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ELECTION 2000
Fraudulent absentee
ballots cast in Florida
State attorney's office
investigating forged
documents found
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By Julie Foster
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com
Two absentee ballots requested but never received by a Pensacola voter in Miami were discovered by election officials with fraudulent signatures, prompting an investigation by state attorneys.
Todd Vinson, a 28-year-old law clerk registered to vote in Pensacola, requested an absentee ballot from the Escambia County Elections Supervisor on Oct. 10 to be sent to his residence in Miami. When he did not receive the ballot after two weeks, he requested another on Oct. 24, according to a Pensacola News Journal report. That ballot also never reached its proper destination. Vinson contacted his father, U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson, the Thursday before the election, telling him about the mysterious, no-show ballots.
The judge immediately contacted Escambia County Elections Supervisor Bonnie Jones, informing her of the situation. After reviewing absentee ballots returned to elections officials, Jones' office found a ballot with Todd Vinson's name on it. The signature on the ballot, however, did not match the signature on his voter registration card. Additionally, the address listed on the ballot for the witness was not valid. All absentee voters must fill out their ballots in the presence of a witness, who writes in his or her address and signs the form.
"It was clearly forged,'' Vinson told the News Journal. "Somebody definitely got hold of it and sent it back in. The question is where did they get it, and my speculation was that it happened somewhere in the post office. It made it down here to Miami, but it never made it to me.''
To make sure Vinson's vote was counted, Jones overnighted him a third ballot in time for him to vote for Texas Gov. George W. Bush. The elections supervisor subsequently contacted the state attorney's office, U.S. Attorney Mike Patterson and the Florida Division of Elections.
Then, one day after the cliffhanger vote took place, Escambia County elections officials found what may be the second ballot intended for Vinson. It, too, had been forged and was handed over to state prosecutors.
Assistant Elections Supervisor Brenda Renfro told WorldNetDaily neither of the forged ballots will be opened by elections officials, so it is impossible to know who the illegal votes were intended to support. She added that a judge reviewing the case could decide to open them, but the elections office, as a rule, does not open fraudulent ballots.
So far, Renfro noted, no other fraudulent ballots have been discovered in Escamdia County -- located in the conservative-leaning panhandle of Florida. The state attorney's office is leading an investigation into whether the forged ballot is part of a broader scheme to redirect mailed ballots to someone who filled them out and forged the voters' signatures. Jones is in contact with state attorneys regarding the investigation, but was instructed by counsel not to give any interviews on the subject. Rather, she is to refer all media inquiries to Assistant State Attorney Russ Edgar.
"I agree there may well be more than just this one,'' Edgar told the News Journal. "That's what I'm thinking right now.'' Edgar is heading the investigation.
A key issue in Vinson's case is how the ballots were redirected. Vinson suggests the U.S. Postal Service was involved. Should investigators suspect as much, federal law enforcement may be asked to take over the probe. One station manager in the U.S. Postal Service, who wishes to remain anonymous, told WND that postal workers received an intranet memo Wednesday morning from the postmaster general stating that absentee ballots were to be separated from other first-class mail to ensure they received "special handling." Upon asking for clarification from his supervisor, the source was told not to question the memo as it came from "the top." The postal worker explained his belief that setting the ballots aside may lead to a hold-up of absentee ballots, which could result in the ballots not being counted if they are not received before state deadlines.
Officials at the Postal Service admit they treat election mail differently than other items and maintain that treatment expedites, rather than hinders, mail delivery.
"We give all election mail, especially as it gets close to the day, special handling," said Dan De Miglio, California spokesman for the Postal Service. De Miglio denies the intranet memo was sent, noting that as California's communications director, he also would have received it.
"I would know if a memo like that was sent out yesterday," he remarked, noting that he never saw the memo purportedly sent by the postmaster general. "I would have been used to move the message." He suggested the employee, who has access to the agency's intranet as a supervisor, could have received a bogus notice. "It's a fraud," the spokesman said.
De Miglio pointed out the Postal Service gives special treatment to all forms of election mail, including campaign ads, putting them on a "fast track." He explained the Postal Service "ramps up" its staff and operations similar to the manner in which the agency prepares for the throngs of holiday mail it handles every year.
Specifically addressing Vinson's case, the spokesman said, "The only way that could happen is if someone came to his house and took his ballot."
De Miglio acknowledged some mail does have problems in the delivery process and that the Postal Service has been accused of facilitating those problems.
"You're almost defenseless, because there's no way to defend yourself against accusations like that," given the huge volume of mail handled by postal workers. He quickly added that in California, the Postal Service has been exonerated from such accusations in the past.
Due to the extraordinary closeness of the presidential race in Florida, even a handful of fraudulent cases like Vinson's could sway the outcome of the election.
"It definitely could impact the vote because one vote can make a difference, as we've seen in this election,'' Jones told the News Journal, which noted the supervisor's office has dealt with a record of number of absentee ballots this election.
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ELECTION 2000, DAY 8
Poll shows Gore
losing PR battle
53% of voters think Bush
won presidential race
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By Paul Sperry
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com
WASHINGTON -- The majority of Americans who voted Nov. 7 say they think George W. Bush beat Al Gore in the presidential election, and far more Gore voters than Bush voters have doubts their man won the now-deadlocked race, a new Portrait of America poll reveals.
In addition, voters give Gore lower marks than Bush for handling the post-election crisis.
The results of the Nov. 12 survey of 1,000 likely voters is bad news for Gore, who is trying to garner public support as he challenges Bush's de facto win in Florida. If vote recounts confirm his slim lead, the state would give Bush enough electoral votes to win the tight general election.
Fifty-three percent of all voters think Bush won the presidential race, while only 40 percent think Gore won, according to the poll by Charlotte, N.C.-based Rasmussen Research. Seven percent aren't sure.
Just 79 percent of Gore voters think their man won the contest. That compares with a whopping 95 percent of Bush voters.
Overall, 60 percent of voters are "somewhat confident" or "very confident" that election officials will be able to confirm a true winner.
But just 28 percent are certain, the poll found, and 38 percent aren't sure the country will ever really know who won.
The findings concern poll director Scott Rasmussen. He thinks the next president, whoever he is, may have to spend more time defending his right to lead than leading.
"Only one out of four believe they'll really know who won when it's all said and done," Rasmussen told WorldNetDaily. "It's a lot of potential for cynicism and distrust."
Still, most voters have no stomach for holding more elections to settle things.
Some 54 percent oppose holding a new election in Florida, and 69 percent are against a national re-vote.
A majority of voters -- 54 percent -- say Gore and his campaign staff have done a fair or poor job of handling the confusion and uncertainty since election night. By comparison, 48 percent think Bush has done a fair or poor job, according to the poll, which has a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.
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Paul Sperry is Washington bureau chief for WorldNetDaily.
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November 14, 2000
One-two punch knocked out conservatives' ballots, too
By Bill Sammon
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Visit our Election 2000 page
for daily election news and analysis
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — More votes were disqualified in conservative Duval County than in the liberal Palm Beach County, leading Republicans to believe that double-punched ballots in Florida hurt George W. Bush almost as much as Al Gore. Top Stories
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But Republicans opted against requesting a hand recount of Duval and other conservative counties because they were already denouncing such tallies as unconstitutional in Democratic counties where hand recounts were under way.
"They're recounting in Palm Beach, but of course there's no recounting going on in the Republican counties because the Bush folks didn't ask for it within the 72-hour deadline," said a Republican official in Florida's panhandle.
"It wouldn't have been statesmanlike for Bush to say, 'Hey, I want manual recounts in the following counties,' " explained the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Still, it doesn't seem fair that they're only going to count the Democratic counties."
Duval County election officials disqualified 21,942 ballots because voters had chosen more than one presidential candidate. Since the Texas governor won 59 percent of the vote in Duval, Republicans have extrapolated that he would have netted another 3,730 votes if the true intentions of the double counters could be divined.
"Naturally, if you count ballots that are thrown out, it's fair to assume that he's going to win by the same margin," said another Florida Republican. "They would both pick up votes, but it would definitely help Bush more than Gore — just like it helps Gore more in Palm Beach. I mean, I think that's a story that nobody's talking about."
In Palm Beach County, 19,120 ballots were disqualified because voters selected more than one presidential candidate. Since the vice president won 64 percent of the vote in Palm Beach, he could conceivably net as many as another 5,277 votes there.
Such a gain is actually a possibility for Mr. Gore because a hand count is under way in Palm Beach County. But since Republicans decided not to ask for a recount in Duval, Mr. Bush's would-be gain of 3,730 seems unlikely to trim Mr. Gore's Palm Beach pickup of 5,277 votes to 1,547.
Although Democrats outnumber Republicans in Duval County by nearly 3-to-2, there are so many Reagan Democrats that Mr. Bush carried the county by 44,000 votes, out of more than 260,000 ballots cast, officials there said.
"We have more Democrats in Duval County, but registered Democrats can vote the other way," said Susan Tucker Johnson, spokeswoman for the Duval County Elections Supervisor.
Still, officials at the Bush campaign and the Republican National Committee said yesterday they had little interest in making an issue of counties like Duval at the moment. That is because they have pinned their hopes on yesterday's ruling by the Florida secretary of state that might make hand counts in Palm Beach and other Democratic counties a moot point.
Citing Florida law, Secretary of State Katherine Harris ruled that the counties must have all recounts completed by 5 p.m. today. Election officials are not expected to meet that deadline with hand counts in Palm Beach and Dade counties, although a hand count in Volusia County might be completed in time.
Gore lawyers joined several counties yesterday in a state lawsuit that seeks to extend the deadline. If that lawsuit fails, Republicans believe they will not have to resort to recounts in Duval and other conservative Florida counties — or other states where Mr. Gore won narrowly.
But if the lawsuit prevails, Duval might get a closer look by Republicans. Although the 72-hour deadline for a hand recount request has passed, Bush supporters might be able to force such a tally if they go to court within 10 days of a statewide certification of ballots.
"If the ruling by Harris holds up, Bush wins," said the panhandle Republican. "If it doesn't, I have to believe that they are just going to go in there and seek a recount of Duval and seek recounts everywhere in the country.
"But I think for the moment, they're holding their breath, hoping this secretary of state's decision stands," he added. "They should win then."
Even if the ruling is overturned and Republicans succeed in obtaining a hand recount in Duval, it might be difficult to argue that double-punched ballots were meant for either Mr. Bush or Mr. Gore. That's because unlike the Palm Beach butterfly ballot, in which presidential candidates are listed on facing pages in a format that Democrats called confusing, voters in Duval County had to turn a page to get to the second half of the list of presidential candidates.
"All of this is speculation, but we think probably they punched a hole on the first page and then turned the second page and punched again," Mrs. Johnson said. "Who knows? It's one of those things where you say, 'OK, here's the instructions,' and you hope people will pay attention to those instructions."
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