Palm Beach County missing about 2500 ballots. Here we go again.

[madfloridian]

They found some of the missing ones, about 1000, but still that many missing. How do you lose ballots? Good grief, this is embarrassing.

Crist and the canvassing commission approved "results from the Aug. 26 primary except those termed "irregular" for a single judge's race in Palm Beach."

Palm Beach County election officials launched a massive search Friday for about 2,500 missing ballots

County workers, including off-duty firefighters and sheriff's deputies, began searching for the missing ballots at about 780 polling places.

Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning lifted a Friday deadline for resolving the ballot issue.

"I'm confident ballots are not missing," Browning said after the commission meeting in Tallahassee. He said he was sure the search would turn up the ballots and all votes would be recounted.

Browning and Crist also expressed confidence in optical scan equipment used to count paper ballots for the first time in Palm Beach and 14 other counties since the state outlawed touch-screen voting machines. Disabled voters can still use the touch screens.

"This is an administrative issue," Browning said. "This is purely the mechanics of running an election."

Good thing the ballots are not really missing after all. :shrug:

I keep remembering what Secretary of State Kurt Browning recently revealed, and it adds to my discomfort about elections here.

Despite all the promises...no manual recount in close elections in Florida.

They fooled us talking about manual recounts. There really are none.

"There is not such a thing as a manual recount in Florida," said Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning. "It is very dangerous to tell candidates that, yes, the law has a section that says 'manual recount' but we're not going to look at those ballots."

The reason: Despite pleas from Browning, lawmakers have not authorized a full manual recount of all ballots in close elections.

Instead, canvassing boards in each of Florida's 67 counties will only manually count the ballots that were not tabulated by machines that read marked-in bubbles or connected lines.

Bless Ion Sancho...he has fought hard for fair elections here. His reply to this idiocy about no manual recounts was "voters are "stunned" when told there will be no manual recount of all ballots in a close election. We have failed our citizens," said Sancho.

He argued that "lawmakers should allow more time for a full manual recount in close elections or at least a scientifically sound sampling to verify the votes were counted correctly."

We got snookered.

[Wapsie B]

1. Looks like the repug machine has struck again.

How can you lose ballots unless you intentionally did it?

[EC]

2. Florida has become Angola

where ballots are found burned in garbage dumbs...

[madfloridian]

3. More on the problem...also Sequoia again. After all the 2000 problems, why again?

From the WP

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/04/missing_palm_beach_ballots_rai.html

"The county's contract with Sequoia does not call for company staff to be present at recounts -- and they were not -- but equipment tests run on election night and following the recount found no problems, said Sequoia spokeswoman, Michelle M. Shafer.

..."A close race for Circuit Judge caused the vote recount. Palm Beach officials had declared incumbent Circuit Judge Richard Wennet the winner by 60 votes over William Abramson but state officials refused to certify that result due to the differing ballot totals.

State elections officials have until 5 p.m. Friday to certify state results so that ballots can be printed for the general election. Because the judicial race determines a winner--and would not have appeared on the November ballot in Palm Beach, Browning will recommend the state certify all but the judicial race results for the county during its Friday meeting, his office said. He made the recommendation late Thursday. Adams could not explain how ballots found in precinct bins so far had been overlooked.

Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Arthur Anderson himself lost a bid for re-election during the Aug. 26 primary."

Deadline last night...only 60 votes difference?? Don't see an update yet.

[madfloridian]

6. Another update....can't decide what to do. Crist says won't undermine confidence.

Sorry, Charlie. You are wrong.

http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/27949399.html

"The day began with 3,478 missing ballots in Palm Beach County. The state of Florida has ordered a recount there and is now considering sending monitors for the November election. Many say it's an eerie reminder of Election 2000

The 3,478 missing ballots in Palm Beach county has state elections officials worried about November. Florida's Secretary of State is considering his options.

"We’re not quite sure what direction we’re going to go yet with that. Whether we’re going to send a team in, whether we’re going to send an individual in, how long term," says Secretary of State Kurt Browning.

..."The next stop, ironically, a courtroom. Since 2000, Palm Beach has gone from punch cards to touch screens and now, for the first
countywide election, optical scans.

Governor Charlie Crist was asked about voter confidence.
Reporter: Do you think this will diminish voter confidence in the voting equipment?

Gov. Crist: “I hope not, I hope not. It shouldn’t.”

[paparush]

8. CONFIDENCE? Gods, the only thing I'm confident of is that the days of fair elections are behind us.

[Dr.Phool]

9. Good Ole Charlie, showing his "leedurship" skills.

He is a "good democrat" after all. Some will understand that remark, some won't.

I'm afraid they're already building the trailer park behind the Naval Observatory.

[madfloridian]

10. Ah, yes...I do understand that remark.

Karen Thurman called Crist a Democrat, after all.

[flamingdem]

4. Plz keep us informed on this issue in FL

jeez not again

[madfloridian]

5. Damn, they want the courts to decide that race....can't find ballots. Update.

http://www.cbs12.com/news/officials_4709463___article.html/beach_palm.html

This race is only 60 votes apart. They are missing over 2000 ballots give or take a few.

Now they want the court to decide the winner.

"WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Palm Beach County election officials want the courts to decide a disputed judicial race from last week's primary.

County election canvassing board members said Friday that efforts to find nearly 3,500 ballots had failed. They said the race should be determined by the courts. The close race sparked a countywide vote hunt after ballots came up short in last weekend's recount.

A third count of the ballots in three days produced a third set of numbers.

Secretary of State Kurt Browning was critical of the county's handling of the election and pledged to help election officials to ensure the November election goes smoothly"

[TheDonkey]

15. bullshit and becomes support for Diebold computers to be used

which can be just as if not more dangerous.

[madfloridian]

7. Flablog has more on this issue. This is really bad.

http://www.flablog.net/2008/09/another-fla-election-messup.htm

[quantass]

11. Havent read this yet..but let me guess, this county is mostly democrat right?

[bertman]

12. I'm sure that TOWERING CHAMPION OF FREE ELECTIONS Debbie Wasserman Schultz will be all

over this like white on rice. After all she certainly wouldn't want Floridians to have elections like the ones in Zimbabwe, would she?

[Dr.Phool]

13. You mean we don't?

[bertman]

16. Mugabe-Palin in '08, my friends.

[judasdisney]

14. According to Pelosi, this stuff is tinfoil

Thanks Nancy. Mole for the Neocons?