FDLE Ends Probe of Missing Absentee Ballots

[dolstein]

Gee, that was quick . . .

FDLE ends probe of missing absentee ballots

By AMY SHERMAN and ERIKA BOLSTAD

After a brief inquiry, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has closed its investigation into why thousands of absentee ballots have not reached Broward County voters.

FDLE was asked to investigate Tuesday after being contacted by county elections officials, said Paige Patterson-Hughes, spokesperson for the agency's South Florida region.

But after preliminary discussions with Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes, investigators found no evidence of criminal intent, and no reason to continue the investigation.

. . .

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10028901.htm


Hmmmm. . . . sounds reasonable. After all, what motive would anyone have to prevent 58,000 Broward County residents from voting by absentee ballot? It's not like the future of the free world depends whether these people vote or not.

[PATRICK]

1. Barney Fife could have cracked this one

There is a clear trail that everyone knows with the same people always there. Any idiot could have solved this especially since the USPS is the least likely culprit with its own Inspection Service all over it.

[Eloriel]

16. "the same people always there"

Well said. And NO political motivations, of course. None whatsoever.

[xultar]

2. Continue Discussion here...

Continue discussion @ this thread..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=936640

[flordehinojos]

3. If Brenda Snipes were not the House Slave serving at the Pleasure of the

Master, and the FDLE were not an arm of JEB BUSH... Brenda Snipes would be demanding for the FDLE to do their job and to look into the 58,000 missing ballots in Broward County.

This is sort of like saying, we looked into the cookie jar, we saw there are no cookies in the cookie jar...but you know what, the cookie jar is there so we don't need to investigate into who ate the cookies while whiping off any cookie crumbs still sticking to the sides of their mouths.

I voted absentee ballot in Brenda Snipes Broward County. Will my vote be counted? The Bush coons are doing every thing possible to disenfranchise my vote and thousands of others.

[callous taoboy]

4. Ah for Pete's sake!

So that's it? Can I buy the script on e-bay yet?

[MrMonk]

5. Is it worth my saying it, again?

After a brief inquiry, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has closed its investigation into why thousands of absentee ballots have not reached Broward County voters.

There are tens of thousands of missing ballots!

[goodboy]

6. so where are they? nt

[Zorra]

7. Stand down orders from the WH. n/t

[NashVegas]

8. kick

..

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Moderator]

10. Found the New York Times article

under the correct headline

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Missing-Absentee-Ballots.html

[JusticeForAll]

11. No criminal intent...

But no reason found for 58000 ballots to be late or missing?!?!

I am living another reality...

[Mandate My Ass]

12. Things that make you go hhhhmmmmmmmmm

In 2000, Broward gave Democrat Al Gore his biggest margin among Florida counties. He received 67 percent of the vote there...

[0rganism]

13. No criminal intent? Well, then, I guess it's good to go. Carry on.

Blimey, if there had been criminal intent, you know we would have jumped all over it, but now that we know there's no criminal intent, let's all just go home and get really drunk and play with the vertical hold on our tv sets.

[arenar]

14. maybe it's just a coincidence...

But I live in Broward County and I have two neighbors who voted absentee no problem. They happen to be registered republicans. Weird stuff.

[Az_lefty]

15. How about making Brenda Snipes prove they were actually mailed!

[steve2470]

17. kick nt

[llywrch]

18. Hmmm

Isn't this a case of civil rights being infringed on? (Yes, this is a rhetorical question.)

Do you think that the Federal government will then investigate? (Again, this is a rhetorical question.)

With all of these electorial irregularities to investigate, once Kerry is in the WH, do you think his administration will have time to do anything else?

Geoff

[beniciodeltoro]

19. If we let this stand we deserve to lose

what is being done in reaction to this absurd decision?

[Almost_there]

21. Knowing about how direct mail works..

I have worked in the industry and worked closely with the postal service in getting out tens and hundreds of thousands of bulk mail pieces. The way that bulk mail works is totally different than first class. First, you don't take it to your local post office, it is sent to an SCF center, Sectional Center Facility, basically, the first 3 digits of your zip code are your SCF. That main processing center takes all that mail, bundles it into trays, weighs it, sorts the trays which have been presorted into trays / bundles by the client, into other SCF's. So, when the mail stream is able to handle the mail it is sent on. That's why it takes up to 10 days for a catalog to get from LL Bean to NY, when if you put a stamp on a letter, it would take 2 days. The mail stream is first come first served, and it is handled by x number of pieces a day, and if they are full, they can't do anything more. So, sometimes mail will sit for a day, 2, or even three at the SCF where you dropped it, or, at an intermediary SCF, waiting for the next leg. That's why its also 20.5c to mail bulk instead of 37 to mail first. You wait.
The post office wasn't necessarily negligent, just slow and lazy, to them, 50,000 pieces is a decent sized mailing, but, nothing too exciting, and unless instructed to push something out of the way, this is also the busiest time of year for the postal system, with holiday mailers going everywhere. I sincerely hope that the rethugs had nothing to do with this, interference with the postal service is extremely severe. I hope they had nothing to do with it because I would like to think that the post office is above playing politics, but, this year, who knows. Anything's possible.

~Almost

[steve2470]

20. kick nt