Reno, Meek sue to keep GOP poll watchers away
Alleging that the Republican Party is resorting to dirty tricks to intimidate voters, Janet Reno and U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek filed suit Thursday to prevent a Republican political-action committee from stationing more than 450 poll watchers at heavily Democratic precincts in Miami-Dade County polls on Election Day.
The suit, filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, names Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections David Leahy, the county's Republican Party and the Emergency Committee to Stop Bill McBride as defendants.
"The emergency is they want to create disruptions at the polls," said Joe Geller, counsel for the Miami-Dade Democratic Executive Committee.
Last week, the PAC sent a list of its poll watchers to Leahy's office, which allows political parties and candidates to send observers only after each observer has filled out an application.
But Leahy, relying on an Oct. 17 advisory opinion from Secretary of State Jim Smith's Division of Elections, accepted the committee's list of 456 proposed observers without requiring separate applications.
That outraged Miami-Dade Democrats, who learned of the state's opinion after the deadline to submit their own set of poll watchers under the less restrictive rules had expired.
"We played by the rules," said Benedick Kuehne, co-counsel for Miami-Dade's Democrats. "The Republican Party decided they didn't like the rules so, under the cover of darkness, they got a secret opinion from the secretary of state."
Reached at home, Ed Kast, director of the Division of Elections, said he was unable to recall the Oct. 17 opinion without checking his files at work. But he said the elections division never does anything to favor one party over the other.
Al Cardenas, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, was unaware of the suit but said he was sure the claims were without merit. He noted that the Bush campaign had long ago distanced itself from the anti-McBride committee's predecessor, suing it for trading on the governor's name.
"The state Republican Party and the Bush campaign categorically know nothing about this," Cardenas said. "Their [the Democrats'] MO is to file a lawsuit, get a headline and get free publicity."
But attorney Alan Greer, who represented Reno during her failed bid for the Democratic nomination, said the former U.S. attorney general only wants to ensure that the committee's poll watchers are prohibited from clogging Democratic precincts and disrupting voting.
Poll watchers are authorized to challenge the eligibility of voters, and, the lawsuit notes, Miami-Dade's procedures allow poll deputies "to stop incoming voters at the door" while such challenges are resolved.
Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, said that procedure would guarantee chaos reigns Tuesday.
However, Mark Goodrich, political coordinator for the committee, said his group simply wants to ensure registered voters are allowed into the polls and know how to use the machines.
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