-Caveat Lector-
http://www.herald.com/content/today/news/dade/digdocs/110495.ht
m
Unregistered voters cast ballots in Dade
Dead man's vote, scores of others were allowed illegally, Herald
finds
BY MANNY GARCIA AND TOM DUBOCQ
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
SEE ALSO
How this story was done
André Alismé died of cancer in 1997. Yet a vote in his name was
cast in last month's presidential election, one of more than 100
illegal ballots uncovered by The Herald in Miami-Dade County.
Violating rules meant to safeguard the integrity of balloting, Miami-
Dade poll workers allowed scores of unregistered voters -- including
out-of-state residents -- to vote on Nov. 7.
They cast ballots at polling places where they were not listed on
voter rolls. All they had to do was sign sworn statements that they
were eligible to vote.
They were not.
Nobody at the polls checked, as required by county regulations
and state law -- which meant that those illegal ballots counted in
one of the closest presidential races in history.
All of those voters would have been caught before casting ballots
had poll workers followed a simple procedure -- making a phone
call to elections headquarters to check whether each voter was
indeed eligible to vote.
The Herald examined ballots cast at just 138 of Miami-Dade's 617
precincts, finding that 144 ineligible voters had been allowed to sign
in at polls where they were not registered. If that trend holds true in
the rest of Dade, hundreds more illegal ballots may have been cast.
Poll workers overwhelmed by heavy voter turnout struggled with two
competing mandates: sustaining citizens' right to vote while
combating fraud at the ballot box. As a result, the anti-fraud rules
weren't always followed:
Frustrated poll workers said they were stymied by constant busy
signals when they tried to call an Elections Department hot line to
verify voter registration.
Some were so poorly trained that they didn't know the verification
requirements. They said they let people vote -- some without any
identification -- based on gut feelings that voters were honest.
Other poll workers, feeling pressured by long lines and short
tempers, said they ignored the rules or bent them just to avoid ugly
confrontations.
Some poll workers were too trusting, said Miami-Dade Elections
Supervisor David Leahy. ``Some clerks obviously did not follow
procedures,'' Leahy said. ``A lot of what we do is on the honor
system. Clearly you cannot have a deceased person voting.''
The Herald investigation shows that the already controversial
Florida presidential election also was marred by illegal voting.
Those votes also point to a larger problem: The safeguards enacted
after Miami's fraud-tainted 1997 mayoral election didn't keep
cheaters from voting.
Much of the fraud unearthed in 1997 involved absentee balloting,
and most reforms were aimed at stamping out fraudulent mail-in
ballots. The trouble this year came at the polls, where some
precinct workers ignored systematic safeguards.
The vote cast for André Alismé exemplifies what went wrong.
A Haitian immigrant, Alismé registered to vote in Miami-Dade on
Sept. 10, 1996. The registered Democrat cast his first and only
ballot as an American citizen in the presidential election that year.
He was 60 years old when he died the following May. After spotting
his obituary in the newspaper, the Elections Department routinely
verified his death with the Florida Department of Vital Statistics.
Then his registration was canceled, on June 2, 1997.
On Nov. 7, Alismé's name was resurrected at the Korean
Presbyterian Church of Miami, 13700 NE 10th Ave., the polling
place for Precinct 141. Alismé's name was handwritten on Page 65
of the precinct roll, along with an obvious forgery of his signature.
The roll shows that Ballot No. 119451 was cast in Alismé's name.
``No, no, that cannot be! André Alismé is deceased,'' said Elda
Suffret, who lives with Alismé's son at the family's El Portal home.
``There is no other André Alismé in Miami. His sons have different
names, and they are not U.S. citizens. I don't know how this could
happen.''
THE CASE OF AN IMPOSTOR
Dead man's identity is used to cast an illegal vote
Precinct 141 was particularly busy on Election Day -- 855 ballots
were cast there, a 67 percent turnout. Nearly 90 percent of the
presidential vote went for Al Gore.
Despite the heavy turnout, precinct supervisor Thomas Dennard
said he clearly remembers the man who called himself Alismé.
``It was early in the morning, and it was a madhouse,'' Dennard
said. ``He was sitting at the end of a long table waiting to be
helped.''
Like 46 other voters at Precinct 141, the impostor needed
Dennard's approval to cast a ballot because Alismé's name was
not printed on the precinct's voter rolls.
The procedure is clear. Poll workers are supposed to get
identification from the walk-in voter -- preferably a current voter
registration card and photo identification.
If the voter doesn't have that, poll workers are supposed to write
down the voter's name, current address, birth date and Social
Security number, then verify the information against voter
registration records before having the voter sign an affirmation
swearing that the information is correct.
Dennard said he followed official procedures, calling an Elections
Department hot line to verify that Alismé was registered to vote.
Elections Department officials doubt that he made the call.
They said that if Dennard did call, alarms would have gone off:
The impostor gave Alismé's old address, 8800 NE Fourth Ave. --
which is in Precinct 159, about three miles south in El Portal.
Under county regulations, Dennard should have directed the man to
the correct precinct and not issued him a ballot.
The impostor told poll workers he was born June 27, 1922,
elections records show -- making him 14 years older than Alismé
would have been. Alismé's correct birth date, on file at the
Elections Department: Nov. 30, 1936.
Dennard said the voter presented him with photo identification --
either a passport or a driver's license -- as well as a voter
registration card identifying him as Alismé. He said the voter was
white and spoke with a thick Hispanic accent. ``He was, like, from
Cuba,'' Dennard said.
Voter registration records list Alismé as black. He was born in Port-
au-Prince, Haiti.
When Alismé's records are called up on any Elections Department
computer, a message flashes on the screen, an alert that he is
deceased.
No record could be found that Dennard called the hot line on Nov. 7
to check out Alismé or any other voter. Hot line operators were
supposed to log in all calls from precincts. Dennard stood by his
story. ``I did make the calls,'' he said.
Dennard has worked at Miami-Dade polls since 1982, but that was
only the second time he had been in charge of a precinct. An
unemployed food-service worker, Dennard earned $99 for the 14
hours he spent at Precinct 141 on Nov. 7.
Alismé was not the only questionable voter in Precinct 141.
``I am not a registered voter, but I voted,'' Michel Guerda, 20, told
The Herald.
Guerda said she voted in Precint 141 after two girlfriends
persuaded her to ride with them to the polls and try to vote.
``I told the man there, the supervisor, `I'm not a registered voter.' He
said, `That's OK. You can vote,' '' Guerda said. ``He asked me for a
photo ID. I showed him a photo ID. I filled out some paper and I
signed the book. He gave me a ballot and I voted. It was easy. Am
I in trouble?''
Dennard said he does not remember Guerda, who lives within Little
Haiti's Precinct 505, six miles from Precinct 141.
Aldo Rios also voted -- although his family says he lives in New
Jersey. Rios filled out an affirmation listing his granddaughter's
North Dade address.
Dennard signed it, although elections officials confirm that Rios is
not a registered voter.
``He lives in Union City,'' said Yanelis Cabrales, Rios'
granddaughter. ``He comes back and forth, but his home is up
there, not here.''
Christina Ashby admitted in her affirmation that she lives in a
Broward County apartment. Dennard said he signed it because
Ashby showed him identification, possibly a driver's license, listing
an address within the precinct.
Ashby, an activities director for a nursing home, said she is
registered to vote in Miramar, but twice got turned away when she
tried to vote at another precinct near her son's school.
``They would not even let me fill out an affirmation,'' she said. ``The
Broward clerks tried calling the elections department but never got
through. It was busy all the time.''
Frustrated, Ashby said she drove to her original precinct where she
had registered to vote in 1992 -- Precinct 141. She explained her
ordeal and got to vote. Ashby said she did not know that was
illegal.
``I was tired and frustrated,'' Ashby said. ``All I wanted to do was
vote.''
That happened all over Miami-Dade -- unregistered voters wanting
to vote. Most voters interviewed by The Herald said they were
unaware that state law requires voters to be registered in the
county where they currently reside. Registration cards from other
counties and other states are invalid.
A QUESTION OF RESIDENCY
Voters not on the rolls were able to cast ballots
South Dade resident Aurora Ojeda was one of nine unregistered
voters in Precinct 759 who cast ballots at South Kendall
Community Church, 16550 SW 147th Ave. Ojeda, who moved here
from Monroe County several years ago, said she remembered filling
out a registration form about a year ago, but never received a
registration card.
``I wanted to vote, so I drove to the Keys first thing in the morning.
But they told me I had to vote in my precinct here,'' Ojeda said.
``So I came back and they let me vote here.''
Claudine Richard said her mother, Claudette Richard, was allowed
to vote even though she was registered outside Florida. Poll
workers in Precinct 759 allowed her to vote anyway. Claudette
Richard was in Haiti and could not be reached for comment.
``She was registered to vote in New York,'' her daughter said. ``I
tried to register her online a few weeks before the election, but it
was too late. Does this mean she wasn't supposed to vote?''
The state registration deadline was Oct. 10. Anyone registering
after that was ineligible to vote.
In Precinct 146, Pamela Perez signed affirmations for seven people
who gave her addresses within that precinct. Elections records
show that none were registered voters.
``I'm sure several people got by me who should not have voted. I
know I made some boo-boos. I should have checked more
thoroughly,'' said Perez, who oversaw voting in Keystone Point, a
well-to-do neighborhood in North Miami.
``I had a lot of people coming in without voting cards and people
who were not registered in the book,'' she said. ``I tried calling the
elections office, but it was busy the whole day.''
Perez said she was caught unprepared for the onslaught of people
who showed up on Nov. 7. She registered to vote in February and
had never done election work.
Poll clerks must attend a two-hour class and study a 32-page
procedural manual before they set foot inside a precinct. Perez
said she warned Elections Department trainers that she was not
prepared for such responsibility.
``The poll worker training lasted 40 minutes, maybe an hour,'' Perez
said. ``I told them, `I never voted in my life. I never did this in my
life. I didn't have any experience doing this,' and they said, `You
can do it. You'll be fine. It's easy.' Well, it wasn't easy.''
Leahy, the elections supervisor, said the hardest part of his job is
finding enough qualified poll workers, especially for larger elections.
``We have to beg people to take these positions for what we pay,''
Leahy said. ``Basically, we are asking you to take a Tuesday off,
work at least a 14-hour day, plus two hours of training.''
BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT
Some voters' word accepted about where they were living
Perez said she gave several people the benefit of the doubt
because they said they lived in her neighborhood.
``They said they lived in Keystone Point, and I believed them,''
Perez said. ``Maybe I should have been more strict in some cases.''
But Perez said she also turned away plenty of people, mostly
those she felt were Haitian, because she believed they did not live
in Keystone Point.
``They wanted to come in to vote,'' Perez said. ``I said, `I know you
don't live in this precinct,' and they said `OK' and would leave.''
But how clerks determined who got a ballot differed from one
precinct to the next.
In Opa-locka, for example, clerk Herman Ralph Davis Jr. said he
did not allow anyone to vote without showing a picture ID. Davis
said he turned away several potential voters at Precinct 271, 2105
Ali Baba Ave., because he could not reach elections headquarters.
``They had to have a picture ID,'' Davis told The Herald. ``If you're
not registered in the book and did not have a picture ID, and I
couldn't get through the phones to the Elections Department, then
you couldn't vote. I had about four I turned away like that, but part
of my job is to guard against fraud.''
Poll clerk Joe Galante said his job was to facilitate voting at
Precinct 126, Allen Park Community Center, 1770 NE 162nd St.
``If they didn't have a driver's license or picture ID, voter's
registration, nothing, we filled out that affirmation,'' Galante said. ``I
made them raise their right hand and take an oath that they were
telling the truth. Our job is to help people vote. We're on the honor
system here.
``I remember we had one guy,'' Galante said. ``He hadn't voted in
years. But he looked like a nice guy. So we let him vote.''
Herald staff writers Mireidy Fernandez and Jasmine Kripalani
contributed to this report.
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