The Palm Beach County Ballot: From the Source

R

Rich Lucibella

Staff
The Source is me. I voted in Palm Beach County at 6:45PM on Tuesday night.

Our ballot was about 7 double pages long. It included at least 8 Ballot Initiatives in addition to the election choices. The Sample Ballot contained all of the choices found in the actual ballot and was no different from the actual ballot.

However, each section of the ballot was on two pages, like an open book. The Dem argument is that Voters didn't bother to line up the holes with the name and rather than skipping over the Buchanan hole and punching the one next to Gore's name, punched the one above it.

They further claim that people, in the hundreds came out of the voting booth crying that they'd voted for Buchanan by mistake. The outrage of these statements has me speechless! After the greatest voter turnout in history, these pigs would cast a pall over the entire process and tell people, "Your vote doesn't count; it's all rigged".

Additionally, it is a monumental insult to the American voter, the citizens of Florida and my community to suggest that we can research the candidates, wade thru the issues, make our choices but be incapable of READING. It's a greater insult to the Seniors in my community to suggest that they'd burst into tears and file their" erroneous" Ballot rather than ask an Election Judge, standing less than 10 feet away for a new ballot....because that's all it takes to correct a "mistake".

At this point I care less about who wins this race than I do about attempts to claim the process is "invalid". Pigs is truly the right word.
Rich

[This message has been edited by Rich Lucibella (edited November 08, 2000).]
 
I just looked at the ballot.. and I followed the arrow... it was easy. You follow the arrow, you punch bore. Jeez, shows that idoits rule the world.

USP45usp
 
Rich is right. These protestors can wake up in the morning (at least outward appearances would have us believe), get dressed, get to the polling sites, and have a strong enough pulse to cast their vote without screwing up any other portion on the ballot? !!

My ballot looked very similar here in Jacksonville. READ Candidate's name, follow arrow nearest name toward the place on the ballot where you punch the hole to select the candidate, and place the pin in the opening next to this arrow. And nowhere else did they hose this up?

I think they got a sample ballot in the mail like I did.

Steve

:mad: :mad: :mad:
 
My ballot was also very similar to the one in Palm Springs.No one had a problem and I live in the St.Louis area!
 
Also having the dubious honor of voting in Palm Beach County, I'd like to point something else out:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Voting Instructions

Step 3. Punch strait down through the hole to the right of the arrow by the canidate or issue of your choice.[/quote]

Source:
Theresa LePore, Supervisor of Elections
PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA
www.pbcelections.org

If you're too addled to either understand or read the directions, you shouldn't be voting anyway. Curiously, there was no mention of any possible other "missplaced" vote. There were 10 parties on the Presidential section, yet no mention is made of Green party voters accidentially voting for the Constitution ticket, for example. Are they saying that only Democratic voters can't read?

Personally, after punching out the little holes, I double check that the numbers do indeed match my votes and that all the paper tabs are actually completely off of the ballot.

JHS: There are several different ballot designs just within Palm Beach County, with well over a million residents voting on local city issues and such, in many, frequently bizarrely gerrymandered, districts.

[This message has been edited by RepublicThunderbolt (edited November 08, 2000).]
 
Rich, can you comfirm any of this???

(from another forum)

I still have not seen proof that this is true, but...

1. Pat won 8,700 votes in Palm Beach in 1996 primary. Thats more than the 3,000 yesterday that are 'too many' now.
2. Palm Beach county has more registered Reform voters(15,000!) than any other FL county
3. Pat has a cousin in Palm Beach who campaigns for him there, which would explain his numbers.
4. Palm Beach county has a large Ukrainian population and Pat was only public figure to support Ivan Demjanjuk, earning sympathy of Ukrainians.
 
With Gore gaining 994 votes, and half the counties recounted, I have a very bad feeling about this. I'm starting to think Gore is going to win.

If he doesn't Gore is sending 50 lawyers to FL.................
 
Where did you get those numbers?

Please people back your statements up with the URL's you're giving me a heartattack!
 
Meiji,

I don't think it as bad as madison says. Gore did gain a lot of vote in pinellas county earlier, but they are going to recount pinellas again! New FOX numbers on their recount site has Gore gaining 351...they removed the Pinella numbers. If you put them back in the mix it would be +806 gain for Gore, so let's hope the Pinella number was a fluke.

"Pinellas County will have to redo its recount Thursday after a poll worker inadvertently failed to run an unknown number of ballots through its computer Wednesday, county Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark said. The county retracted its original announcement that Gore had gained 404 votes and Bush dropped by 61 in its recount."

link to stats...

http://foxnews.com/fn99/elections/florida_recount.html

Rich,

Thanks for trying!

How about Pat's cousin living down there? If that were true, it would be something to go on!


Joe



[This message has been edited by nralife (edited November 09, 2000).]
 
How about Pat's cousin living down there? If that were true, it would be something to go on!

I have no link for it but did hear this much at least on FoxNews tonight.
 
Rich, glad to see you're at the epicenter of another political milestone (i.e., in addition to TFL). ;)

The Palm Beach incident is a bit ridiculous, indeed.

I'll take a stab at a couple predictions:

1. In the 'worst' case, some Palm Beach ballots will simply be disallowed. They won't rerun the election in that county, and they won't give some or all of these 'diaputed' votes to Weird Al.

2. The often ignored, mailed 'international' ballots will have to be counted, and they may very well be critical. I find it fascinating that the media acknowledges these ballots, but then acts as though we'll have all this sorted out by tomorrow at 5pm EST ... we'll still have 8 more days in which those ballots can be legally received and counted! And, even more humorous, they refer to something like 'only 2,200' such ballots in 1996. Based upon the increasing popularity of this type of voting, I find it extremely unlikely these mailed ballots will total so few - seems more likely to me that the number will be much greater. And, it also seems likely to me that Bush will benefit from these ballots ... my hope, obviously, is that Bush will indeed win this race.


To be frank, it is a real shame we're going through this right now. Clinton has torn this country apart, and I think the climate has some of the divisiveness present during the Viet Nam War. This election, no matter how it ends, will further contribute to that atmosphere of hatred, fear and mistrust. I believe GW could assuage that divisiveness ... and, I fear that Weird Al would simply exacerbate the situation. Any litigation by Weird Al would certainly be consistent with his / their attitude.

A friend of mine simply remarks, on occasion, that what we are witnessing is the 'fall of Rome' ... this is simply what it looks like to see a great country divide and crumble. Considering our economy, low unemployment, relative peace and many other factors, it is easy to discount that concern. However, there are many political and social factors that do worry me regarding our status as a country. We'll see.

Regards from AZ
 
It's looking like it was easier to oust Milosovic from Serbia than it is throwing Clinton/Gore from the White House. :)

- gabe

[This message has been edited by GRD (edited November 09, 2000).]
 
If those people in Palm Beach were too addled to figure out how to properly punch their ballots in the first place, how in Hell did they figure out they had voted for Buchanan?

------------------
If you're not a little upset with the way the world is going, you're not paying attention.
 
Sounds like somebody's touching off hot spots by roiling up the older folks. This is a real mess ... this can rattle the country and tear some fabric.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.[/quote]

Can our Florida people get their positive experiences and whatever other bona fide info into the hands of Bush people (observers, lawyers, campaign)? Also maybe direct contact with local/state election folks ... with constituent support they may fend this off better.

I'm concerned that Bush/Cheney, being the kind of folks they are, might, "for the good of the country", bow out. To me, that IS NOT good for the country.

FYI:
Rush - Rush@eibnet.com;
Ken Hamblin - bac@compuserve.com;
Boortz(?)
Others?

-Andy

------------------
Are My Memories Over ...?
 
what's up with the numbers now?

with 32 counties recounted -
gore +1189
bush +346

it shows that in palm beach alone, gore has picked up 751 votes, to bush's 108 votes!

where did these votes come from?????
 
Another question: Why don't I see Pat Buchanan on the tube claiming those double-dose ballots? There are many reports of ballots having two holes punched, one for Buchanan and one for Gore. The presumption has been that these were Gore ballots which were mistakenly punched.

Part of me screams out that if you're too dimwitted to figure out that simple ballot (see http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/today/wexler_one.html ), then you're too dumb to vote. Then there's the part of me that says that, hey, the question was who you wanted as president, not how smart you are. For good or bad, this nation does not put requirements on intelligence for voting purposes. The ballot should be simple and easily voted upon. Ours, in TX, was mighty easy. A black bar with a blank space in the middle appeared next to the candidate's name and party. To vote for that candidate, one simply connected the sides of the bar with a permanent marker.

I am blown away by those who are coming forward now to state that they voted wrongly at the time, but supposedly had too much pride to ask for assistance. But NOW they're willing to come and proclaim their stupidity before national and international media? (I first heard a sound bite of one such woman bemoaning that her Gore vote went to Buchanan on the BBC broadcast on N.P.R. tonight.) I have NO PROBLEM asking for assistence in such situations. Moreover, I hold no one in contempt who would do so. However, I would be HORRIFIED at the prospect of admitting to ANYONE that I actually messed up, but still turned in a faultily-marked ballot!
[sigh]
[shaking head]

We need some stinkin' personal pride in this nation.

L.P.

[This message has been edited by Long Path (edited November 09, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Long Path (edited November 09, 2000).]
 
Also,

BOSS?!? You voted at "6:45PM on Tuesday night"?!? You almost missed it, dincha? Or do your polls close at 7:00 PM like ours in Tejas?

L.P.
 
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