From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Sat Nov 11 2000 - 01:25:02 MST
More election news from inside Florida.
I reported yesterday that there was a 5 minute time limit for voting in Palm
Beach County, a fact that I have not heard on the national news. Today, the
local news added a new bit of information.
Poll workers today confirmed that people asking for help or asking for a
second ballot were not given extensions on time. People who took their time
allotment before asking for help were not allowed to vote because they ran
out of time. People who took their time, voted, and then discovered that
their card was double-punched were not allowed to get a new ballot because
they had run out of time. Many erroneous ballots were knowingly submitted.
(I wondered how people knew that they punched the wrong hole!) Poll workers
say that about 20,000 ballots were discarded because they were
double-punched, and another 10,000 were discarded because the did not have
either candidate punched.
This was legal under the time-limit rule which was approved by both parties
and lawfully applied.
Another fun fact: Write-in votes for Gore or Bush were not counted by the
computer. If neither candidate was punched, the card was ignored.
Apparently many people were so confused about which hole to punch, that they
used the write-in slot instead. These extra votes will appear during the
count by hand. The count has already added about 800 more votes. The hand
count will add even more.
How can we trust any count if it changes every time? Wouldn't we want the
count to remain stable?
-- Harvey Newstrom, Security Testing Manager, Fiderus Phone:321-676-4894 Tollfree:866-FIDERUS Mobile:321-258-4809 FAX:321-676-5707 Pager:866-786-1001 or mailto:pager@HarveyNewstrom.com Web: http://HarveyNewstrom.com or http://Fiderus.com Emergency 24 hour response: 1-877-595-8491
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