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Let The Games Begin - 709 Ballots Rejected So Far

By Eddie Farah

Remember the hanging chads from the 2000 election and the dysfunctional voting machines that registered the exact opposite candidate than a person voted for in 2004? Florida is a battleground state that makes it one of the most controversial areas in the country for fraud.

Election officials in Jacksonville have rejected more than 700 ballots, so far out of the more than 51,000 cast, mostly because they lacked signatures or the signatures don’t match the voter’s signature on file.

Channel 4 tells the story of Lisa Rigg who suspected her vote might not have counted. When she contacted the Supervisor of Elections for Duval County, her fears were confirmed. Her signatures didn’t match election officials said.

“It’s that important to me. I want my vote to absolutely count for this election. It is very important,” said Rigg, who admits her signatures don’t always match from day to day.

But she was turned down since her ballot was already cast. Election officials will not issue a replacement ballot.

Other problems this time around include voters who connect ALL of the lines across the ballot for president – that’s 13 presidents!

Now this is the amazing part. If the canvassing board thinks it knows who the voter meant to choose, it can remark the ballot so the machine will accept it.

Jerry Holland, the Duval County Supervisor of Election says, “No, you cannot select for them. There has to be a clear indication of what the voter’s intent was.”

That seems to be that is an open invitation to a challenge. How is an election official supposed to know? What is a clear indication?

And this is just early voting. Prepare for registered voters to be purged from the system for having their home foreclosed, or over allegations of being a felon, which was done right here in Florida. Problem was they weren’t felons, just people who had their votes denied.

If America wants to be a shining example of Democracy throughout the world, we need to have clean elections. If we don’t agree on a candidate in this battleground state, at least we can all agree on that.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Eddie Farah

Full post as published by Jacksonville Personal Injury Lawyer on November 01, 2008 (boomark / email).