CDR: Florida absentee ballots
George at Orwellian.Org
George at Orwellian.Org
Thu Nov 16 04:16:35 PST 2000
http://www.tvdance.com/bush-gore/
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Overseas absentee ballots, as opposed to in-state...
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0046/elect4.shtml
WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER 15-With the presidential election supposedly
hanging on Friday's count of absentee ballots from overseas,
observers caution this potential bomb may turn out to be a dud.
So far only 447 military ballots have been received by the postal
authorities. At that rate, The Washington Post calculates, the
amount of military ballots would end up at an underwhelming 750-a
far cry from the originally projected 2300. Military votes were
projected to make up the bulk of overseas ballots, which are
set to be tallied on Friday, November 17.
As the Voice reported last week, Monte Friedkin, chairman of
the Palm Beach County Democratic Party, said state elections
officials had not picked up at least 500 absentee ballots from
the post office on Election Day, raising the possibility that
someone is tampering with the absentee vote.
In theory, absentee ballots from the armed forces would help
Republican George W. Bush, who clings to a slender 300-vote
margin. In 1996, Republican Bob Dole received most of those votes.
But Pentagon observers caution this may not be the case. While
there is no love lost for Clinton-Gore among the military
branches, it's not a done deal by any means. Soldiers and sailors
vote along class lines, with the brass going for Bush. But the
enlisted soldiers, especially black men and women, could just
as easily turn out for Gore.
Florida beefed up its laws governing absentee ballots after a
Miami election was overturned due to fraud. But Democrats question
whether the statutes are working, because they claim Republic
an-controlled county elections officials violated the law by
sending out absentee ballots to people who didn't ask for them.
State law stipulates voters must request absentee ballots.
Perhaps the small number of absentee ballots can be explained
by the following: WorldNetDaily reported yesterday that a source
on the USS Tarawa, a U.S. assault ship near Yemen, said that
"thousands" of ballots were languishing onboard.
The Pentagon, which first denied this report, now says, according
to the New York Post, that the ballots of some 3000 sailors and
marines on the USS Tarawa, USS Duluth, and USS Anchorage would
be flown back to the United States "expeditiously."
Capt. Van P. Brinson, who says he did not receive his absentee
ballot, told WorldNetDaily he penned a November 8 e-mail in which
he wrote: "I cannot speak for the remainder of the crew of the
Tarawa, but I do know that the majority of the Marines and sailors
that I have spoken with are in the same boat. What is distressing
about the situation is that a majority of the pilots aboard are
registered voters in Florida." Stripped of confusing press
reporting and legalistic mumbo jumbo, the results of the endless
Florida recount so far amount to next to nothing. According to
Sam Smith?s Prorev.com afternoon tally, after a week of
recounting, the change in the vote "finally certified by the
state for Palm Beach County represented two-tenths of 1 percent."
As reported previously, Gore carried Palm Beach County by 140,000
votes, collecting 24 percent of the total vote.
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