise these ballot designs need to be as simple as possible. I don't know why they can't have a big black square, or something like that, to indicate a place where a ballot choice is located.

[Takket]

31. that's pretty weird considering.........

that statewide there were actually less governor ballots cast than Senate, so one country being the exact opposite doesn't make sense.

UNLESS, i've seen speculated here, there were less governor votes because racists did not want to vote for gillum and didn't like desantis either. a condition that i wouldn't think would apply in Broward.