Exclusive: Palm Beach Ballot Complaint Not Valid
NewsMax.com
Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2000
Gore supporters are crying foul because they say that the ballot in Palm Beach
County, Fla., was confusing and that votes intended for Gore were accidentally
made for Pat Buchanan.
At first blush these critics might appear to have a legitimate claim.
In Palm Beach County, the Reform Party's Buchanan received 3,407 votes – 1
percent of the vote – at the final tally.
In neighboring Broward County, which Democrats argue has similar
demographics to Palm Beach County, Buchanan pulled just 789 votes – close to
0 percent of the vote.
But NewsMax.com reviewed Board of Elections records for both counties.
Records show that Palm Beach County is not similiar to Broward County in voter
registration. There are far more members of the Independent Party in Palm
Beach County than in Broward County.
According to the Florida supervisor of elections, Broward County has only 189
members of the Independent Party – Florida's Reform party.
Palm Beach County, on the other hand, has a whopping 14,551 members of the
Independent Party.
In fact, it has the highest Independent registration in Florida.
Buchanan received 1 percent of the vote in Palm Beach County. In all the
counties in Florida where there is significant Independent Party membership,
Buchanan got a similiar 1 percent.
Palm Beach County gave Buchanan no more support proportionally than any
other county with high Independent Party registration.
Gore Supporters Sue for New Election
Three people filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking a new election in Palm Beach
County because they claim the punch-card ballot was so confusing that they
accidentally voted for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan instead of Vice
President Al Gore, the Associated Press reported.
Hundreds of Gore supporters flooded the county elections office with calls
Wednesday saying they feared they had mistakenly voted for Buchanan.
Lawyers for the Democrat party alleged that the design of the Palm Beach County
ballot was illegal and said they might ask for a re-vote. But the party took no
immediate action. |
