Judge orders revision of ballots in Broward, Palm Beach

By Brittany Wallman
South Florida Sun Sentinel   October 12 2004

The ink is dry, and the ballots are in the mail. The voting machines are programmed. But if a judge's ruling is upheld, elections offices in Broward and Palm Beach counties will have to start over.

Judge Janet Ferris ruled in Tallahassee on Friday that despite the late date, the Democratic Party should have the right to replace the name of Democrat Jim Stork, who ped out of the race for Congressional District 22.

The crux of the legal debate is whether the state division of elections abused its discretion in telling Stork that it was too late to withdraw from his race against U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale, because he had missed the official deadline.

The Department of State, which oversees elections, filed an appeal Monday. The department maintains that Stork's name must remain on the Nov. 2 ballot, even though he's an unwilling candidate, because to allow a substitute would cause mayhem in local elections offices.

Ferris ruled in favor of two Democratic Party members who sued to give the state party the right to replace Stork, who withdrew because of health concerns. Ferris, a Leon County judge, gave the Democratic Party until today to name a replacement.

She accepted the fact that the Palm Beach County and Broward County supervisors "would have a challenge facing them" to switch candidate names.

In siding with Palm Beach County executive committee members Joseph E. Martin and Katherine Kelly, she wrote that state law sets up procedures for substituting candidates even closer to an election than in this case, so she rejected the idea that state staff can make the decision based on "considerations of convenience."

Voters have a right to an effective vote, she wrote, referencing previous court cases.

Monday, the Department of State appealed to the Fourth District Court of Appeals, said department spokeswoman Alia Farij.

"Deadlines are in place to maintain order in the process," she said. "They were crafted by the Legislature."

Bolstering the state's position are both elections offices, which advised the state Monday that their elections preparations are well under way, with Stork on the ballot.

"It would be physically impossible for Palm Beach County to make any changes to our November 2, 2004, General Election Ballot," Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Theresa LePore wrote in a letter to the state Monday.

LePore reported that military and overseas ballots were mailed Sept. 18. The final absentee ballot proofs went to the printer on Sept. 22 and were printed. Provisional ballots for use in the precincts also were printed.

Touch-screen voting machines were programmed, and audio ballots were recorded in three languages. Internal testing was conducted. Early voting begins Monday.

In Broward County, the situation is nearly identical.

Deputy Supervisor Gisela Salas said overseas and military ballots were sent, absentee ballots are being mailed, and voting machine formatting is complete. Broward Supervisor Brenda Snipes was preparing a memo to the state elections division, as well, Salas said.

She said the electronic voting machines require a five-step programming process. If the line-up in District 22 were to change, all the coding would have to be redone, she said.

"You can't just redo District 22 in this software module. You have to recode the whole election," she said.

As for whose name would replace Stork's, no substitute candidate's name has been offered, except informally that of U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch, D-Hollywood. But state statutes say a failed candidate from one race cannot qualify to run in another in the same general election. Deutsch lost the August primary election for U.S. Senate.

State Democratic Party leader Scott Maddox said Deutsch should challenge the statutes in court and run.

Also on the ballot in District 22 is Jack McLain of the Constitution Party.