Local 10 Uncovers Big Ballot Mysteryy

[gee double you bee]

http://www.local10.com/politics/3854230/detail.html

The extra "y" is my protest against having to post this again. :P

[maddezmom]

1. 58,000 ballots missing...yeah that's a bit unusual

but it seems to be the norm in FL.

[tlcandie]

3. I guess this year that instead of missing, dangling, pregnant chads

missing ballots is now in style. NOT GOOD! :spank:

[maddezmom]

15. missing ballots are now in style...repub speak, I suppose

:shrug: it's what they've been working for since 2000

[tlcandie]

2. So. the 'special' mail carriers are the suspects?

They say they were delivered and post office backs this up. Also, the post office says they were processed. Then they are handed to two special ballot delivery mail personnel.

That is a LOT of missing ballots!!!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

4. Stolen out of mailboxes perhaps?????

[w4rma]

9. More likely, never printed or sent. (nt)

[mom cat]

5. Missing: bombs, ballots, ...oh hell.. lets go for three and declare

Bush missing..... It's true, you know! :bounce::evilgrin::bounce:

[JusticeForAll]

21. Too late the TANG declared him missing years ago...

Too bad, even THAT is still in dispute.

It is interesting that * campaign goes after trial lawyers. It seems that they need lawyers more than ever to help them out of the muck they have slithered into.

When KERRY takes office, unless * pardons them all, they will need a LOT more.

[rawstory]

6. Isn't this a DEMOCRATIC county?

[Nicholas_J]

13. Well considering that all over Florida most absentee voting

is done by Republicans, and that theRepublican Party has been advising Republicans to use absentee ballots there is a good chance that a lot of these absentee votes were going to Republicans.

In 2000, it was largely absentee ballots that turned the vote towards Bush when early estimates had Gore winniing bt a lot of votes. Once those absentee ballots were counted, the numbers for Bush started creeping closer and closer to Gores and then passed him. Now if they find that these ballots were all abstentee ballots set to Democratic voters, that would be one thing. In Broward, old and disabled people gnerally do not vote absentee. Many of the comunitees for the elderly have polling places right on site, like Century Village. Other places where elderly people live arrange buses to go to the polling places. Most of the abstentee ballots belong tosnowbirds who own propoert in Florida and only live here a few months out of the year, but use Florida as their primary residence becasue of all of the tax breaks that come with it. The intangible tax on stocks and stuff is far lower than in other states, and so if you are richa and live in another state most of the time but want to avoid paying the taxes in that state, you just name Floridaas your place of residence. I think in 2000 over 80 percent of the absentee ballots were cast for Bush.And they were relying on those absentee ballots to tip the race in Bush's favor. It could effect Demos, but It could have a worse effect on Republicans if those ballots were not targetted in the main against Dems. In gneral, not many people living in Broward ask for absetee ballots to avoid going to the polling places on elections day, though some prefer to do so. The Democrats advised peopoe to vote early or on eletion day and to not use absentee ballots.While Republicans were sdvising that people use absentee ballots this year.
Since there is still a week for people to recieve these ballots in the mail, and they can be sent back by any type of mail, it is still possible that this willnot have much of an effect, Those who just asked for them to avoid going to vote directly, can still go in.
The only time I ever saw people who lived in Broward aske for absentee ballots (I worked in the library which had gave out voters registration forms and absentee ballots, the people who asked for them SEEMED to be more Republican in temperment than Democrat. In gneral, nasty, abusive, poll up their ass buisiness owners who didnt want to take the time off from counting their money, rather than disabled people who couldnt get to the polls. Broward, for all of its Florida problems seems to go to a great deal of effort to make it easy for retirees to vote and every large condominium seems to have a polling place on site. Century Village, all of the condo's in Lauderhill, Lauderdale Lakes, And the large Arvida Communities all have polling places right on site. Smaller Condos all seem to jave buses to take residents to the polling places. Broward does have Republicans and given that80 percent of the absentee ballots in the state were filled by Republicans in 2000, there is a good chance that those 58,000 absentee ballots were going to Republicans , not Democrats. Knowing Broward County Politicians, there is a good chance that they were going to Republicans.

Given that there are overa a half million registered Democrats in Broward., the odds that those 58,000 were all democratic absentee ballots is slim, as there is simply no way that ten percent of the counties Democrats would want to vote by absentee ballot. Given the fact that Republican recommended that their voters vote absentee, the odds that a lot of those ballots are going to REpules seems very good.

[cubsfan forever]

20. You make a very good point

hope you are correct!

Professor 2

[aquart]

7. Question: Missing on the way to or the way from???

Were these ballots winging their way TO the voters or back FROM the voters?

Has someone stolen 58,000 completed ballots?

[SoCalDem]

8. Geez.. what's yer hurry?? The freeps are still filling them out

When they get them finished, they will deliver them to their friends at the RPOF:)

[MarkTwain]

10. This is absolutely unacceptable - hello, Senator Kerry....

.... you better get a plane load of attorneys and investigators into Broward county tomorrow morning. This could cost you the fucking state.

UnFuckingBelievable. Just amazing if the end point is that there are over fifty thousand ballots which will not be placed in the most democratic county in a state which historically decided the last election and could very well occupy the same role this time.

This could very well be a Republican motivated conspiracy on the part of either election workers and/or postal employees to hit at the very heart of the Democratic soul in Florida, Broward county. If they just wanted to remove, with the statistics being in their favor, the opportunity for a substantial pool of democratic voters to vote, what better way than to just "disappear" fifty thousand in Broward?

[Igel]

14. Broward County Election office headed by Snipes ....

She wasn't elected for for the post, her predecessor was removed by Jeb Bush, and Snipes was appointed instead. She won the Democratic primary last month; the Republican contender bowed out, making the position uncontested.

[newyawker99]

24. Hi igil!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[sakabatou]

11. You know...

... with all the shenanigans this administration has pulled it's not surprising that something like this would happen. What IS surprising though is amount missing.

Next thing they'll say is Bush's brain is... excuse me, has always been missing.

[Wols]

12. What the hell....

I guess if they don't think they can win at the ballot box outright theft will guarantee their victory. These fundamentalist freaks have no shame, they're "forgiven".

[hadrianswall]

16. very very very scary

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041026/APP/410261302

[newyawker99]

25. Hi hadrianswall!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[dolstein]

17. There is only one fair solution

Broward County should be required to re-send absentee ballots out to each and every voter who requested one BY OVERNIGHT MAIL. It should not be up to the voters to request new ballots. They've satisfied their oblgations, the county hasn't. And there is no feasible way at this point to identify those voters who haven't received their ballots. There isn't enough staff, and there aren't enough phone lines.

In addition, the time for absentee ballot voting should be extended. I believe the rule now is that absentee ballots must be RECEIVED by election day. I think for Broward County, absentee ballots should be accepted as long as they are POSTMARKED by election day.

The Florida Democratic Party and the Kerry campaign needs to go to court immediately for relief, because 58,000 votes is clearly enough to swing the election.

[Catfight]

18. I never received mine in Hillsborough County Tampa. I'm a

registered Democrat, you think that could be it? Doesn't matter, I'm voting early.

[spooked911]

19. Will the US ever have an election we can trust in again?

this is getting ridiculous.

[fdr_hst_fan]

22. This comes as a surprise?

We're talking about Jebland here, aren't we?

[MADem]

23. Why not BUMP your original thread, GWB?

Instead of creating a new one?

[Moderator]

26. Note

Just to claify: The poster posted this yesterday, the 26th. His first thread ( also yesterday) was locked because the headline was incorrect.