CB -
gopbi.com
"...Although she cast the deciding vote on the county's canvassing board in favor of a countywide hand recount, LePore, 45, said she now has serious doubts about the accuracy of such recounts and the wisdom of studying dented or partially punched chads to try to determine voter intent. ..."
"...
On Election Day, LePore said, she first became aware of voter concerns around 10 a.m. when two men from Greenacres came to the elections office in West Palm Beach to complain.
Even then, LePore said, she thought "that maybe it was an isolated incident."
By midafternoon, however, LePore knew that wasn't the case. She was visited by County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, state Rep. Lois Frankel, state Sen. Ron Klein and U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, all Democrats.
More phone calls complaining about the ballot came in later on Election Day from voters "saying they left the polling place knowing they voted for the wrong person," LePore said.
But, LePore said Friday, "if you knew when you were there that you were voting for the wrong person, you should have received, asked for, another ballot and done it properly."
..."
"...With County Commissioner Carol Roberts insisting on a countywide recount and County Judge Charles Burton opposed, LePore was the swing vote.
The vote came after a marathon hand recount of 1 percent of county ballots. While that sample recount was going on, LePore said she was pressured by local Democrats to support a countywide recount.
She wouldn't name those pressuring her, but described them as "party leaders, elected officials, John Q. Publics who thought they were big in the party."
LePore voted for a recount "not because of what they said but because I thought it was the best thing to do." ..."
"...But LePore seemed to share Harris' skepticism about the accuracy of hand recounts.
While refusing to second-guess her initial support of the countywide recount, LePore voiced concerns about the validity of the results.
She doubted, for instance, that a second recount of the same ballots would produce the same figures.
"Any time you interject humans into a process, the objectivity goes out. Plus (there is) human error," LePore said.
"You have to rely on the tabulating machines," LePore said. "The machines will not pick up voter error, and that's basically what was being looked for in the manual recount."
LePore's definition of voter error includes partially punched ballots.
"I consider that voter error, because the voter is instructed to clean the back of the card," LePore said. "Just because a chad is dimpled or pregnant or whatever you want to call it does not mean the voter intended to punch that out. The voter may have made a mistake and decided to go on."
She also dismissed the theory that "chad build-up" -- an accumulation of punched out ballot pieces filling up a voting machine -- might have made it difficult for some voters to punch their ballots thoroughly.
"That was totally unfounded," said LePore, who said her staffer, Enos, had filled a machine with chads and still had no difficulty punching a ballot. ..."
Regards, Don |
