Scumbria,
What do you think of the situation in Seminole- sound like trouble for the Bushies!
Latest news on the Seminole Case
(***SEE Summary - Background - Details on Seminole case)
The Seminole case (# 00-2816, download complaint filing) is being heard in Leon County circuit court in Tallahassee by judge Nikki Clark under an expedited schedule culminating in a trial on December 6.1 (The case concerns 2,100 incomplete GOP absentee ballot requests that were selectively fixed by GOP workers invited into election offices by the GOP elections supervisor while similar Democratic absentee ballot requests were rejected; see background.)
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12/3 - BREAKING NEWS from court hearings and documents:
A Plaintiff's expert witness who examined election office records and databases will testify that a "significant number" of the voter IDs filled in by the GOP were actually incorrect, yet all accepted by Goard.2
According to sworn affidavits, Goard told two Democratic campaign workers on August 18, 2000 that she would accept no absentee ballot request that was missing a voter ID number. She "emphasized that this was required by Florida state law." When asked where to get voter ID numbers, she said her office "does not give out voter ID numbers."3
In an Orlando WDBO radio interview broadcast as GOP workers were doctoring ballots in Goard's office, Goard stated that absentee ballot requests without voter IDs would not be honored.4
12/1-3 highlights:
Maureen Dowd: "The Bushes sense trouble in Seminole and Martin Counties with those G.O.P.-doctored absentee ballot applications."5
Washington Post: In a deposition last week, "Goard said her office sorted out the Republican rejects so they could be revised, but left rejected Democratic and independent applications sitting in a discard box."6
LA Times: More than 550 similar Democratic ballot requests with missing information were rejected.7
AP, Orlando Sentinel: GOP operative Michael Leech fixed 2,100 GOP absentee ballot requests over 15 days. A elections computer was logged on in the room where he worked, unsupervised.8
LA Times: Plaintiff's attorney confirmed that GOP fixed 2,132 absentee ballot requests that yielded 1,936 actual votes, 95% for Bush.9
LA Times: Democrats point out that altering an absentee ballot application is a third-degree felony in Florida.10
NY Times: Florida law lists the information, including the voter identification number, that ''the person making the request must disclose.''11
NY Times: The Florida Court of Appeals affirmed Judge Clark's denial of a GOP request to recuse herself from the case.12
AP: Seminole elections office stopped notifying voters about incomplete absentee ballot requests in early October, when GOP operatives began fixing GOP absentee ballot requests.13
Palm Beach Post: Plaintiff's handwriting analysis indicates 1,900 ballot requests were altered.14
NY Times, Wash. Post: Democrats suit for Martin County ballot request alterations goes to trial also 12/6 before circuit court judge Terry Lewis (non-overlapping times; download complaint filing).15
US Newswire: Testimony 11/30 by elections office employees contradicts Goard's claim that she did not know the GOP operatives who fixed absentee ballot requests in her office.16
11/29-30 highlights (see below):
USA Today: "Florida law says all the county's absentee ballots must be voided" if any are tainted.17
CNN: "Under Florida law, if absentee ballots have a problem with them, you have got to throw [out] all of the ballots, even if the applications have a problem."18
LA Times: A profile of plaintiff Harry Jacobs.19
GOP loses on three legal maneuvers.
In Martin County, hundreds of GOP absentee ballot requests were also fixed by GOP workers while Democratic requests were not processed.
Goard applied election law strictly against a Democratic candidate.
11/27-11/28 highlights (see below):
Goard admits separating GOP absentee requests from Democratic requests (LA Times).
Goard attorney pleads ignorance to the The Washington Post about selective corrections of only GOP absentee ballot requests.
The Wall Street Journal reports a close legal precedent, Roe v. Alabama (see ruling), in which an election was overturned.
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References, 12/1-3 and highlights
1. AP 11/29/00; NY Times 11/29/2000, p. 26; CNN 11/29/2000.
2. Plaintiff's Expert Witness Disclosure Regarding James C. Erlandson.
3. Affidavits of W. Patrick Westerfield and Steve Hall.
4. US Newswire 12/3/2000.
5. NY Times 12/3/2000.
6. Washington Post, 12/1/2000, p. A25.
7. LA Times, 12/2/2000, p. A20.
8. Orlando Sentinel 12/1/2000, p. A19; AP 12/1/2000.
9. LA Times, 12/2/2000, p. A20.
10. Ibid.
11. NY Times, 12/2/2000, p. 9.
12. NY Times, 12/2/2000, p. 9; US Newswire 12/1/2000.
13. AP 12/1/2000.
14. Palm Beach Post 12/1/2000.
15. NY Times, 12/2/2000, p. 9; Washington Post 12/2/2000, p. A16.
16. US Newswire 12/1/2000.
17. USA Today, 11/29/2000, p. 4A.
18. CNN 11/30/2000.
19. LA Times 11/29/2000, p. A26.
In what The Wall Street Journal described on November 30 as a "gambit appeared to be designed more for public consumption that for uncovering relevant evidence," GOP lawyer Terry Young asked to depose Al Gore.1 After Democratic lawyers objected, Young indicated he would drop the request.2 Judge Clark's decision to deny a GOP request to consolidate the Seminole suit with the Gore election contest before Circuit Judge Sauls was upheld Wednesday by a state district court of appeals.3 Finally, Judge Clark turned down a proposal by GOP attorneys that she should consider recusing herself because she had been rejected for an appellate judgeship by Florida Governor Jeb Bush.4
The New York Times reported November 29 that hundreds of GOP absentee ballot requests missing voter IDs were taken out of the elections office in Martin County and filled in by GOP workers while similar requests from Democrats and independent voters were allowed to stack up unprocessed.5 Bush won the 9,800 absentee ballots cast in Martin County by a 2-to-1 margin6 as he did in Seminole County7 and as Suarez had done in the 1997 Miami mayoral contest that resulted in his ouster due to absentee ballot fraud.8 Bush won the total vote in both Seminole9 and Martin10 counties by a smaller, 56 percent margin. Local Democrats have stated their intention to sue over these GOP ballot request alterations in Martin County.11
Salon reported that when a Democratic candidate for commissioner, Dean Ray, submitted 900 petitions for his candidacy earlier this year, Goard rejected 30% for a variety of reasons, and refused to give Ray back any of them to be completed or corrected.12 Florida Democratic Chairman Bob Poe observed, "she applies the law for the Democratic Party and violates the law for the Republicans."13
References,
11/29 - 11/30
1. Wall Street Journal 11/30/2000, p. A12.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid; CNN 11/30/2000.
4. Wall Street Journal 11/30/2000, p. A12.
5. New York Times, 11/29/2000, p. 26.
6. Ibid.
7. NY Times, 11/21/2000.
8. LA Times, 11/13/1997, p. A5.
9. NY Times 11/13/2000, p. 19.
10. New York Times, 11/29/2000, p. 26.
11. LA Times, 11/30/2000, p. A33.
12. Salon, 11/28/2000.
13. Ibid.
Major stories in the Los Angeles Times (11/28), The Washington Post (11/28) and The Wall Street Journal (11/27) covered, respectively, Goard's own startling admissions, the issue of alleged fraud in the case, and a 1994 legal precedent, Roe v. Alabama, supporting a ruling against the GOP for what transpired in Seminole.
The Los Angeles Times reported: "Goard conceded that no one ever was allowed to correct applications in the past, and that her staff assisted the GOP representatives by sorting Republican applications from Democratic applications--something else that never had been done before."1
The Times also quoted the |
