-Caveat Lector- http://www.herald.com/content/archive/news/elect2000/decision/102736.htm Miami Herald Monday, January 22, 2001 2,000 Floridians voted illegally Nov. 7 MANNY GARCIA AND TOM DUBOCQ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Ninety-year-old Cora Thigpen voted twice in the presidential election -- and would have liked to have voted more. ``If I had voted a half dozen times, I would have voted every time for Al Gore,'' the North Florida resident said. Joseph Bonner, 21, voted just once -- and he's sorry he did. With a felony drug conviction, the Gulf Coast resident man was prohibited by state law from casting a ballot. ``I wish to apologize for voting,'' he wrote after he got caught. ``Please understand that my error was made in good faith.'' Their votes were among more than 2,000 illegal ballots cast Nov. 7 by Floridians who signed affirmations swearing they were eligible to vote -- but were not, a review of election records in 25 Florida counties shows. The ballots, which all counted in the election, came from unregistered voters, ineligible felons -- and a handful of senior citizens who voted absentee first, then voted again at their local precinct after swearing they hadn't voted yet. The voters cast ballots even though their names were not on precinct voter registration lists. All they had to do was sign the affirmations swearing they were eligible to vote. Poll workers never checked, ignoring county rules intended to combat fraud. Elections officials say the workers were overwhelmed by high voter turnout. NEW RESIDENTS Another problem: Many of the voters apparently didn't realize that state law required them to register in the counties where they live. Many of the people who signed affirmations were new residents who hadn't yet registered in their home county. The 2,000 illegal affirmation votes add to an already troubling number of bad ballots cast in the Nov. 7 presidential election, which was decided by only 537 votes. In previous stories, The Herald has reported that at least 1,200 felons who had lost their voting rights somehow slipped through and cast ballots. Those counted in the razor-thin election, too. ``Numbers like that are very troubling,'' said Kurt Browning, the election supervisor in Pasco County. ``What this does is chip away at the credibility of our whole elections system.'' Browning, who identified 64 illegal affirmation votes in his county, is part of a governor's task force investigating ways to correct problems. While better voting machines could eliminate hanging ballot chads, he wonders what can be done to better train poll workers and inform voters of registration rules. One possibility is the use of so-called ``challenge'' ballots issued by poll workers to voters whose registration is in question. Those ballots would be checked before they were tallied rather than afterward, as they were on Nov. 7. FOUND IN REVIEW The 2,000 newly discovered illegal votes turned up in a review of affirmations filed in 25 Florida counties where records were available. Because ballots are secret -- and many of the voters failed to identify party affiliation on their affirmations -- it's impossible to know precisely how the votes affected the outcome of the election. Statewide, the bad ballots were cast by: About 1,700 people who were not registered to vote in counties where they cast ballots. This includes people who were removed from the voting roll because they had not voted in several years, had moved out of the county or simply were not registered voters. Nathaniel Wiseman, 30, said he voted in Orange County although he is not a registered voter. Wiseman, a window tinter, said he moved into the county a year and a half ago from neighboring Seminole County, but never bothered registering. ``I told them I was not registered,'' said Wiseman, a Democrat who said he voted for Al Gore. ``They looked around at each other and asked the precinct deputy for advice and they let me vote.'' More than 100 additional felons who had been stripped of their civil right to vote. Six voters who cast absentee ballots, then voted at their local precincts. One of them was Cora Thigpen of Madison County, which borders the Georgia state line. ``I do remember something about the absentee ballot, and I do remember going to the polls,'' Thigpen said in a telephone interview. Elections Supervisor Linda Howell said the signature on Thigpen's absentee ballot matched Thigpen's signature on the voter register at Precinct 3. Howell said the poll worker ignored the notation on the register showing Thigpen already had voted absentee. ``I was so shocked when I saw it,'' Howell said. ``Why the clerk allowed it, I cannot tell you. I guess we are always going to have mistakes because we are human.'' About a dozen people who voted in one county but live in another. In the tiny town of Ocoee, nestled in Orange County, Keith Evans voted for president -- although he told poll workers he lives 90 miles away in Tampa. ``I feel more comfortable voting back home,'' said Evans, 19, a computer technician and college student who said he voted for Gore. ``I was born and raised there. I know the issues. I just didn't know I couldn't vote there. The poll workers didn't say anything.'' In Lake County, in the heart of central Florida, James K. Rogers voted for president although he admitted he lives in neighboring Sumter County. ``I moved to Sumter, but I've been too busy with work to register there,'' said Rogers, 28, a tree relocator. So I drove back to Lake so I could vote.'' Rogers declined to tell The Herald for whom he voted except to say: ``I was happy with the outcome.'' Dozens of voters whose registration applications were deemed invalid because they were incomplete or filled out incorrectly. Others submitted applications after the Oct. 10 deadline for the presidential election. Few counties were spared problems. In Volusia County, election officials discovered 277 bad votes, almost all from non-registered voters. Some 73 bad votes came from a precinct at Bethune-Cookman College. ``Students were allowed to vote although they were not registered,'' said Denise Hansen, assistant supervisor of elections. Weldon Blake, a college employee and longtime vote-drive organizer, said the Rev. Jesse Jackson appeared at the predominantly black campus on Oct. 10 -- the state registration deadline for the presidential election -- urging students to register. Many of the registrations were filled out quickly and were missing information, he said. That day, the Volusia elections office was flooded with boxes filled with applications. Many were rejected. Hansen said that typically signatures, dates of birth and citizenship information were missing. Hansen said the election's office could not reach many students who applied at the last minute. As a result, she said, many students went to the polls believing they were registered. ``The poll workers could not get through on the phone so they erred on the side of protecting someone's right to vote,'' Hansen said. In Jacksonville on Election Day, poll workers allowed 327 unregistered voters to cast ballots, precinct registers show. The tally includes 162 people who filled out voter registration applications at the precincts -- nearly a month after the Oct. 10 registration deadline. Assistant Elections Supervisor Dick Carlberg said poll workers took matters into their own hands. Poll workers are supposed to call their elections headquarters to verify registrations when a voter appears without identification or is not listed on the voter roll. But in hundreds of instances, the calls were not made. Other times, poll workers said they tried to call but got a busy signal. Robert Kurtzke, a retired construction worker, oversaw voting at The Tides at Marsh Landing in Duval County, where 15 non-registered voters cast ballots. ``There are really no safeguards,'' Kurtzke said. ``The system is set up to allow people to vote. Think about it: You don't even need a voter's card to vote anymore, just a picture ID. But what could you do when someone showed up without a picture? To make things worse, it was impossible to get through on the phones to check if someone was registered, so we let them vote. What could you do?'' Herald staff writers Larry Lebowitz, Jasmine Kripalani, Anabelle DeGale and Lisa Arthur contributed to this report. ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: *Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends ================================================================= <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! 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