60000 absentee ballots missing!!

[Thiebear]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cvoting27oct27,0,5500813.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines




Long lines, busy signals fuel voting frustration in Broward

By Jean-Paul Renaud
Staff Writer
Posted October 27 2004

The Broward County Supervisor of Elections Office pointed a finger at the U.S. Postal Service on Tuesday for nearly 60,000 missing absentee ballots, but took the blame for having a phone system that was being overwhelmed by calls from frustrated voters.

While the post office denied responsibility for the missing ballots, Broward County commissioners, anxious to void another failed election, offered to send county employees to help with the phones. Dozens of employees could begin assisting the elections office today to answer telephone calls and to process voters at the 14 early voting sites.

"What we are seeing is unprecedented, so if the supervisor of elections needs our help, we will help," County Mayor Ilene Lieberman said. "It's a week to the election, and voting is a basic right in our country."

Just six days away from the general election, the Supervisor of Elections Office has fielded hundreds of complaints from people that have yet to receive their absentee ballot. Countless more have been unable to get through to election officials to complain or get their questions answered.

"I tried for the last week or so to call the elections office and it's just busy continually," said Paula Zubatkin, 70, whose four-week-old request for an absentee ballot has gone unanswered. "I want to vote."

Election officials also said they launched an investigation and found that many of the missing ballots -- 58,000 of them -- were sent on Oct. 7 and Oct 8. The problem, they say, lies with the post office.

"That is something beyond our control," Deputy Supervisor of Elections Gisela Salas said. "We really have no idea what's going on. It's just taken an extraordinary amount of time. I would really encourage people to use early voting."

Post office officials say they are not at fault.

There is more....... click the link




At this point I think Broward likes the attention.. How do you wait till a week before the election to put this out there...?

[afparent]

Why does florida have so much trouble? I don't hear Maryland having this trouble.

[iheartskins]

Here we go again. More election nonsense.

I really hope we don't have more problems like these on Nov 2 though I fear this is only the beginning of the fight.

[Kilmer17]

Ive been preaching this for weeks now.

This is only the tip of the iceberg.

Unless Bush wins in a landslide (IE- he wins IA, WISC, MINN, NJ) this election will once again be decided by the courts.

[iheartskins]

Originally posted by Kilmer17
Ive been preaching this for weeks now.

This is only the tip of the iceberg.

Unless Bush wins in a landslide (IE- he wins IA, WISC, MINN, NJ) this election will once again be decided by the courts.

I wish I disagreed with you here Kilmer17, but I fear that you are exactly right.

[Larry]

Election officials also said they launched an investigation and found that many of the missing ballots -- 58,000 of them -- were sent on Oct. 7 and Oct 8. The problem, they say, lies with the post office.

Just a dumb suggestion from the cheap seats, here, but:

How about you folks just re-send all the ballots that you mailed on those two days?

[Kilmer17]

What if someone "stole" the ballots and has already sent them in?

[seanskins]

How in the hell does this happen in your country? This should not be happening!! I just dont get it, it boggles my mind how these enormous screw ups just tend to "happen" during an election. Geeze

[TC4]

I heard a couple of interesting tid-pits about Florida the last couple of day on Fox News(scoff if you must those of you who think they are GOP-TV).

On Monday night Sean Hannity quoted a Zogby poll that had Bush up in Florida by 8%, and on Tuesday night Tony Snow said that he had heard from both campaigns that the Kerry people were basicly pulling out of both Florida and Colorado, because they feel as thought both the Bush margin is "too great to overcome" there

[jenmdixon]

Once again, it's all Brunell's fault, isn't it? At least, that's what I've heard...

[Gichin13]

Originally posted by TC4
I heard a couple of interesting tid-pits about Florida the last couple of day on Fox News(scoff if you must those of you who think they are GOP-TV).

On Monday night Sean Hannity quoted a Zogby poll that had Bush up in Florida by 8%, and on Tuesday night Tony Snow said that he had heard from both campaigns that the Kerry people were basicly pulling out of both Florida and Colorado, because they feel as thought both the Bush margin is "too great to overcome" there

Latest Zogby poll I could find had it dead heat in Florida.

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=az3LGpSMTn9I&refer=us

[Joe Sick]

Originally posted by Kilmer17
Ive been preaching this for weeks now.

This is only the tip of the iceberg.

Unless Bush wins in a landslide (IE- he wins IA, WISC, MINN, NJ) this election will once again be decided by the courts.

So if Kerry wins in a landslide, it will be challenged by Bush?



:D

[Zen-like Todd]

I think they are lying to cover up their own incompetence. I seriously doubt the US Postal Service was the weak link in this chain. I think we'll find out later that someone in the Broward Elections Office was responsible for the failure to distribute the absentee ballots.

[TheDoyler23]

Here's the AP pickup, notice the last paragraph.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Up to 58,000 absentee ballots may never have reached the Broward County voters who requested them more than two weeks ago, election officials said, and state police are investigating.

Hundreds of people have called the county elections office to complain that they never got their ballots. The phone system was so overwhelmed some frustrated voters could not get through.

The county election office said the problem involved ballots mailed on Oct. 7-8, though the number of those actually missing was uncertain. Some absentee ballots mailed on those dates have already been returned to be counted.

``We are trying to determine what occurred and whether there was any kind of criminal violation,'' said Paige Patterson-Hughes, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The county blamed the U.S. Postal Service. ``That is something beyond our control,'' Deputy Supervisor of Elections Gisela Salas said. ``We really have no idea what's going on.''

Postal officials said the post office was not to blame.

``We have employees that we assign to handle the absentee ballots that come in,'' said Enola C. Rice, a Postal Service spokeswoman in South Florida. ``So all the absentee ballots that are received by the Postal Service are processed and delivered immediately.''

Absentee voters who did not receive a ballot can request another, which officials said would be sent by overnight mail.

In 2000, Broward gave Democrat Al Gore his biggest margin among Florida counties. He received 67 percent of the vote there, while losing the state to George W. Bush by just 537 votes.

[JimboDaMan]

Originally posted by Kilmer17
What if someone "stole" the ballots and has already sent them in?
Then those votes are illegitimate and ideally should not be counted, not that there's probably any way to sort things out.

Not a reason to keep the legitimate votes from being cast by resending the ballots.

[FullbackIsKey]

I'm one of the missing ballots

I've been trying to call the elections office about 5-10 times a day for the past week, and it always rings busy. Finally yesterday I get a call from them, asking if I got my ballot, and when I said no, they took my address again and said it's gonna come overnighted to me

...I didn't vote last time because both *******s weren't discernable from each other, but this time I know which ******* I want to check, and I can't yet.

[aREDSKIN]

Originally posted by BDBuddy23
Here's the AP pickup, notice the last paragraph.


In 2000, Broward gave Democrat Al Gore his biggest margin among Florida counties. He received 67 percent of the vote there, while losing the state to George W. Bush by just 537 votes.

I think this is all one needs to read and understand what this is all about. Vote fraud by the Dems. Of coure it's just my conjecture but given the history of the county and it's political predispositions it's not far off IMO.

[FullbackIsKey]

South Florida (Broward) is not the important part of the state. The candidates care about the Florida Bible Belt, or the I-4 belt, which goes basically from orland to around tampa on the west coast and a bit north towards the panhandle. That's where the majority of people who vote in the state are. I don't have any stats or a link, I just know that that's what my Political Science prof. taught me here in Florida. I think if there's gonna be voter fraud, it'll be in north florida.

[JimboDaMan]

Originally posted by aREDSKIN


I think this is all one needs to read and understand what this is all about. Vote fraud by the Dems. Of coure it's just my conjecture but given the history of the county and it's political predispositions it's not far off IMO.
Is thereany chance, were this to happen in a predominantly Republican district, that you would not be here screaming it was obvious to all but the most biased "leftist sympathizers" and "SeeBS" that the Democrats stole ballots from GOP voters?

By now even I can type your own posts for you.

[FullbackIsKey]

Originally posted by JimboDaMan

Is thereany chance, were this to happen in a predominantly Republican district, that you would not be here screaming it was obvious to all but the most biased "leftist sympathizers" and "SeeBS" that the Democrats stole ballots from GOP voters?

By now even I can type your own posts for you.


dude, clear logic doesn't work on those people. I've tried.

[Thiebear]

Electon Protection is coming out strong in VA:

Artists for a new south africa and something else.. i'm kinda offended that Chris Rock is saying I've been trying to take away the Black vote since they've gotten it..

A lady has come on this morning also and said Fake Cops stopped you and told you, you were not registered??? where is that?

Samuel L Jackson did it right: Straight and too the point without the Gloom and Doom...

[Thiebear]

Originally posted by FullbackIsKey



dude, clear logic doesn't work on those people. I've tried.

By the way: 60000 votes from Broward does point to some underhanded stuff if this is not just a screw-up...

hold both sides accountable: Because they are: TO US the people.

[Fred Jones]

I think it's some type of Republican conspiracy. The Republicans simply intercepted the ballets and got rid of them. That’s 60,000 less votes for Kerry. The Republicans are very good at covering their tracks. I just don't see how it could be incompetence by Broward County officials.

[Skinsfan1966]

Originally posted by Thiebear


By the way: 60000 votes from Broward does point to some underhanded stuff if this is not just a screw-up...

hold both sides accountable: Because they are: TO US the people.

The really funny thing is all (or most) of the election officials in broward county are democrats, the districts with the most problems in the 2000 elections were all run by elected democrats

[Thiebear]

Originally posted by Fred Jones
I think it's some type of Republican conspiracy. The Republicans simply intercepted the ballets and got rid of them. That’s 60,000 less votes for Kerry. The Republicans are very good at covering their tracks. I just don't see how it could be incompetence by Broward County officials. '

Thats pretty strong: WHO? Some people planted in the Post office?

[aREDSKIN]

Originally posted by JimboDaMan

Is thereany chance, were this to happen in a predominantly Republican district, that you would not be here screaming it was obvious to all but the most biased "leftist sympathizers" and "SeeBS" that the Democrats stole ballots from GOP voters?

By now even I can type your own posts for you.



Given the history of Broward, Palm Beach & Dade counties my assertion is without question clearly more accurate than your speculation.

[FullbackIsKey]

why can't we blame technology...that's probably what it was...I'm supposed to get my ballot today from Broward via overnight,..they probably had a bad network connection somewhere in their computer systems, so that whatever they put in during those 2 days didn't save, or something. That's why they're scrambling to fix it.

Stop claiming conspiracy based on your party affiliations, which, by the way, doesn't and shouldn't mean anything as a citizen. Is anybody here affected by this screw-up other than me? Well, they're fixing it, and if i've voted twice come wednesday, then I'll be able to complain, not the republican re-spewer blog trolls.

[Fred Jones]

Thiebear, I was being just a little bit sarcastic. I would point the finger at some Broward County official before the post office. I just think it's funny listening to the Republicans on this board. If this was a predominantly Republican county all kinds of people would be up in arms claiming a Democrat conspiracy.

[aREDSKIN]

Originally posted by FullbackIsKey
I'm one of the missing ballots

I've been trying to call the elections office about 5-10 times a day for the past week, and it always rings busy. Finally yesterday I get a call from them, asking if I got my ballot, and when I said no, they took my address again and said it's gonna come overnighted to me





Stop claiming conspiracy based on your party affiliations, which, by the way, doesn't and shouldn't mean anything as a citizen. Is anybody here affected by this screw-up other than me? Well, they're fixing it, and if i've voted twice come wednesday, then I'll be able to complain, not the republican re-spewer blog trolls.[/B]



Here's an idea. Since you've claim not to have recieved your "ballot" and that they are sending you another one just sent "one" back and you won't have to complain about votiing "twice".
It might save you some headache down the road because you might not be visited by big bad Mr. Repub questioning you as to why you "submitted" more than "one" ballot. ;)

[Larry]

Originally posted by aREDSKIN
I think this is all one needs to read and understand what this is all about. Vote fraud by the Dems. Of coure it's just my conjecture but given the history of the county and it's political predispositions it's not far off IMO.

Yep, you're right. It's obvious that the Democrats in charge of that county are deliberatly trying to skew the election by preventing 60,000 people from voting.

(The fact that 2/3 of those 60,000 people would've voted Democrat is completely irrellivant. It's obviously Democratic vote fraud. Because you say so.)

[aREDSKIN]

Originally posted by Larry


Yep, you're right. It's obvious that the Democrats in charge of that county are deliberatly trying to skew the election by preventing 60,000 people from voting.

(The fact that 2/3 of those 60,000 people would've voted Democrat is completely irrellivant. It's obviously Democratic vote fraud. Because you say so.)



Larry you must have missed it but it was in my post. Your interpolation is becoming acute. Your welcome.


"Conjecture:"

1. A hypothesis that has been formed by speculating or conjecturing (usually with little hard evidence)

2. A message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence

3. Reasoning that involves the formation of conclusions from incomplete evidence