>>(If I recall one of the resiedent "experts" on how these cards should be counted...actually not counted...just figured out within the past couple of days that the cards were read at a central location as though this was a surprise.)<<
Guess you mean me. As I've said repeatedly, I don't have any experience with Votomatic machines. But I, like many others, have learned quite a bit over the past few days. NPR had a segment on them last night, including an interview with the now retired guy who advocated getting rid of them in 1988 when he was at the Bureau of Standards. The problem we seem to be focussing on has to do with the fact that the squares to be punched out are perforated, and we all know how iffy tearing perforated lines is.
I don't have a problem with counting chad that are partially torn off. I do have a problem with counting dimpled chad. If it's not plain as day that the chad was punched because it's partly torn off, forget about it. I think that Florida should have statewide standards, like Texas does.
I also have a problem with keeping these cards around for weeks after an election under the supervision of all Democrats. The potential for outright fraud is obvious. I guess you read about the Democrat politician in Palm Beach County who was caught with a Votomatic machine in his car? How do you explain that one away?
>>Missing Voting Mechanism Recovered
Police Say Florida Democrat Had a
‘Votomatic’ in His Car
Florida State Rep. Irving Slosberg, a
Democrat, holds a copy of the disputed
Palm Beach County ballot at a rally in
front of the county's elections office, on
Nov. 9. (Gary I. Rothstein/AP Photo)
By Chris Vlasto and David Ruppe
Nov. 15 — Several days after presidential votes
were tallied in what has become the hotbed of
Florida’s post-election confusion, police in Palm
Beach County confiscated a ballot-box
mechanism from the car of a well-known local
Democrat.
The mechanism, called a “Votomatic,” did not contain
any ballots. It’s a device used on some types of ballot
boxes to punch votes through ballot cards, which are then
tallied by computers.
According to a police report filed at the Palm Beach
County sheriff’s office and obtained by ABCNEWS,
Irving Slosberg, 53, pulled the mechanism from his car
and handed it over to police on Nov. 11 after denying to a
county government employee that he had it.
When told of the incident, Palm Beach County’s
supervisor of elections, Theresa LePore, declined to press
charges, according to the report.
“She noted that this incident did occur during the hand
count of the presidential election and LePore stated she
did not wish to pursue further this matter at this time due
to extenuating circumstances,” it said.
No further action was taken.
County Official Contacts Authorities
Slosberg, a 53-year-old resident of nearby Boca Raton
who owns a handbag company, recently won a seat in the
state Legislature amid allegations he tried to buy his
election.
The officer who filed the report, Deputy Sheriff Daniel
Grose, had been working a special elections detail when
he was contacted by Denise Cote, director of public
affairs for Palm Beach County. Cote said she believed
Slosberg had an official Palm Beach County ballot box,
according to the police report.
Cote told the deputy she first wanted to speak with
Slosberg alone to convince him to give the machinery
back, but she asked the officer to stand by. Ten minutes
later, Cote returned to the officer and said Slosberg had
become confrontational and denied having the mechanism.
“I asked Mr. Slosberg to return it to me, and he said
no, he intended to use it,” Cote told ABCNEWS.com.
She said Slosberg did not say how he wanted to use it
and he declined to say how he had obtained it.
“I was told by the county’s attorney’s office that it
must have been taken from a voting booth, because there
was no other way that he could have obtained it,” Cote
said.
When the officer asked Slosberg whether he had the
item, Slosberg led the officer to his car and handed over
the Votomatic, according to the police report.
Elected After a Recount
Slosberg won his new seat during a heated and extremely
close election.
Just days before a Democratic runoff, which he won,
his opponent, incumbent Curt Levine, filed a state ethics
complaint, accusing Slosberg of trying to buy the election
by giving away thousands of handbags and paying retirees
phony consulting fees.
Slosberg’s defeat of Levine practically guaranteed him
a term that reportedly pays nearly $27,000 a year for
representing the Boca Raton district. On Nov. 7, he
defeated a lesser-known write-in candidate, Robert A.
Sloan III, in the general election.
In the primary election, Slosberg had barely squeaked
past Levine. He reportedly had 50.5 percent of the votes
to Levine’s 49.5 percent. Slosberg was declared the
winner after a recount of the votes.
‘It Disappeared’
A Palm Beach Post political columnist wrote Monday
that Slosberg had been “schlepping” the mechanism
around the county government center “like a traveling
election equipment salesman.”
“He was happy to provide a demonstration of the
county’s ballot problems for anyone with a TV camera
last week,” wrote columnist George Bennett.
But Slosberg was no longer toting the visual aid
Saturday night, after Mary McCarty, a Palm Beach
County commissioner, demanded to know how he got his
hands on a piece of official county voting machinery,
Bennett wrote.
“It disappeared,” Slosberg said Sunday when asked
about the Votomatic.<<
abcnews.go.com |
