-Caveat Lector-

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/012501/opi_5217100.html

Florida Times-Union
Thursday, January 25, 2001

ELECTIONS: Fraud indicated

The time has come, as Mayor John Delaney suggests, for a thorough
investigation into Jacksonville's November election miscues.

Among the irregularities that have recently come to light: 499
votes were cast by people not legally registered, and 162 were
illegally allowed to fill out registration cards immediately
before voting. More ballots were cast than there were people on
the voting logs in at least two precincts. At least 30 people
voted more than once.

The outcome of the presidential election, which was decided by
just 537 Florida votes, probably would not have been different if
Jacksonville's election had been run better. Unofficial hand
recounts of undervote ballots in Miami-Dade and Collier counties
are showing the winner, George W. Bush, would have widened his
lead over Al Gore if there had been a statewide recount using the
standard of counting any discernible dimple or pinprick as a
vote.

It's true, also, that the illegal voter problem was statewide.

The Miami Herald says some 2,000 Floridians voted illegally. It
quoted one woman as saying she cast two separate ballots for Gore
-- and would have liked to have voted even more often for him.

An Orange County man said he cast a ballot for Gore even though
poll workers knew he wasn't eligible to vote.

"I told them I was not registered," he said. "They looked around
at each other ... and they let me vote."

Still, that doesn't make what happened in Jacksonville right.

It shouldn't be hard to pinpoint the problems. Sixty percent of
the unregistered voters here cast their ballots in one of three
precincts -- one on the Northside, one downtown and the other in
Arlington. Of those who registered at the last minute, 25 percent
were in one of two precincts, one in Mandarin and the other on
the Southside.

Part of the problem is a new state law that says people must be
permitted to vote even if they don't present either a
registration card or picture ID. That invites fraud.

Overwhelmed telephone systems and unprepared poll workers also
are being blamed. Poll workers are supposed to call the election
supervisor's office to clarify whether a person is registered if
his name isn't on a list at the polling place. Because the phone
lines were busy, apparently, some people were allowed to vote
without verification.

The elections office apparently erred on the side of allowing
voters to exercise their franchise, which probably is better than
the alternative of not allowing eligible people to vote.

Still, the communication problem should be resolved, and workers
should be told not to allow anyone to vote until his status has
been clarified -- even if the would-be voter complains. Election
integrity is more important than convenience. The recent trend
toward easier access also has had the tendency to increase the
possibility of fraud.

Early numbers indicate quite a few more Democrats than
Republicans voted illegally. That may be a coincidence. Still, an
effort should be made to determine whether partisan politics was
a factor.

By finding out exactly what went wrong, and why, mistakes can be
avoided in the future.

� The Florida Times-Union

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