Posted on 08/07/2002 1:41:49 PM PDT by 6ppc
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida Democrats filed a lawsuit Monday to try to change the wording of the gubernatorial primary ballot, which they say may confuse voters.
The ballot for the Sept. 10 Democratic primary for governor instructs voters to "Vote for One Pair," meaning they should choose a combined entry for governor and lieutenant governor.
Democrats say the wording could cause problems because none of their candidates has yet selected a running mate. That may lead some people to make two choices for governor — an "overvote" that would nullify their ballot, they say.
"We can reduce this confusion by simply changing the ballot language," said Florida Democratic Party Chairman Bob Poe, who filed the lawsuit in Leon County Circuit Court against the state and its county election supervisors.
"At a bare minimum we are looking for, certainly, elimination of the word 'pair.'"
The Democratic candidates for governor are former Attorney General Janet Reno ( news - web sites), Tampa lawyer Bill McBride and state Sen. Daryl Jones ( news, bio, voting record). Instead of listing a lieutenant governor candidate, the ballot reads "Not Yet Designated" under the name of each Democratic candidate for governor.
Secretary of State Jim Smith has instructed election officials to see if it is possible to make changes to the ballot — which Democrats didn't see until Friday — just five weeks away from the primary.
Such a change would be all the more complicated because some absentee ballots are already in the mail. By federal law, all absentee ballots must be sent by the end of this week.
Efforts have been made to reduce the balloting chaos seen in Florida during the most recent presidential election.
In 2000, about 113,000 Floridians nullified their ballots with overvotes in the race between George W. Bush and Al Gore ( news - web sites). More than 59,000 of those voters lived in counties where ballots told them to vote for a "group." Bush won the state by 537 votes.
Not again!!!!!!
Howlin look what those crazy kids in Florida did now!!!!
LOL and Dittoes...MUD
Don't mix apples and oranges...you will cause more confusion.
Here's one for them that might work:
Hmmmmm... How's about calling a spade a spade. Let's change the word "pair" to "populist Marxist scumbag".
Well...another problem is that we are assuming they are alive.
I just returned home today from that fun state. Boy is that Orlando Sentinal paper pointing far to the left. Kind of like a little NYT Jr.
Other than that, I had a good time visiting family (R) members (except bro who is (D) but I'm working on him. Environmentalist/Sierra type - its going to take a while).
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