County (Miami-Dade) set for voting, Burgess declares

[Freddie Stubbs]

Miami-Dade County Manager George Burgess cut short a vacation to allay fears that the county's electronic voting machines would cause problems in upcoming elections.

BY CHARLES RABIN

[email protected]


Responding to mounting pressure from voting advocacy groups and some county leaders, Miami-Dade County Manager George Burgess returned from a long-planned vacation Thursday to declare that his staff is doing all it can to prepare for the upcoming elections.

''I'm the county manager and I don't shy away from responsibilities,'' said Burgess, surrounded by county staff at election headquarters in Doral.

Burgess originally planned to return from Maine on Aug. 13. But in recent days, new questions have arisen about the county's touch-screen voting machines and the performance of the elections office as it prepares for the Aug. 31 primary.

Last week, Miami-Dade elections officials said they had lost most of the data files from the 2002 elections in two 2003 computer crashes, but then later announced that the audits had been found on a computer.

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