Broward County still "working out" response to missing ballots

[dolstein]

It isn't even election day and we've found the Theresa LePore of 2004. Her name is Brenda Snipes and she's the new supervisor of elections for Broward County. How incompetent is she? Well, not to long ago the Secretary of State's Office expressed full confidence in her ability to fix a problem that has only recently come to light: as many as 58,000 absentee ballots that were supposed to have been sent out two weeks ago appear to be "missing."

Here's the latest scoop from Local 10 in Ft. Lauderdale:

Lost Ballots Attract Attention From Florida Law Enforcement

POSTED: 12:40 pm EDT October 27, 2004
UPDATED: 1:04 pm EDT October 27, 2004

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is looking into how the Broward County Supervisor of Elections Office gets absentee ballots to postal distribution centers after nearly 58,000 such ballots were unaccounted for.

. . .

Broward resident Marcie Cogswell requested an absentee ballot and never received one. She only learned that her ballot was missing when she physically went to the elections office and started asking questions. She said she is furious about what's happening and said no one at the elections office is letting voters waiting for the "missing" ballots know what to do.

Officials at the county's elections office are telling voters that the matter is still in the process of being worked out.

. . .

Local 10 News contacted the Florida Secretary of State's office this morning about the situation in Broward County. Officials said they weren't aware of the matter, but were confident that it could be handled on the local level.

http://www.local10.com/news/3861334/detail.html

Ok, let's summarize: As many as 58,000 absentee ballots requested by voters in heavily Democratic Broward County are unaccounted for. The elections supervisor of Broward County is still "figuring things out." There has been no systematic effort by the Broward County elections office to notify people who have requested absentee ballots that if they haven't received their ballot by now, they should go to an early voting station. Voters in Broward County who have tried to contact the elections office haven't been able to get through because there aren't enough phone lines. Oh yeah -- there are only 6 days left before the election, and in order to be counted, absentee ballots must be received by election day.

And what are we hearing from the Florida Democratic Party and the Kerry/Edwards campaign? So far . . . nothing. My google searches have turned up no statements, no official response, nada, zilch, zero.