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10-31-2004, 06:05 PM
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YOU DECIDE HOME FOX NEWS POLLS EYE ON THE ISSUES
Fraud File: Point the Way
Sunday, October 31, 2004
STORIES BACKGROUND
WASHINGTON < With Election Day fast approaching, some
Americans have gotten a jump on the process. But although voters thought
getting to the polls early would ensure a smooth process, some ran into
problems along the way.
Read below to find out how early voting is going in
North Carolina and Florida, and keep scrolling for a wrap-up of the legal
situation in several states.
Repeat After Me
Early voting has been underway in North Carolina
(search) for nearly two weeks, but some voters are questioning the
supposed impartiality of poll workers.
FOX News heard voters complain that some poll workers
suggested they cast their ballot for the Kerry-Edwards ticket without
offering any alternative. In one case, a worker reportedly voted for a
handicapped senior citizen without even asking her choice.
Diane Thomas, a self-employed author and Web site
builder who is a registered Republican, said she voted at the Steel Creek
Library (search) in Charlotte on Tuesday. A poll worker activated the
voting machine but then wouldnıt leave, Thomas said.
³She began gesturing on the screen. 'This is where you
vote for president,' she said, drawing an underline on the screen which
left a mark, ending right under John Kerry's box. My jaw dropped. I said
'You can't do that.' She said, 'I'm just showing you where to vote for
president,'" Thomas told FOX News.
Other early voters reported the same scenario at
different polling places.
Dr. David Newman, an OB/GYN and a registered Republican,
voted at the University City public library in North Charlotte. After
signing in, he was escorted to the voting machine by a female poll worker
who activated the machine.
"The worker said, 'In order to vote for him' < and her
finger was directly over the John Kerry-John Edwards button, 'you push
right here.' There was nothing vague about it. My jaw dropped. I was
shocked. I was too stunned to reply. I called the Republican Party,²
Newman said.
Ron Dauenhauer, a businessman and a registered
independent, went to vote at University City public library in North
Charlotte. While standing in line outside, a poll worker handed large
yellow sample ballots to the people on line and made references to voting
for the Democratic ticket but said nothing about Republicans.
³I felt this violated the rules,² Dauenhauer said,
adding that he called the Republican party in Raleigh to report what he
saw. The GOP filed a complaint on the matter.
Election officials admit there have been some problems
in Charlotte but one official said the poll workers were just trying to be
helpful.
Michael Dickerson, director of Charlotteıs Board of
Elections, offered one possible reason for the seemingly pro-Kerry
comments by poll workers. ³Maybe because Kerryıs name is the first one on
the ballot,² Dickerson said, adding that poll workers are supposed to be
impartial and not name parties or candidates.
North Carolina does have a favorite son in the race.
Sen. John Edwards, the running mate on the Democratic ticket, represents
the state in Congress. But the state has been a reliable backer of
Republican presidential candidates for years < the last time it voted
Democratic was in 1976 for Jimmy Carter.
In this election, North Carolina is leaning toward
giving its 15 electoral votes to President Bush. In other statewide races,
GOP Rep. Richard Burr and Democrat Erskine Bowles are fighting for the
Senate while Democratic Gov. Mike Easley is favored for re-election.
< FOX News' Heather Nauert
Voting Early
More than 1.8 million Floridians have cast their ballots
through early or absentee voting < nearly 2 1/2 times the number of people
who voted early in 2000.
Polling places were packed Saturday as people continued
to stream in to vote early, with some localities reporting lines several
hundred people deep and waits up to 2 1/2 hours.
With early voting still available at polling stations
Monday < and about 1.6 million requested absentee ballots still
outstanding < officials expect the number of early voters to easily
surpass 2 million.
"It looks like the All-American tradition of voting on
Election Day is going out the window," said Fred D. Galey, elections
supervisor in Brevard County.
Since the polls opened on Oct. 18, Democrats and
Republicans alike have pressed their die-hard supporters to vote early.
Political rallies end with shuttle buses headed to the
polls. Speeches include exhortations to vote early. And nonprofit groups
are renting vans to carry voters to the polls.
In Miami-Dade County, which has the state's
second-largest voter population, officials project about a third of
registered voters will cast their ballot before Election Day. In
Washington County in the Panhandle, more than 20 percent of registered
voters had cast their ballots by Thursday.
In all, the early turnout is more than double the
720,453 ballots cast before Election Day in 2000, when early voting wasn't
an option in most places.
Many Floridians said they prefer early voting because it
gives them more confidence their votes will be counted.
Odette Derosier, a Haitian immigrant who voted for the
first time in 2000, said she went to the polls early because "everybody
says if you vote early you've got more chance."
"The other time I vote, my vote maybe goes in the
garbage," said Derosier, who lives in Miami. "Now, I'm satisfied."
Still, problems were still cropping up across the state.
In Lee County, elections officials were besieged by
complaints from hundreds of voters who hadn't received absentee ballots
they had requested mostly through political parties and other
organizations.
Elections Supervisor Sharon Harrington said her office
didn't know exactly how many ballots had been sent out in response.
Other counties are fielding similar complaints,
including Broward County, where officials this week sent thousands of
replacement absentee ballots by overnight mail.
Diana Davidson, a substitute teacher and registered
Republican from Orlando, waited more than 11/2 hours to cast her ballot at
the polls after requesting but never receiving an absentee ballot.
"I was afraid I wasn't going to get to vote, so I
decided to come out just to be sure," she said.
< The Associated Press
Scene in the States
Many states are facing legal challenges over possible
voting problems Tuesday. A look at some of the latest developments:
The Latest Reports
ARIZONA
The Secretary of State's office said that as many as
2,300 Arizonans who registered to vote over the Internet may be missing
from voter rolls. County recorders said some voters were rejected because
their forms were improperly filled out, and that others appear on the
rolls with name variations. Recorders have been instructed to take
measures to ensure that properly registered voters are not turned away.
FLORIDA
A Republican operative filed suit against a civil rights
organization for allegedly neglecting to turn in voter registration forms
collected from citizens during a petition drive. The suit, filed on behalf
of 11 Floridians, accuses the Association of Community Organizations for
Reform Now of using the registrations as a ruse to get people to sign a
minimum wage petition. ACORN said the suit is politically motivated.
NEBRASKA
Nearly 1,000 people who voted by absentee ballot were
asked to recast their votes because the ballots they used lacked the
necessary signatures of the election commissioner or a representative. New
ballots were sent to voters by overnight mail.
WISCONSIN
A review by the Milwaukee city attorney's office found
hundreds of addresses that the state Republican Party had claimed were
incorrect or nonexistent. The state GOP has asked the Wisconsin Elections
Board to remove the names of about 5,600 registered voters from the rolls,
claiming addresses listed with city officials are fictitious. The city
attorney's office found problems with the GOP's database, but a Republican
official said most of the addresses are invalid.
Earlier Reports
COLORADO
Oct. 28: Republican poll watchers filed a complaint
claiming election officials in the Democratic stronghold of Pueblo County
failed to require early voters to produce identification.
Oct. 28: The machines that Boulder County uses to count
votes bogged down in a recent test, choking on improperly marked ballots
and prompting a three-day review to determine the final result.
Oct. 27: As many as 3,700 people have registered to vote
in more than one Colorado county this year, nearly two-thirds of them
college-age voters, the Denver Post reported. Election officials said they
are working to catch double registrations but concede double voting might
occur.
Oct. 26: A federal judge left it up to the voters to
decide on Election Day whether to change the way Colorado distributes its
electoral votes for president. The judge dismissed a lawsuit that
challenged a Colorado ballot proposal involving the Electoral College.
Oct. 25: Boulder County officials defended their
election system against a privacy lawsuit, saying serial numbers on
ballots cannot be used to reveal how an individual voted. Six voters filed
a lawsuit last week saying the ballot numbers and bar codes violate their
privacy rights.
Oct. 21: The secretary of state issued strict guidelines
for poll watchers across the state, limiting each party to one person per
station and banning outside groups from sending out teams of lawyers to
monitor the election. Parties use poll watchers to keep track of turnout
and watch how balloting procedures are performed.
Oct. 20: A company hired by Denver to print and mail
absentee ballots failed to send out about 13,000 ballots, but election
officials hoped to get them to voters by the end of the week.
FLORIDA
Oct. 28: A state appeals court ruled that Florida acted
properly when it adopted a rule for manual recounts in 15 counties that
use touch-screen voting machines.
Oct. 26: A judge ruled that state election officials
will not be required to process incomplete voter registration forms for
the presidential election. At issue are registration forms from voters who
do not check a box confirming they are American citizens, even if they
sign an oath swearing they are citizens.
Oct. 26: Nearly 300 voters in St. Petersburg received
absentee ballots that were missing the second of two pages, Pinellas
County elections officials acknowledged. County Elections Supervisor
Deborah Clark promised Tuesday to correct the error by Nov. 2. Her office
has mailed the inadvertently omitted page to the 293 affected voters,
along with an explanation and a postage-paid envelope.
Oct. 25: A judge ruled that Florida's touch-screen
voting machines do not have to produce a paper record for use in case a
recount becomes necessary. A Democratic congressman had filed the lawsuit,
seeking a paper trail or a switch to paper ballots in 15 counties.
Oct. 25: A judge denied a request from a coalition of
unions and black groups to add four early voting sites in Duval County,
home to Jacksonville.
Oct. 21: A federal judge said the state must reject
provisional ballots if they are cast in the wrong precinct < another
defeat to Democrats who wanted looser requirements. The ruling is in line
with one handed down this week by the state Supreme Court in a similar
case.
Oct. 21: Republicans accused Democrats of breaking
political money laws in Florida. They said Democrats engaged in cozy
arrangements among candidates, unions and outside fund-raising groups as
part of an effort to turn out voters. Democrats said the allegation was
absurd.
Oct. 21: Tens of thousands of Florida voters may be
illegally registered to vote in two states, and more than 1,600 may have
cast ballots in Florida and one of two other states in recent elections,
the Orlando Sentinel reported in Friday's editions. The Sentinel
examination of voting records from Florida, Georgia and North Carolina
found more than 68,000 cases in which voters with the same names and dates
of birth were registered in two states.
GEORGIA
Oct. 28: Nearly 100 Hispanic voters were summoned to a
Georgia courthouse to defend their right to vote, based on a complaint
that an Atkinson County board ultimately threw out. Three men filed the
complaint against 78 percent of the rural county's Hispanics, alleging
that a county commissioner had attempted to register non-U.S. citizens to
vote.
Oct. 20: A group of international election observers
said in a report that Georgia's electronic voting machines should create
paper receipts and poll workers should get more training. The report is
the result of a visit to Georgia in September by a 20-member team of civic
leaders, professors and lawyers from 15 countries.
ILLINOIS:
Oct. 25: Officials denied a request to extend the
counting period for absentee ballots that are postmarked before the
election but not received until afterward. The decision does not affect
military votes. Other ballots received after the close of polls on
Election Day cannot be counted under Illinois election law.
IOWA
Oct. 28: The attorney general said election officials
will not count ballots cast in the wrong precincts on election night, but
will set them aside in the event of a lawsuit seeking to determine their
legality.
Oct. 27: Five voters who sued the secretary of state
over a provisional ballots decision did not exhaust administrative
remedies, the state argued in court. The plaintiffs, who argue ballots
cast in the wrong polling place may dilute properly cast votes, present
their arguments later Wednesday.
Oct. 26: Five Republican voters have filed a lawsuit
challenging a rule requiring provisional ballots cast in the wrong
precinct to be counted. A judge was set to hear arguments Wednesday.
MICHIGAN
Oct. 26: A federal appeals court ruled that provisional
ballots cast outside the precinct where a voter resides cannot be counted
in Michigan. The ruling followed a similar decision by the same court in
an Ohio case over the weekend. It is yet another defeat to Democrats over
provisional ballots.
Oct. 21: Top elections officials said they were worried
about the ramifications of a court ruling this week on how to handle
provisional ballots. They are concerned about voter confusion and whether
they will have enough time to provide local clerks with the proper
Election Day instructions.
MINNESOTA
Oct. 29: Media groups asked Minnesota's county auditors
to grant journalists complete access to polling places. The request was in
response to a new state law that requires journalists to have a written
letter of permission from election officials to observe in a polling
place.
NEVADA
Oct. 25: Two Republican voters asked a Nevada judge to
reject a Democrat's request to reopen voter registration based on his
claim that his voter application form was destroyed by a GOP-funded group.
The Republicans said one voter's complaint should not apply broadly to all
voters. Nevada's voter registration deadline was Oct. 2.
Oct. 20: The state's top elections official insisted
that exit pollsters for media outlets must stay 100 feet from the polls to
ensure "hassle-free, intimidation-free" voting sites. The law is intended
to block partisan activity near the polls, but an attorney for news
organizations including The Associated Press questioned why it should
apply to the media.
NEW JERSEY
Oct. 26: A judge ruled that voters will be able to use
electronic voting machines Nov. 2, rejecting an effort to alter the way 3
million residents cast their ballots. The judge said the machines have a
long record of being reliable.
NORTH CAROLINA
Oct. 26: The state Republican Party filed a complaint
with the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections, charging election
officials coached voters on how to cast a straight Democratic-party
ticket. Mecklenburg County is home to Charlotte.
Oct. 21: At least half of North Carolina's National
Guard troops in Iraq didn't receive their absentee ballots in time for
their votes to be counted, said Lt. Michelle Locke, who helped with voting
at a base northeast of Baghdad. Locke, who didn't get her ballot, said
troops who wanted to vote in the Nov. 2 general election received special
all-write-in ballots that had been sent by the military in case something
went wrong.
>
OHIO
Oct. 29: Republicans lost an attempt to restart hearings
on thousands of voter registrations that the party has contested. The
decision by state attorney general refused to comply with the request.
Oct. 28: A former Cincinnati City Council member and her
husband sued to stop GOP representatives who plan to challenge voters
about their identity and voting qualifications in Hamilton County.
Oct. 26: The secretary of state ordered county election
boards to let voters whose registrations are successfully challenged to
still cast provisional ballots on Election Day. The order followed the
Ohio Republican Party's challenge of the registrations of 35,000 voters
last week.
Oct. 26: The U.S. Supreme Court declined to put
Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader on the ballot in Ohio.
Oct. 25: Republicans withdrew thousands of challenges to
new voter registrations because of errors in their filings apparently
caused by a computer glitch. In filing the challenges, the GOP said mail
sent to the newly registered voters was returned as undeliverable.
Oct. 21: County elections officials say a court battle
over the votes of people who go to the wrong polling place has left them
unsure how to train poll workers and what to tell voters about where they
can cast ballots. Ohio is the site of an intense, back-and-forth legal
battle over provisional ballots.
PENNSYLVANIA
Oct. 29: A federal judge approved a settlement between
Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell and the parents of two servicemen who sued to
extend the deadline for counting overseas military and civilian ballots
for president.
Oct. 20: Workers taking part in a Republican-funded
voter registration drive said they were told to avoid signing up Democrats
or people who might vote for John Kerry. The Republican National Committee
denied the accusations and suggested that Democrats were orchestrating the
charges.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Oct. 20: A health organization that promised flu shots
on Election Day in six of South Carolina's poorest counties has drawn
criticism from Republicans that the effort is politically motivated. The
GOP says some of the targeted counties are Democratic-leaning. The
organization denied the allegations and said the mailing was sent to areas
with low vaccination rates based on federal data.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Oct. 28: The Justice Department will send out three
times as many poll watchers on Election Day than in 2000. The watchers
will be looking for difficulties with absentee ballots and the handling of
ballots cast in the wrong precinct.
WISCONSIN
Oct. 29: The state GOP asked the Wisconsin Elections
Board to remove the names of about 5,600 people registered to vote in
Milwaukee. Republicans said the addresses listed with city officials are
fictitious. A board attorney there was not enough time to convene a
hearing on the matter.
Oct. 28: The superintendent of Milwaukee schools halted
a get-out-the-vote program involving students after complaints were raised
about its link to a pro-Kerry organization.
Oct. 28: Milwaukee's election commission threw out a
complaint alleging that more than 5,600 addresses on the city's voter
rolls may not exist, saying Republicans had not proven the registrations
were invalid. GOP officials said they visited 37 of the addresses and took
pictures showing vacant lots, a gyro stand and a park. Democrats said
typographical errors and old registrations could have accounted for the
discrepancies.
< The Associated Press contributed to this report.
YOU DECIDE HOME FOX NEWS POLLS EYE ON THE ISSUES
Fraud File: Point the Way
Sunday, October 31, 2004
STORIES BACKGROUND
WASHINGTON < With Election Day fast approaching, some
Americans have gotten a jump on the process. But although voters thought
getting to the polls early would ensure a smooth process, some ran into
problems along the way.
Read below to find out how early voting is going in
North Carolina and Florida, and keep scrolling for a wrap-up of the legal
situation in several states.
Repeat After Me
Early voting has been underway in North Carolina
(search) for nearly two weeks, but some voters are questioning the
supposed impartiality of poll workers.
FOX News heard voters complain that some poll workers
suggested they cast their ballot for the Kerry-Edwards ticket without
offering any alternative. In one case, a worker reportedly voted for a
handicapped senior citizen without even asking her choice.
Diane Thomas, a self-employed author and Web site
builder who is a registered Republican, said she voted at the Steel Creek
Library (search) in Charlotte on Tuesday. A poll worker activated the
voting machine but then wouldnıt leave, Thomas said.
³She began gesturing on the screen. 'This is where you
vote for president,' she said, drawing an underline on the screen which
left a mark, ending right under John Kerry's box. My jaw dropped. I said
'You can't do that.' She said, 'I'm just showing you where to vote for
president,'" Thomas told FOX News.
Other early voters reported the same scenario at
different polling places.
Dr. David Newman, an OB/GYN and a registered Republican,
voted at the University City public library in North Charlotte. After
signing in, he was escorted to the voting machine by a female poll worker
who activated the machine.
"The worker said, 'In order to vote for him' < and her
finger was directly over the John Kerry-John Edwards button, 'you push
right here.' There was nothing vague about it. My jaw dropped. I was
shocked. I was too stunned to reply. I called the Republican Party,²
Newman said.
Ron Dauenhauer, a businessman and a registered
independent, went to vote at University City public library in North
Charlotte. While standing in line outside, a poll worker handed large
yellow sample ballots to the people on line and made references to voting
for the Democratic ticket but said nothing about Republicans.
³I felt this violated the rules,² Dauenhauer said,
adding that he called the Republican party in Raleigh to report what he
saw. The GOP filed a complaint on the matter.
Election officials admit there have been some problems
in Charlotte but one official said the poll workers were just trying to be
helpful.
Michael Dickerson, director of Charlotteıs Board of
Elections, offered one possible reason for the seemingly pro-Kerry
comments by poll workers. ³Maybe because Kerryıs name is the first one on
the ballot,² Dickerson said, adding that poll workers are supposed to be
impartial and not name parties or candidates.
North Carolina does have a favorite son in the race.
Sen. John Edwards, the running mate on the Democratic ticket, represents
the state in Congress. But the state has been a reliable backer of
Republican presidential candidates for years < the last time it voted
Democratic was in 1976 for Jimmy Carter.
In this election, North Carolina is leaning toward
giving its 15 electoral votes to President Bush. In other statewide races,
GOP Rep. Richard Burr and Democrat Erskine Bowles are fighting for the
Senate while Democratic Gov. Mike Easley is favored for re-election.
< FOX News' Heather Nauert
Voting Early
More than 1.8 million Floridians have cast their ballots
through early or absentee voting < nearly 2 1/2 times the number of people
who voted early in 2000.
Polling places were packed Saturday as people continued
to stream in to vote early, with some localities reporting lines several
hundred people deep and waits up to 2 1/2 hours.
With early voting still available at polling stations
Monday < and about 1.6 million requested absentee ballots still
outstanding < officials expect the number of early voters to easily
surpass 2 million.
"It looks like the All-American tradition of voting on
Election Day is going out the window," said Fred D. Galey, elections
supervisor in Brevard County.
Since the polls opened on Oct. 18, Democrats and
Republicans alike have pressed their die-hard supporters to vote early.
Political rallies end with shuttle buses headed to the
polls. Speeches include exhortations to vote early. And nonprofit groups
are renting vans to carry voters to the polls.
In Miami-Dade County, which has the state's
second-largest voter population, officials project about a third of
registered voters will cast their ballot before Election Day. In
Washington County in the Panhandle, more than 20 percent of registered
voters had cast their ballots by Thursday.
In all, the early turnout is more than double the
720,453 ballots cast before Election Day in 2000, when early voting wasn't
an option in most places.
Many Floridians said they prefer early voting because it
gives them more confidence their votes will be counted.
Odette Derosier, a Haitian immigrant who voted for the
first time in 2000, said she went to the polls early because "everybody
says if you vote early you've got more chance."
"The other time I vote, my vote maybe goes in the
garbage," said Derosier, who lives in Miami. "Now, I'm satisfied."
Still, problems were still cropping up across the state.
In Lee County, elections officials were besieged by
complaints from hundreds of voters who hadn't received absentee ballots
they had requested mostly through political parties and other
organizations.
Elections Supervisor Sharon Harrington said her office
didn't know exactly how many ballots had been sent out in response.
Other counties are fielding similar complaints,
including Broward County, where officials this week sent thousands of
replacement absentee ballots by overnight mail.
Diana Davidson, a substitute teacher and registered
Republican from Orlando, waited more than 11/2 hours to cast her ballot at
the polls after requesting but never receiving an absentee ballot.
"I was afraid I wasn't going to get to vote, so I
decided to come out just to be sure," she said.
< The Associated Press
Scene in the States
Many states are facing legal challenges over possible
voting problems Tuesday. A look at some of the latest developments:
The Latest Reports
ARIZONA
The Secretary of State's office said that as many as
2,300 Arizonans who registered to vote over the Internet may be missing
from voter rolls. County recorders said some voters were rejected because
their forms were improperly filled out, and that others appear on the
rolls with name variations. Recorders have been instructed to take
measures to ensure that properly registered voters are not turned away.
FLORIDA
A Republican operative filed suit against a civil rights
organization for allegedly neglecting to turn in voter registration forms
collected from citizens during a petition drive. The suit, filed on behalf
of 11 Floridians, accuses the Association of Community Organizations for
Reform Now of using the registrations as a ruse to get people to sign a
minimum wage petition. ACORN said the suit is politically motivated.
NEBRASKA
Nearly 1,000 people who voted by absentee ballot were
asked to recast their votes because the ballots they used lacked the
necessary signatures of the election commissioner or a representative. New
ballots were sent to voters by overnight mail.
WISCONSIN
A review by the Milwaukee city attorney's office found
hundreds of addresses that the state Republican Party had claimed were
incorrect or nonexistent. The state GOP has asked the Wisconsin Elections
Board to remove the names of about 5,600 registered voters from the rolls,
claiming addresses listed with city officials are fictitious. The city
attorney's office found problems with the GOP's database, but a Republican
official said most of the addresses are invalid.
Earlier Reports
COLORADO
Oct. 28: Republican poll watchers filed a complaint
claiming election officials in the Democratic stronghold of Pueblo County
failed to require early voters to produce identification.
Oct. 28: The machines that Boulder County uses to count
votes bogged down in a recent test, choking on improperly marked ballots
and prompting a three-day review to determine the final result.
Oct. 27: As many as 3,700 people have registered to vote
in more than one Colorado county this year, nearly two-thirds of them
college-age voters, the Denver Post reported. Election officials said they
are working to catch double registrations but concede double voting might
occur.
Oct. 26: A federal judge left it up to the voters to
decide on Election Day whether to change the way Colorado distributes its
electoral votes for president. The judge dismissed a lawsuit that
challenged a Colorado ballot proposal involving the Electoral College.
Oct. 25: Boulder County officials defended their
election system against a privacy lawsuit, saying serial numbers on
ballots cannot be used to reveal how an individual voted. Six voters filed
a lawsuit last week saying the ballot numbers and bar codes violate their
privacy rights.
Oct. 21: The secretary of state issued strict guidelines
for poll watchers across the state, limiting each party to one person per
station and banning outside groups from sending out teams of lawyers to
monitor the election. Parties use poll watchers to keep track of turnout
and watch how balloting procedures are performed.
Oct. 20: A company hired by Denver to print and mail
absentee ballots failed to send out about 13,000 ballots, but election
officials hoped to get them to voters by the end of the week.
FLORIDA
Oct. 28: A state appeals court ruled that Florida acted
properly when it adopted a rule for manual recounts in 15 counties that
use touch-screen voting machines.
Oct. 26: A judge ruled that state election officials
will not be required to process incomplete voter registration forms for
the presidential election. At issue are registration forms from voters who
do not check a box confirming they are American citizens, even if they
sign an oath swearing they are citizens.
Oct. 26: Nearly 300 voters in St. Petersburg received
absentee ballots that were missing the second of two pages, Pinellas
County elections officials acknowledged. County Elections Supervisor
Deborah Clark promised Tuesday to correct the error by Nov. 2. Her office
has mailed the inadvertently omitted page to the 293 affected voters,
along with an explanation and a postage-paid envelope.
Oct. 25: A judge ruled that Florida's touch-screen
voting machines do not have to produce a paper record for use in case a
recount becomes necessary. A Democratic congressman had filed the lawsuit,
seeking a paper trail or a switch to paper ballots in 15 counties.
Oct. 25: A judge denied a request from a coalition of
unions and black groups to add four early voting sites in Duval County,
home to Jacksonville.
Oct. 21: A federal judge said the state must reject
provisional ballots if they are cast in the wrong precinct < another
defeat to Democrats who wanted looser requirements. The ruling is in line
with one handed down this week by the state Supreme Court in a similar
case.
Oct. 21: Republicans accused Democrats of breaking
political money laws in Florida. They said Democrats engaged in cozy
arrangements among candidates, unions and outside fund-raising groups as
part of an effort to turn out voters. Democrats said the allegation was
absurd.
Oct. 21: Tens of thousands of Florida voters may be
illegally registered to vote in two states, and more than 1,600 may have
cast ballots in Florida and one of two other states in recent elections,
the Orlando Sentinel reported in Friday's editions. The Sentinel
examination of voting records from Florida, Georgia and North Carolina
found more than 68,000 cases in which voters with the same names and dates
of birth were registered in two states.
GEORGIA
Oct. 28: Nearly 100 Hispanic voters were summoned to a
Georgia courthouse to defend their right to vote, based on a complaint
that an Atkinson County board ultimately threw out. Three men filed the
complaint against 78 percent of the rural county's Hispanics, alleging
that a county commissioner had attempted to register non-U.S. citizens to
vote.
Oct. 20: A group of international election observers
said in a report that Georgia's electronic voting machines should create
paper receipts and poll workers should get more training. The report is
the result of a visit to Georgia in September by a 20-member team of civic
leaders, professors and lawyers from 15 countries.
ILLINOIS:
Oct. 25: Officials denied a request to extend the
counting period for absentee ballots that are postmarked before the
election but not received until afterward. The decision does not affect
military votes. Other ballots received after the close of polls on
Election Day cannot be counted under Illinois election law.
IOWA
Oct. 28: The attorney general said election officials
will not count ballots cast in the wrong precincts on election night, but
will set them aside in the event of a lawsuit seeking to determine their
legality.
Oct. 27: Five voters who sued the secretary of state
over a provisional ballots decision did not exhaust administrative
remedies, the state argued in court. The plaintiffs, who argue ballots
cast in the wrong polling place may dilute properly cast votes, present
their arguments later Wednesday.
Oct. 26: Five Republican voters have filed a lawsuit
challenging a rule requiring provisional ballots cast in the wrong
precinct to be counted. A judge was set to hear arguments Wednesday.
MICHIGAN
Oct. 26: A federal appeals court ruled that provisional
ballots cast outside the precinct where a voter resides cannot be counted
in Michigan. The ruling followed a similar decision by the same court in
an Ohio case over the weekend. It is yet another defeat to Democrats over
provisional ballots.
Oct. 21: Top elections officials said they were worried
about the ramifications of a court ruling this week on how to handle
provisional ballots. They are concerned about voter confusion and whether
they will have enough time to provide local clerks with the proper
Election Day instructions.
MINNESOTA
Oct. 29: Media groups asked Minnesota's county auditors
to grant journalists complete access to polling places. The request was in
response to a new state law that requires journalists to have a written
letter of permission from election officials to observe in a polling
place.
NEVADA
Oct. 25: Two Republican voters asked a Nevada judge to
reject a Democrat's request to reopen voter registration based on his
claim that his voter application form was destroyed by a GOP-funded group.
The Republicans said one voter's complaint should not apply broadly to all
voters. Nevada's voter registration deadline was Oct. 2.
Oct. 20: The state's top elections official insisted
that exit pollsters for media outlets must stay 100 feet from the polls to
ensure "hassle-free, intimidation-free" voting sites. The law is intended
to block partisan activity near the polls, but an attorney for news
organizations including The Associated Press questioned why it should
apply to the media.
NEW JERSEY
Oct. 26: A judge ruled that voters will be able to use
electronic voting machines Nov. 2, rejecting an effort to alter the way 3
million residents cast their ballots. The judge said the machines have a
long record of being reliable.
NORTH CAROLINA
Oct. 26: The state Republican Party filed a complaint
with the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections, charging election
officials coached voters on how to cast a straight Democratic-party
ticket. Mecklenburg County is home to Charlotte.
Oct. 21: At least half of North Carolina's National
Guard troops in Iraq didn't receive their absentee ballots in time for
their votes to be counted, said Lt. Michelle Locke, who helped with voting
at a base northeast of Baghdad. Locke, who didn't get her ballot, said
troops who wanted to vote in the Nov. 2 general election received special
all-write-in ballots that had been sent by the military in case something
went wrong.
>
OHIO
Oct. 29: Republicans lost an attempt to restart hearings
on thousands of voter registrations that the party has contested. The
decision by state attorney general refused to comply with the request.
Oct. 28: A former Cincinnati City Council member and her
husband sued to stop GOP representatives who plan to challenge voters
about their identity and voting qualifications in Hamilton County.
Oct. 26: The secretary of state ordered county election
boards to let voters whose registrations are successfully challenged to
still cast provisional ballots on Election Day. The order followed the
Ohio Republican Party's challenge of the registrations of 35,000 voters
last week.
Oct. 26: The U.S. Supreme Court declined to put
Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader on the ballot in Ohio.
Oct. 25: Republicans withdrew thousands of challenges to
new voter registrations because of errors in their filings apparently
caused by a computer glitch. In filing the challenges, the GOP said mail
sent to the newly registered voters was returned as undeliverable.
Oct. 21: County elections officials say a court battle
over the votes of people who go to the wrong polling place has left them
unsure how to train poll workers and what to tell voters about where they
can cast ballots. Ohio is the site of an intense, back-and-forth legal
battle over provisional ballots.
PENNSYLVANIA
Oct. 29: A federal judge approved a settlement between
Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell and the parents of two servicemen who sued to
extend the deadline for counting overseas military and civilian ballots
for president.
Oct. 20: Workers taking part in a Republican-funded
voter registration drive said they were told to avoid signing up Democrats
or people who might vote for John Kerry. The Republican National Committee
denied the accusations and suggested that Democrats were orchestrating the
charges.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Oct. 20: A health organization that promised flu shots
on Election Day in six of South Carolina's poorest counties has drawn
criticism from Republicans that the effort is politically motivated. The
GOP says some of the targeted counties are Democratic-leaning. The
organization denied the allegations and said the mailing was sent to areas
with low vaccination rates based on federal data.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Oct. 28: The Justice Department will send out three
times as many poll watchers on Election Day than in 2000. The watchers
will be looking for difficulties with absentee ballots and the handling of
ballots cast in the wrong precinct.
WISCONSIN
Oct. 29: The state GOP asked the Wisconsin Elections
Board to remove the names of about 5,600 people registered to vote in
Milwaukee. Republicans said the addresses listed with city officials are
fictitious. A board attorney there was not enough time to convene a
hearing on the matter.
Oct. 28: The superintendent of Milwaukee schools halted
a get-out-the-vote program involving students after complaints were raised
about its link to a pro-Kerry organization.
Oct. 28: Milwaukee's election commission threw out a
complaint alleging that more than 5,600 addresses on the city's voter
rolls may not exist, saying Republicans had not proven the registrations
were invalid. GOP officials said they visited 37 of the addresses and took
pictures showing vacant lots, a gyro stand and a park. Democrats said
typographical errors and old registrations could have accounted for the
discrepancies.
< The Associated Press contributed to this report.