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Will every vote count in Palm Beach County?  (FL)

Opinion    South Florida Sun-Sentinel   05 September 2008

Undervotes, overvotes. Confusion over vote totals. An election in question, 10 days later, hanging on a fraction of the ballots cast. Does any of this sound sickeningly familiar?

It should, because Palm Beach County's search for 3,400 missing ballots in a tight judge's race has all the feel of the 2000 presidential election debacle, without the national spotlight. But could that be far behind?

What happened in the gap between Election Day, when ballot scanners tallied 102,523 votes, and a recount a few days later, when only 99,045 ballots could be accounted for? Officials are still sorting it out. The count of missing ballots fluctuated Thursday, as uncertainty remained over a process that was supposed to make us feel more secure that every vote counts.

It's easy to blame Arthur Anderson, the county's inept elections supervisor. But there's an even bigger culprit in this mess: the paper ballot system, reminiscent of the one we were only so happy to get rid of eight years ago. The computerized system that replaced hanging chads, while it had its managable flaws, was a monumental improvement that reduced the kind of human error that now has officials searching storage bins and file cabinets for missing votes.

The paper trail championed so fervently by U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, and mandated throughout Florida with Gov. Charlie Crist's help, was supposed to give voters a verifiable recount system that restored voter trust and confidence. Instead, it's delivered more angst and confusion.

Finding the missing votes in a judge's contest decided by 60 votes or less is just part of the challenge. In a county that decided the 2000 presidential race by 537 votes, it means making sure there won't be a repeat in November, when voters will decide one of the most important presidential elections of our time.

BOTTOM LINE: Time to get nervous.



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