400 more illegal votes found in Florida ...
Published Tuesday, January 9, 2001, in the Miami Herald
Hundreds cast votes illegally in Broward
Some poll workers were lax on rules
TOM DUBOCQ AND MANNY GARCIA
tdubocq@herald.com
As many as four hundred illegal ballots were cast in Broward County's Nov. 7 election, most of them by unregistered voters.
Election records also show one man voted twice -- once by absentee and once at the polls -- while another may have voted at two different precincts.
Time after time across Broward, poll workers violated safeguards intended to thwart voter fraud by allowing people to vote when their names did not appear on precinct voter registers. All the voters had to do was sign statements swearing they were eligible to vote.
Poll workers were supposed to call elections headquarters in Fort Lauderdale to verify registrations. But in dozens of instances, the calls weren't made. Other times, poll workers tried to call but got a busy signal.
``I quit trying. It was impossible to get through on the phone,'' said William La Fontaine, a veteran clerk who supervised two precincts in Hallandale.
The irregularities in Broward cast further doubt on the hotly contested Nov. 7 presidential election and amplify similar findings of illegal voting in Miami-Dade. A Herald investigation last month showed 144 illegal ballots were cast at 138 of Dade's 617 precincts by voters who were allowed to sign in at polls where they were not registered. In one case, a Miami-Dade ballot was cast in the name of an El Portal man who died three years ago. The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office and Florida Department of Law Enforcement are investigating.
Like their counterparts in Miami-Dade, Broward elections officials said poll workers were plagued by jammed telephone lines to elections headquarters or simply ignored the verification rules.
Broward Assistant Elections Supervisor Joseph Cotter said the 400 illegal ballots turned up during a department review of voters who signed in at precincts where they weren't registered. He said the elections department is investigating what went wrong and will take corrective action.
``Yes, there was a problem with the phone system -- it got overloaded. But regardless, our poll workers are instructed not to let anyone vote without verifying registration with our office,'' Cotter said.
MISTAKES MADE
``A lot of our poll workers are elderly, they are human and they make mistakes. They were dealing with a huge turnout, people in line screaming in their faces and they made mistakes.''
The 400 illegal ballots were among 587,928 cast in Broward on Nov. 7, a 66 percent turnout. Poll workers overseeing the ballot boxes received up to four hours of training and were paid $95 to $125 for a 14-hour day.
The illegal voters included:
219 voters who were registered in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, other Florida counties or out of state. Most appeared to have recently moved to Broward, but had failed to register in their new home county as required by state law.
Forty-four of the unregistered voters were allowed to cast ballots without providing photo identification. They signed sworn statements attesting to their identity in order to vote.
164 voters whose names had been purged from Broward's voter rolls because they had moved out of the county and had registered elsewhere to vote, or who failed to respond to letters attempting to verify their registration.
12 convicted felons who had been stripped of their right to vote under state law.
8 new voters who had improperly filled out registration cards and had not made corrections by the Oct. 10 deadline.
One Fort Lauderdale voter voted twice in the Nov. 7 election -- once with an absentee ballot, then in person at Precinct 32Z at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, 591 NW 31st Ave, Broward elections records indicate.
Corey Cornelius Green, 28, of 730 NW 33rd Terr., filed an affidavit with a poll worker swearing that he had not yet voted. But election records show the registered Democrat cast an absentee ballot on Nov. 2, using another Fort Lauderdale address: 111 Florida Ave.
Had the poll worker checked Green's registration, she would have known he already had voted. She did not, blaming a busy signal. ``Unable to get through,'' she wrote on Green's affirmation. Green did not return four calls Monday.
Records also show that two ballots were issued to George A. Harris, 83, of 1625 SE 10th Ave. Elections Department records show Harris stopped at two different precincts.
Harris, a Republican, insists he voted once, for George W. Bush. ``The elections department can't keep its records straight,'' Harris said.
Harris said he ordered a voter card before the election after he moved to his new home, but it never arrived. Harris said he filled out an affidavit to vote at precinct 75R, which corresponded with his new address, but the clerk turned him away because he was not registered there.
So Harris said he drove to his old precinct, 59R, filled out another affidavit, and voted.
``I'm glad you're exposing this,'' said Harris, a retiree from Pittsburgh. ``The elections department is all wrong. There is no way I voted twice.''
Assistant Supervisor Cotter said the paperwork indicating Harris was issued two ballots may be in error. He said there is no way to check. Broward, unlike other Miami-Dade and some other counties, does not record ballot numbers issued to each voter to assure anonymity.
``He probably went to the first precinct and left without voting,'' Cotter said. ``But we can't be sure.''
NOT REGISTERED
James and Irish Kendall voted for Al Gore in Hallandale, although they are not registered to vote in Broward. James Kendall said the couple just moved to Broward and failed to make the cutoff to sign up for the November election. They are still registered to vote in Miami-Dade County.
``We really wanted to vote,'' said James Kendall, 33. ``We showed the clerk our IDs from Dade and [the poll worker] said `I don't know if I should do this,' but the supervisor said it was OK. We didn't know you couldn't do that.''
William La Fontaine signed the couple's affidavits.
``I did not want to turn anyone's vote away,'' said La Fontaine, a retired insurance broker and World War II veteran. ``I remember some folks came in from Dade. But I didn't have a right to turn their vote away. At least they got an opportunity to vote.''
To prevent fraud, La Fontaine, 72, said he made everyone without proper voter registration sign an affirmation swearing to their new address.
``I did the best I could do. If someone lied, they'll have to take it up with God.'' |
