http://foxnews.com/election_night/111500/recount_overseas.sml
Postal Service Rushing
Military Ballots to Florida
Wednesday, November 15, 2000
By Terry Spencer
More Election Stories and Video
MIAMI - Step to the front of the line.
The U.S. Postal Service is hurrying military overseas ballots arriving in Florida
through the delivery process, getting them to the 67 county election departments
the same day they arrive in the country.
Because of the close race between Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice
President Al Gore to capture decisive Florida, the postal service says it is trying
especially hard to assure the ballots arrive in the proper counties before Friday's
midnight deadline.
The ballots are being separated by workers at the Air Mail Center near Miami
International Airport.
Ballots destined for South Florida counties are being driven to the appropriate post
offices for delivery that day. Those being sent to counties in north and central
Florida are being flown to regional mail centers each morning, taken to the
appropriate post office and delivered.
As of Monday, the postal service had delivered 446 military overseas ballots to
Florida's counties since Nov. 8. Tuesday's figures were not immediately available.
An informal Associated Press survey of 64 of Florida's 67 election supervisors
found that they had mailed out more than 19,300 overseas ballots. Of those, more
than 10,000 had been returned and the majority of them counted. It was not
immediately known how many ballots were outstanding. Election supervisors plan
to count the remaining ballots on Friday and send the results to the Florida
secretary of state's office.
"We understand the urgency of this situation and realize that the entire presidential
election could rest on these ballots," postal service spokeswoman Enola C. Rice
said Tuesday.
Rice said the envelopes are marked "absentee ballot," making them easy to spot
among the hundreds and sometimes thousands of pieces of military mail arriving at
the center about midnight daily.
Workers pull the ballots and mark each with a tracking number so it can be followed
through the process. Within hours, the ballots are put on trucks and planes heading
throughout the state and delivered to the counties that afternoon.
A regular piece of mail, such as a letter, normally takes one or two days to reach its
recipient, Rice said.
She said such a procedure cannot be done with civilian overseas absentee ballots
because they arrive at numerous air mail centers throughout the country, not just in
Florida.
?Which side are they on?
Postal Service Rushing
Military Ballots to Florida
Wednesday, November 15, 2000
By Terry Spencer
More Election Stories and Video
MIAMI - Step to the front of the line.
The U.S. Postal Service is hurrying military overseas ballots arriving in Florida
through the delivery process, getting them to the 67 county election departments
the same day they arrive in the country.
Because of the close race between Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice
President Al Gore to capture decisive Florida, the postal service says it is trying
especially hard to assure the ballots arrive in the proper counties before Friday's
midnight deadline.
The ballots are being separated by workers at the Air Mail Center near Miami
International Airport.
Ballots destined for South Florida counties are being driven to the appropriate post
offices for delivery that day. Those being sent to counties in north and central
Florida are being flown to regional mail centers each morning, taken to the
appropriate post office and delivered.
As of Monday, the postal service had delivered 446 military overseas ballots to
Florida's counties since Nov. 8. Tuesday's figures were not immediately available.
An informal Associated Press survey of 64 of Florida's 67 election supervisors
found that they had mailed out more than 19,300 overseas ballots. Of those, more
than 10,000 had been returned and the majority of them counted. It was not
immediately known how many ballots were outstanding. Election supervisors plan
to count the remaining ballots on Friday and send the results to the Florida
secretary of state's office.
"We understand the urgency of this situation and realize that the entire presidential
election could rest on these ballots," postal service spokeswoman Enola C. Rice
said Tuesday.
Rice said the envelopes are marked "absentee ballot," making them easy to spot
among the hundreds and sometimes thousands of pieces of military mail arriving at
the center about midnight daily.
Workers pull the ballots and mark each with a tracking number so it can be followed
through the process. Within hours, the ballots are put on trucks and planes heading
throughout the state and delivered to the counties that afternoon.
A regular piece of mail, such as a letter, normally takes one or two days to reach its
recipient, Rice said.
She said such a procedure cannot be done with civilian overseas absentee ballots
because they arrive at numerous air mail centers throughout the country, not just in
Florida.
?Which side are they on?