RENO, MEEK SUE TO KEEP GOP POLL WATCHERS AWAY!!

Orlando Sentinel ^ | 11/1/02 | Maya Bell & David Cazares

[Elkiejg]

MIAMI -- Alleging that the Republican Party is resorting to dirty tricks to intimidate voters, Janet Reno and U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek filed suit Thursday to prevent a Republican political-action committee from stationing more than 450 poll watchers at heavily Democratic precincts in Miami-Dade County polls on Election Day.

The suit, filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, names Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections David Leahy, the county's Republican Party and the Emergency Committee to Stop Bill McBride as defendants.

"The emergency is they want to create disruptions at the polls," said Joe Geller, counsel for the Miami-Dade Democratic Executive Committee.

[Elkiejg]

WAY TO GO GOP POLL WATCHERS IN SO. FLORIDA!! Let's make sure those just landed Haitians can't get to the polls.

[Rome2000]

165 Broward precincts lacked GOP staff, review finds

By Scott Wyman and Buddy Nevins
Staff writers
Posted October 25 2002

Broward County Elections Supervisor Miriam Oliphant failed to comply with a state directive to use poll workers from different political parties at each precinct during the September primary.

Registered Democrats held all jobs as poll clerks and inspectors at more than one-fifth of Broward's 750-plus precincts on Sept. 10, according to a review of Oliphant's records by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.











Oliphant disputed the need for political diversity when Republican leaders raised concerns before the primary. But the state Division of Elections, in a memo written the week before the primary, told her the law required it and she promised to comply.

On Election Day, 165 precincts were run exclusively by Democrats, crisscrossing the county from heavily minority areas to condominium complexes. Only six had all-Republican staffs.

County Republican leader George LeMieux blasted Oliphant for breaking her promise and said he wanted assurances there would not be a repeat in the Nov. 5 election.

"What she did is against the law," LeMieux said on Thursday. "The law requires that the workers not be all from one party for a reason -- to prevent fraud. Having all from one party could skew the results. The workers have nobody to stop them from stacking the vote count."

Oliphant could not be reached for comment. But Robert Buschel, the lawyer who advised her before the primary, said he was surprised and disappointed to learn of the staffing problems. Her current lawyer, Mike Robinson, said he would urge Oliphant to make sure it doesn't happen again.

"We have to have political diversity across the board in this election," Robinson said. "It's just common sense to have everybody represented."

Primary problems

The questions of political diversity are the latest problem facing Oliphant. She was on the verge of being removed from office for misconduct following widespread problems during the primary and has since faced charges of misspending while running up a $1 million deficit.

Ed Kast, director of the state Division of Elections, said the GOP's only recourse is legal action if Broward doesn't diversify its staffs. He said his office can only explain the law to supervisors.

"She is the duly elected constitutional officer and that is a decision she has to make," Kast said. "The statute is clear and states it very simply, but there is nothing in there about what happens if you don't do it."

The law states that "no election board shall be composed solely of members of one political party." The only exception is a primary involving candidates of only one party.

That means the clerk, assistant and inspectors comprising the election board at each precinct must be a mix of Democrats, Republicans, people registered with minor-party affiliations and independent voters.

LeMieux plans to discuss the problems today with Deputy Supervisor Joe Cotter, who was hired to run the November election after September's disastrous primary. LeMieux said he thinks he and Cotter can work out an agreement, but he is prepared to go to court if necessary.

The GOP is concerned about the fairness of the Nov. 5 election if polling places are staffed solely by Democrats. The gubernatorial race between incumbent Jeb Bush and Tampa lawyer Bill McBride is expected to be close, so the election process in heavily Democratic Broward could be critical.

Cotter promised to do all he can to ensure political diversity.

"I've given that direction to our poll worker department, and we are proceeding along those lines," Cotter said. "We have reached out to the Republican Party, provided them our database of poll workers and are working with them."

Offers ignored

The lack of diversity in the primary occurred despite a GOP offer to help find poll workers. Shortly before the election, the party released letters from Republicans who said they were ignored when they tried to volunteer.

A review of Oliphant's records showed all-Democratic staffs at nine of Lauderdale Lakes' 13 precincts, 11 of Lauderhill's 24 precincts and 13 of Sunrise's 40 precincts.

Republican workers were particularly lacking in minority precincts. No Republicans were on staff at Precinct 53Z in Carver Ranches, 38R at Dillard Elementary School in Fort Lauderdale or 6C at Sanders Park Elementary School in Pompano Beach -- precincts with more than 1,500 voters each, almost all black Democrats.

Dominating precincts

The elections office also had problems finding non-Democratic workers for older condominium communities, traditionally Democratic strongholds. Precincts in Century Village, Hawaiian Gardens, Wynmoor Village, Sunrise Lakes and Kings Point had all-Democratic staffs.

Three of the six precincts with all-Republican staffs were in Parkland. Two were in Davie and the other was in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.

Elections experts say officials can have difficulty following the law when an area is dominated by one party, meaning volunteers from other parties would have to drive farther to work there. Growing areas also can have problems staffing an increasing number of polls, they say.

But Dennis Myers, president of the 130-member Northeast Broward Republican Club, said he would have been glad to help the elections office.

"We could have recommended plenty of Republicans," said Myers, whose club has members in such Democratic condominiums as Wynmoor and Palm-Aire.

Broward's troubles with political diversity began when Buschel reinterpreted state law for Oliphant.

Her predecessor, Jane Carroll, tried to ensure diversity at each precinct before she retired in 2000. But Buschel and Oliphant decided that she didn't have to determine whether each precinct had workers of different parties as long as the entire group of 5,000 poll workers had a mix.

Protecting the polls

Republican officials were deeply suspicious of Oliphant, a longtime Democratic activist. The GOP wanted to stick to the traditional understanding, especially in light of allegations of political intrigue at the polls during the 2000 presidential election.

Despite Cotter's promises that the staffs will be different, some Republican candidates are preparing to have their own representatives at the polls.

U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw's campaign has assembled hundreds of certified observers who will be allowed to enter the polling places. In addition, Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale, will place other volunteers outside polling places.

"If there are precincts in our congressional district that do not have Republican poll workers, we will be there," said Larry Casey, Shaw's campaign manager. "The Shaw campaign will put people there. We will not leave any poll unprotected."

Staff Writer Brittany Wallman contributed to this report.

Scott Wyman can be reached at swyman@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4511.

[anniegetyourgun]

LEAVE NO POLL UNPROTECTED!

[longtermmemmory]

450?

WE NEED THE FREEPER RESERVES.!!!!

They are running scared, time to wipe out the evil.

[mhking]

Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.

[woofer]

I hope they are successful in stopping some of the voter fraud. About all they can do is make sure the signatures match the ID shown and a ballot isn't given to someone who has already voted absentee.

I served as an election judge in my precinct in Missouri, since it was a 3:1 Republican area, the Dems usually had a poll watcher sit in every election day. He was allowed to lookover our shoulders, but wasn't allowed to touch anything. For the most part, they would just note how many ballots were handed out and that we were matching faces to the picture ID and checking the signatures.They seldom stayed past 10AM but usually came back for the last 2 hours.

[backhoe]

-The Vote Fraud Archives--

-Need Vote Fraud articles, stories, and evidence? Here's a source--

-Vote... and be D@mned! (vanity, but dead serious)--

[smiley]

Is there any doubt in anyone's mind that Florida will be another "hot spot" during this election and the next Presidential election? Some democrats have really stooped to their lowest level and election frauds and suits would not surprise me in the least. The most we can hope for is that FBI investigators will be able to get a "lock" on some of these cheaters before the Democrats start whinning "foul" against the Republicans......again......

[small_l_libertarian]

If they weren't planning to do anything sneaky, why would they care if there were poll watchers at the precincts?

Hmmmm...

[windchime]

"WAY TO GO GOP POLL WATCHERS IN SO. FLORIDA!!"


Excerpts from Hillsborough County Florida manual:

**Each candidate and political party is permitted to have ONE watcher (at a time) in each precinct on Election Day to watch and observe the conduct of voters and officials.

**No person shall be permitted to act as a poll watcher unless his/her name is submitted 14 days prior to the election so it can appear on the poll watcher list approved by the Supervisor of Elections Office.

If these watchers registered with the SOE, what is the basis of the Reno/Meek suit?

"The emergency is they want to create disruptions at the polls,"

As long as they registered and don't exceed the number of candidates and parties, looks like they have a legal right to be there!

[ffrancone]

IT'S FOUR DAYS 'TIL THE ELECTION
WANNA HELP ME TAKE BACK THE SENATE?

TakeBackCongress.org

A resource for conservatives who want a Republican Senate

[yoe]

comments@citizenslobby.com BEWARE OF DEMOCRAT VOTE FRAUD !

Deciding who will control Congress in next Tuesday's election may just hinge upon Democratic voter fraud in key races. During the Clinton-Gore years, an estimated 1.2 million illegal aliens were registered to vote, and the vast majority of them cast ballots for Al Gore and other Democrats in 2000. This year these criminal, non-citizen voters could be the number one factor in pushing the Democrats over the top in states from California to Florida.

Other Democratic vote fraud schemes have Republicans worried as well. In Dick Gephardt's home state of Missouri, Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) fears that Democrats will use the state's "provisional-voting procedure" to cast fraudulent ballots -- ballots by people whose voter registration cannot be verified immediately, but are counted anyway. In Clinton's home state of Arkansas, "Democrats are trying to steal the Senate election by registering dead people and businesses to vote, illegally allowing early voting on weekends and not requiring identification to vote," according to the Washington Times. In Daschle's South Dakota, the FBI is continuing its investigation into six counties on or near Indian reservations where Democrats have illegally registered thousands of "new" voters. In Wisconsin, state prosecutors are investigating allegations that the Democratic gubernatorial candidate was bribing poor people with food and money to secure absentee votes at a bingo party! And in Minnesota, Maine, Idaho, New Hampshire, Wyoming and Wisconsin, states which allow same-day registration, there are troubling reports that Democratic operatives are pushing out-of-state, liberal college students to flood these states to register and vote Democratic on Tuesday.

All of these incidents indicate that the Democratic Party will do anything to win -- primarily by breaking the law. ** To help stem this likely vote fraud, especially by illegal aliens, we are urging citizens to videotape or photograph any suspicious behavior at your precinct. To report any incidents, please e-mail us at comments@citizenslobby.com .

[KLT]

[Reelect President Dubya]

"We played by the rules," said Benedick Kuehne, co-counsel for Miami-Dade's Democrats. "The Republican Party decided they didn't like the rules so, under the cover of darkness, they got a secret opinion from the secretary of state."

BWAAA-HAAA-HAAA-HAAA!!!!!!!!!!

The DEMONcRATS changed the rules for Carnahan-Toricelli-Wellstone, but that's different. DEMONcRATS can do anything they want.

[PhiKapMom]

LEAVE NO POLL UNPROTECTED is right! That needs to be the rallying cry all throught the Country. The RATs are out to steal Governor/Senator/Congressional races. Absentee ballots seem to be their target as well! They cannot keep you from standing right outside the flags that designate the polling place! Make sure that we have people at all of those polling places even if just watching voters go in. If you see a van with a lot of people pulling up to vote or a lot in the back of the pick-up truck, please report and please get someone to follow when they leave to see if they go to the next polling place which is the way they operate in Philly and elsewhere!

[ZULU]

"Carrie Meek filed suit Thursday to prevent a Republican political-action committee from stationing more than 450 poll watchers at heavily Democratic precincts in Miami-Dade County polls on Election Day."

Are 450 enough? In my area we have caught family members of DemocRATs trying to vote in person after submittnig absentee ballots.

They are vile, they are crooked, they are evil, they DEMOCRATS!!

[VRWC_minion]

Evil hates being dragged into the light.

[VRWC_minion]

The rats don't need poll watchers. They are not afraid of GOP fraud.

[tutstar]

bump

[Cyber Liberty]

Somebody help me out here. What standing does Reno, a non-candidate, have to file this suit?

[bandleader]

It's just like Rush said,The "RATS"point their finger and then proceed to do what they accuse others of!!

[BSunday]

Thinking about dem voters getting scared by repub watchers reminds me of something a very wise man once said:

The wicked flee when no man pursueth"

[wai-ming]

Alleging that the Republican Party is resorting to dirty tricks to intimidate voters,

Everything they accuse the Republicans of is probably being done by the Democrats on a much larger scale. But nobody is supposed to notice that.

"Dirty tricks" is the new mantra of the Democratic party. They are trying to get the sheeple to "look the other way" while they steal close elections with "tricks" of their own.

It is amazing how they take our ideas/strategies and try to turn them against us. We were the first to expose "voter fraud" as a Democratic tactic to win elections. When we begin to take measures to prevent voter fraud, they cry "intimidation."

[Dan from Michigan]

Reno the it is trying to get the vote fraud machines going.

[longtermmemmory]

Will watchers be allowed at Century Village as elderly voters vote in the lobby of their condos? (that is the location of their polling places) Whill poll workers refrain from saying jeb is going to steal social security?
Who will be watching the review of provisional ballots?

[John Jorsett]

"We played by the rules," said Benedick Kuehne, co-counsel for Miami-Dade's Democrats. "The Republican Party decided they didn't like the rules so, under the cover of darkness, they got a secret opinion from the secretary of state."

Man, is THAT rich. They didn't like the rules in New Jersey, so they got a court to make up new ones. They got the FL Supreme Court in 2000 to chide Katherine Harris for her "hypertechnical reliance" on the law. The back of my hand to these whining hypocrites.

[John Jorsett]

For the most part, they would just note how many ballots were handed out and that we were matching faces to the picture ID and checking the signatures.They seldom stayed past 10AM but usually came back for the last 2 hours.

Wow. Here in California, all I have to do is announce my name and address, somebody looks it up from a list and then hands me a ballot. No proof required. I could register and vote under assumed names in every voting district.

[dfwgator]

This is gonna be one ugly election, the Dems are quickly turning the US into a banana republic.

[NorthGA]

In Georgia, we have to either show a voter registration card (mailed to the individual), or a government issued id with the address on it, which is usually a drivers license.

It seems that even this simple security procedure has been prohibited in some (probably red) counties around the country.

[wai-ming]

The Dems learned a lot from the 2000 Election:

Voter fraud, disenfranchisement of the military, ballot-counting (and re-counting) irregularities, legal challenges, etc. almost got them what they wanted.

What did they learn? They've got to cheat harder this time. For the sake of the country, we must not let them.

[davidosborne]

BTTT!

[longtermmemmory]

Perhaps we should require every voting citizen to obtain a passport.

Will mexicans in California be allowed to use mexican ID.

Will INS be at polling stations to arrest non-citizens who vote?

This is going to be nasty. Especialy as the Dems loose. Meek is a black racist. If you have ever seen her, she is an overweight woman who panders to the baser fears of her minority laden district.

[Pushi]

For the most part, they would just note how many ballots were handed out and that we were matching faces to the picture ID and checking the signatures.

I have already voted here in New Mexico. In this banana republic, a person cannot be asked for identification. When I went in, I told them I wanted to vote. I was waiting for one of the DemonRat bastards to ask me for my ID. I was going to tell him to go _____ himself. Nobody asked me. I voted and left. I just wanted to make sure it worked both ways. I believe a person should have to present a picture ID, but the DemonRats here will not let it pass. Voter fraud is rampant here. Two years ago, all the straight party votes got dropped somehow at my voting place. Makes one feel real good when his vote is not counted--but it is only Republican votes the DemonRats don't want counted.

[Pushi]

Like, if they weren't going to have all the wetbacks vote here in NM, why would they oppose a picture ID requirement.

[wai-ming]

Do most precincts require proof of U.S. citizenship and residency within the district at time of voter registration? That would be the logical time to ask for it. A simple picture ID at the polling place and a check to see if the person is registered should then suffice on election day.

[woofer]

Wow. Here in California, all I have to do is announce my name and address, somebody looks it up from a list and then hands me a ballot. No proof required. I could register and vote under assumed names in every voting district.

Wow is right. In the three states I've lived and voted in (IL, MO and MN) picture ID with home address and signature is the law. I understand Iowa, where I live now, is wide open for abuse (no ID required). I've seen potential abusers turned away because they've no ID, or insufficient ID. Heck, as an election judge in MO, I've refused people a ballot. They get sent to the county offices to vote, or if they fail there they can take the matter up with a judge.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Duck femocrats!

[ladyinred]

Someone needs to put a stop to this kind of rhetoric in Florida. The only way I can see this happening is the voters there get fed up and vote these people out of office at every election. Send the message that they want decent fair elections based on issues, not lies and trickery. If this is allowed to continue, we are all going to lose faith in our election process. Thank you Al Gore for turning this into a banana republic. Thank you media for encouraging it.