The 4:59 PM ET article: FL Skirmish over overseas ballots...
Friday November 17 4:59 PM ET
Fla. Skirmish Over Overseas Ballots
dailynews.yahoo.com
By BRENT KALLESTAD, Associated Press Writer
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - This time, the battle is over postmarks and signatures, not chad.
Florida's 67 counties began counting crucial overseas ballots Friday, and advocates for both George W. Bush and Al Gore immediately raised challenges. Some votes were thrown out.
``There are more attorneys than there are ballots,'' said Bob Edwards, chairman of the Republican Executive Committee for Walton County, where five votes were tossed out, including those of four people who already had voted absentee.
To erase Bush's statewide lead, Gore would have to win about 56 percent of the estimated 2,600 overseas votes that have tilted Republican since 1980.
Counties have until noon Saturday to report their results to Secretary of State Katherine Harris. She had planned to certify the results shortly thereafter, but the state Supreme Court said Friday afternoon that she may not certify a winner until further notice from the court.
Among the first reports on overseas ballots Friday:
-Duval County threw out 107 votes for a variety of reasons, including 67 for invalid postmarks.
``We had a lot of ballots with no postmarks so we had to declare them invalid,'' said Dick Carlberg, assistant elections supervisor in Duval County.
-In Hillsborough County, 74 of the 135 overseas ballots were rejected because of postmark or signature problems.
-Monroe County received eight overseas ballots, four apiece for Gore and Bush. However, Democrats challenged two of the four Bush votes.
The canvassing board in Seminole kicked out about a half-dozen ballots because they lacked the proper postmark or signatures.
The largest numbers of overseas ballots being counted were 500 in Duval, 239 in Escambia and 212 in Clay - all northern Florida counties with a large military presence.
The overseas counting process was painstakingly slow in some counties, with canvassing board members taking several minutes to discuss whether to accept or reject each ballot.
In Seminole, attorney Joe Egan, representing the Democratic Party, objected several times and wanted to compare signatures on ballot forms the voters filled out with the signature of the person who requested the ballot to make sure they matched. The canvassing board allowed Egan to spot check six ballots and they matched.
Still, Egan objected, wanting to check additional ballots before they were accepted.
``Once you open those ballots and separate them from the signatures, anything we find later would be moot,'' Egan said. |
