Almost 1K ballots found in Broward elections warehouse

[LisaMCdonald]

Source: http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/politics/2100905

LAUDERHILL, Fla. (WSVN) -- Nearly a thousand ballots that were not included in Florida's final count have been found in a warehouse in Broward County.

Tuesday morning and into the night, there was a buzz of activity at the Voting Equipment Center in Lauderhill, a week after the general election. There was a recount going on for two commission seats that were too close to call, one in Hallandale Beach and another in Dania Beach. Workers had to count those votes manually.

Also keeping elections officials busy is the fact that 963 filled ballots were found in a warehouse. The supervisor of elections, Dr. Brenda Snipes, said this happens all the time, especially when dealing with paper ballots. Her department is not the only one to have seen more ballots added to the final number after the election, and they have until Nov. 18 to certify all the votes.

Snipes noted that it is a routine thing to look for these kind of mishaps after election night and she is just glad that they are now being tallied into that final count.

Last Tuesday, close to 800,000 people voted in Broward County, some waited in lines for four to five and sometimes six hours. Many have said the news of these ballots add to their uneasiness about how the election was run. Florida was the last state to officially announce its election results, long after President Obama was officially announced as re-elected.

Snipes said there is no reason for alarm. "I've run several elections here, and this election was run no different than any other," she said. "I think the difference with this election is that there was a close race between the two presidential candidates, and there was pressure put on everyone, including our office, to get all of the votes, count, count, count, so you don't have an opportunity to check every box that comes back because you got to get what you got in hand and get it out of there, so if the voters would rather that we kind of sit back and relax and then clean up and find ballots. Then I think they would really be very upset."

She said that further complicating this election was a very long ballot filled with proposed amendments. Snipes has promised that her department will meet their deadline by Sunday


Read more: http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/politics/21009052826783/almost-1k-ballots-found-in-broward-elections-warehouse/#ixzz2CLaESjxX


Read more: http://www.wsvn.com/news/article

Read more: http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/politics/21009052826783/almost-1k-ballots-found-in-broward-elections-warehouse/

[Coyotl]

1. For President "Florida was the last state to officially announce its election results" in AZ we wait

Still waiting on Arizona to finish counting their voters, over a week later.

[jillan]

14. Did they make any progress today? Haven't had a chance to check yet.

[yellowcanine]

2. "The supervisor of elections, Dr. Brenda Snipes, said this happens all the time,..."

If that is true they need to find a new supervisor of elections.

[FogerRox]

7. Worked for Kerry Edwards in FLA Doesnt Broward vote on iVotronic touchscreens......

they did in 2004.

EDIT, so Broward looks to use paper ballots scanned by optical scanners. Since these are election day votes, they should have been scanned on election day in the polling place.

[FarCenter]

10. Dr. Brenda Calhoun Snipes

http://www.browardsoe.org/content.aspx?id=13

[99th_Monkey]

3. "I've run several elections here, and this election was run no different than any other," LOL

As if Florida has always been noted for it's squeaky clean elections. Then she goes on to
say how actually that this election WAS different. "I think the difference with this election
is that there was a close race between the two presidential candidates, and there was pressure
put on everyone, including our office, to get all of the votes ..."

Such confused thinking and speech isn't exactly reassuring.

[Art_from_Ark]

18. Meanwhile, GW bu$h was declared the winner of Florida in 2000

by barely more than 600 votes, with untold numbers of ballots that were never counted.

[2naSalit]

4. Looks like the citizens have had enough shenanigans

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/13/1161435/-The-People-of-Florida-move-to-Impeach-Rick-Scott

[Liberalynn]

5. The Carter Foundation really needs to go into Florida

and teach them how to conduct elections properly. No insult meant to the people of Florida, just the Repuke leadership administering the election processes there.

[LuckyLib]

20. Yes. Florida shenanigans seem to occur with such regularity

that it's citizens should be outraged. How is it you can't figure out how many people will vote? Lines of 4-6 hours??? That alone is classic voter suppression.

[DallasNE]

6. How Do Those Things Go Unnoticed?

The tally of ballots cast should match exactly to the tally in the registration books. They should have known a week ago that they had an out of balance condition and traced back the handling for the location that is out of balance. It sounds like they weren't even looking for these 963 uncounted ballots and I don't know how that happens.

[sakabatou]

8. "This happens all the time..."

Well it fucking should NOT!

[lonestarnot]

9. Who is worse, Florida or Arizona?

[Ford_Prefect]

11. You mean they aren't districts of Ohio?

[NV Whino]

12. What is all this "found" nonsense

I can understand storing, but "found" implys that they were lost. How do they get lost?

[Jack Sprat]

13. No problem.

We just routinely leave some votes out in warehouses in case they're needed. It's how we do elections in Florida. Been that way since Jeb and Katherine. That's how we roll, baby.

[FreeBC]

15. I think local officials are being unfairly blamed for shenanigans by state officials

There was a clear effort by Rick Scott and the republicans in state government to cause havoc at the polls. I think the local officials did the best they could under circumstances that were intentionally made difficult in an attempt to disenfranchise democratic voters.

[Ash_F]

16. "This happens all the time..." Well THAT is reassuring.

[truthisfreedom]

17. Totally broken election process in some parts of the country is totally broken.

Fix it.

[veness]

19. Dr Snipes sounds so confident! What an idiot. n/t