POLITICS: Over 50,000 Missing Absentee Ballots in Broward County, page 1

posted on Oct, 26 2004 @ 10:16 PM

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Local 10 and NBC6 news are both reporting missing absentee ballots in Broward county Florida. The claims come from citizens who have been showing up at election offices and filing complaints with the television stations. The Broward county Elections office stated that approximately 58,000 absentee ballots were mailed out on October 7 and 8th, yet the majority have not been recieved as of yet.

www.local10.com
The Broward County Supervisor of Elections office is saying only that the situation is "unusual," and they are looking into it.

Gisela Salas, Broward Deputy Elections Supervisor, said, "I hate to say 'missing' at this time because that has not yet be substantiated. Some ballots are starting to arrive. But there is an extraordinary delay."

An elections office representative told Local 10 that the office has investigated with the U.S. Post Office what might have happened to the ballots, but so far, no one has been able to figure it out.

"It is unusual. It's a puzzle on the part of our office and the postal service," Salas said. "Our office did make the delivery and the post office assures us they were processed. What happened is in question."

The postal service told Local 10 late Tuesday that they don't have 58,000 ballots floating around. They did say that they have several employees assigned to deal only with ballots and they are being delivered in one to two days -- once they get them.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

So the Elections office is blaming the post office and the post office is saying they don't have thousands of ballots lying around, so where exactly are the absentee ballots? No one knows. It is being suggested that if you were scheduled to recieve an absentee ballot and haven't yet done so, you should either participate in early voting or vote on November 2, since it will be difficult now to ensure that ballots are recieved by 7pm on election day.

Related News Stories:
Broward Officials Blame Postal Service For Missing Ballots

[edit on 10-27-2004 by worldwatcher]

worldwatcher

posted on Oct, 27 2004 @ 08:23 AM

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and on a side note:

Box With 179 Voter Registration Forms Found After Deadline

I have made two attempts to take advantage of early voting, and both times, I have left because of long lines, overcrowded parking lots and general confusion. It seems once again that Broward County will play a part in this election and recieve negative national attention. Most of the complaints the South Florida area seems to be in Broward County. Per a local survey, roughly over 500 complaints from Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, but double that number and so far over 1,000 complaints in Broward. It's going to get ugly real soon.

and more:
Voting early? Get in line

interesting to note:
Kerry has lead in Dade, poll says

and one more:
Ruling blocks hopeful voters

[edit on 10-27-2004 by worldwatcher]

valkeryie

posted on Oct, 27 2004 @ 08:39 AM

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Of course, knew this was coming. Same as last time,

Where are the International Observers, this election is a farce, and it hasn't happened yet.

The sheep still think they have a democracy.

[edit on 27-10-2004 by valkeryie]

worldwatcher

posted on Oct, 27 2004 @ 08:47 AM

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Now this one takes the cake!!! I can't believe how ridiculous we are here in Florida, I love my new home state, but jeeze louise can't we do anything right? It's amazing that the cops aren't around to direct traffic and parking confusions at the early voting sites, but yet tickets they are around to hand out parking tickets! unbelievable. We seriously need better organization in and around these voting sites.

Voters stuck in long lines in Delray get the ticket - for parking

I might take some pictures when I make next attempt to vote today of just what the confusion and parking situation looks like around here.

worldwatcher

posted on Oct, 27 2004 @ 03:17 PM

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Update:

FDLE ends probe of missing absentee ballots

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.

Gisela Salas, deputy supervisor of elections, said that elections officials started their own investigation earlier this week after hearing complaints from several voters that they did not receive their ballots.

Many of those ballots had been mailed on Oct. 7th and 8th, Salas said, and therefore should have reached voters. Brenda Snipes, the supervisor of elections, spoke with officials at the Oakland Park post office where the ballots are delivered and was told that they had been mailed, Salas said. That's when Snipes contacted FDLE.

Exactly how many absentee ballots are missing is unclear. About 58,000 were mailed on Oct. 7th and 8th and Salas said elections officials know that not all of those ballots are missing because some have been returned.

bzap

posted on Oct, 28 2004 @ 09:55 AM

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I have also not voted early because of long lines. I was not living in Broward or Florida for the last election, but I am for this one and it seems like it is going to be really screwed up. Just like the Daily Show says "Prelude to a Re-count" and it has not even started yet.

worldwatcher

posted on Oct, 28 2004 @ 09:59 AM

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btw, it looks like the Post Office is getting the blame for this one.
the ballots were handled improperly and got mixed up with regular mail.

Update:

Clock Ticking: Broward Rushing New Absentee Ballots

Broward County election officials have decided to send a second batch of absentee ballots Thursday after a snafu kept them from reaching their intended destinations.

As election workers and the U.S. Postal Service traded the blame Wednesday, Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes moved to solve the problem with less than a week left before the presidential election by sending duplicates to people who had not returned the original ballot.

Overnight mail would be used to ship to addresses outside of the county, notably college students. Nearly 51,000 absentees have been returned out of more than 127,000 requested in Broward alone, the state's biggest Democratic county.

[edit on 10-28-2004 by worldwatcher]

Otts

posted on Oct, 28 2004 @ 10:30 AM

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valkeyrie - about international observers... thank god for Colin Powell! He provided for that a few months ago.

www.cnn.com...
www.usatoday.com...