Ballot rejects upset some Democrats

The Palm Beach County canvassing board began reviewing questionable absentee ballots Monday afternoon. Most were counted, though voters who forgot to sign their names were rejected.

BY STEVE HARRISON Miami Herald   31 August 2004

WEST PALM BEACH - Some Palm Beach County Democrats are upset the county's canvassing board rejected 134 absentee ballots Monday because voters were apparently absent-minded, forgetting to sign their name on the outside of the envelope.

Because of mounting concerns over the integrity of electronic touch-screen voting machines, Palm Beach County was flooded with nearly 24,000 absentee ballots by Friday about three times the number the county had for the fall 2000 primary.

But the paper ballots weren't perfect. Nearly 2 percent were initially set aside for further review most because voters didn't follow directions.

The Palm Beach County Democratic Party lobbied the board late last week to allow the voters who forgot to sign to fill out a provisional ballot, giving them a second chance.

But the board, on the advice of the county attorney, voted 2-1 against the second chance. The board felt that once a ballot entered the elections office, it couldn't be revised.

''A provisional ballot is only to be used when the eligibility of the voter can't be determined,'' said Palm Beach County Commission Chairwoman Karen Marcus, who voted against allowing the ballots. ``We felt this would be precedent setting.''

The chairwoman of the county's Democratic Party, Carol Ann Loehndorf, was upset about the board's decision. She said the party will decide at a meeting today what action if any Democrats will take.

Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore said the number of absentee ballots rejected this year is actually lower than in previous years.

The state no longer requires a witness signature for absentee ballots, a mandate that used to disqualify a significant number of voters, LePore said.

Broward hasn't begun reviewing questionable absentee ballots. Miami-Dade began reviewing those ballots Friday.

In addition to the 134 ballots rejected, the board had also set aside 81 ballots because the signature at first didn't appear to match signatures on the voting rolls. The majority of those were counted after further review, said Marty Rogol, a spokesman for the elections office.

An additional 300 ballots were initially spit out by the tabulating machines because the voters didn't correctly fill in the ''broken arrow.'' Palm Beach's absentee ballot has an arrow with a space in the middle next to each candidate. Voters connect the two sides for their candidate of choice.

Many voters circled or made check marks instead of filling in the arrow. Almost all of those were counted because it was easy to determine voter intent, LePore said.

One voter had spilled water on a ballot, which was placed in a microwave, according to a handwritten note attached to it. Despite two burn marks, the ballot was counted.