Problems reported as Florida voters begin casting early ballots

Received by Newsfinder from APOct 18, 2004 13:00 Eastern Time * Editors Note UPDATES throughout with Broward problems, lawsuit andJacksonville protest. * Photo Advisory FLGAI106 By JILL BARTONAssociated Press WriterWEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) _ Floridians began casting early ballots Monday for next month’s presidential election and within an hour problems cropped up in the state synonymous with voting messes. In Palm Beach County, the center of the madness during the 2000 presidential recount, a state legislator said she wasn’t given a complete absentee ballot when she asked not to use the electronic touch-screen machines. In Orange County, the touch-screen system briefly crashed, paralyzing voting in Orlando and its immediate suburbs. And in Broward County, several sites had problems with laptops connected to elections headquarters. State Rep. Shelley Vana, D-Lantana, was the seventh person in line Monday at a Palm Beach County early voting site. She said the paper absentee ballot she received was missing one of its two pages, including the proposed amendments to the state constitution. She said election workers were indifferent when she pointed out the oversight. “There was absolutely no concern on the part of the folks at the Supervisor of Elections Office that this page was missing. This is not a good start. If there are incomplete ballots out there, I can’t imagine I would be the only one getting it,” she said. Elections supervisor Theresa LePore did not immediately return a call for comment. In Orange County, the computers went down for about 10 minutes shortly after voting began, said Margaret Dunn, the senior deputy elections supervisor. She said she did not know what caused the problem, but speculated a faulty Internet connection may have been to blame. In Broward County, several of the 14 sites had trouble linking the laptop computers at polling stations with the supervisor’s office, said Jenny Nash, a spokeswoman at the Secretary of State Glenda Hood’s office. The computers are used to confirm voter eligibility. Workers used paper lists and called the supervisor’s office in Fort Lauderdale to verify eligibility. Broward elections officials did not immediately return calls for comment. Texas, Colorado and Arkansas also began casting early ballots Monday, 15 days before Election Day. Other key states this year have already begun in-person voting, including Wisconsin, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, New Mexico and Pennsylvania. In Palm Beach County, a steady flow of voters cast early ballots. Robin Punches, a stay-at-home mom from West Palm Beach, said she came early to vote because she heard it would increase the chance of her vote being accurately counted. It was her first time using the touch-screen voting machines. “It tells you exactly what to do. It’s idiot proof,” she said. In Tallahassee, the Rev. Jesse Jackson rallued students at historically black Florida A&M University. “Vote early and get the kinks out of the system,” the former Democratic presidential candidate told students before riding with them on buses to the courthouse. In Miami-Dade County, where early voting sites were to open later Monday, about 150 people gathered for a rally led by the Rev. Al Sharpton and former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. Some people were carrying homemade signs that said “Early Voting Counts” and “Every Vote Matters.” Early voting was introduced in Florida after the 2000 election, in which this crucial state decided the result by only 537 votes and introduced topics such as butterfly ballots and hanging chads to the national debate. Both President Bush and his Democratic challenger, John Kerry, arranged campaign swings through the Sunshine State over the weekend to coincide with the start of early voting. Some groups are urging voters to cast a paper absentee ballot, as Vana did, because of concerns over the state’s new touch-screen voting machines and any potential recounts. Voters Monday could chose either method. “It’s going to be changing the way candidates campaign because they have to get their message out to people two to three weeks earlier than in the past,” LePore said last week. Even as voters turned out, lawyers were going to court in Fort Lauderdale to argue a lawsuit over the lack of paper backup on the electronic machines. Some have criticized the concept of early voting, saying it increases opportunities for vote fraud without significantly boosting voter participation. Still, most states offer the option of early voting. In Duval County, which includes Jacksonville, there is only one voting site and a city attorney said it said it is too late to open new sites. Protesters gathered outside the Duval election supervisor’s office Monday, carrying signs and singing civil-rights songs. After the protest, officials moved everyone with a sign away from the front door of the office. Election officials say that although the early voting efforts create more work in a busy election year, they’re pushing for voters to get to the polls and make their voices heard any way they can. “As long as people vote, we’re happy,” said LePore, who lost her re-election bid in August. “But if something really bad happens about a candidate two days before an election, you can’t change your vote.”