Posted on Fri, Jul. 23, 2004
ELECTIONS
Fraud present in voter drives, watchdog says
People collecting signatures to put issues on the ballot are using improper methods, including misleading voters, the group VoteSmartFlorida asserts.
TALLAHASSEE - (AP) -- People gathering signatures to put citizen initiatives on the November ballot are using deceptive practices, such as asking voters to sign more than once, according to an election-reform group working to change the petition process.
VoteSmartFlorida, a business-backed group, said people paid to collect signatures also told voters who opposed the initiatives to sign the petitions so they could get the issues on the ballot and vote against them.
''We have discovered that certain paid gatherers will do or say almost anything in order to obtain signatures,'' said Mark Wilson, a VoteSmartFlorida spokesman and vice president of the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
Because gatherers can earn between 50 cents and $10 per signature, and few regulations guide the process, ''deceptive practices are rampant,'' Wilson said.
VoteSmartFlorida used hidden cameras to record gatherers in store parking lots, and interviewed both gatherers and voters who signed petitions.
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