Minor glitches reported as voters head to polls across Florida
LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ
Associated Press
Nov 7, 2006
MIAMI - As Floridians headed to the polls, officials were eager to prove Tuesday that the state's dark days as an election laughingstock were long gone, hoping its electronic voting machines operated without glitches and its poll workers were up to the task.
The state has held several elections without major problems since the lawsuit-tainted debacle in 2000 and a flawed primary in 2002. Because this year's election was a midterm that typically has fewer voters than in presidential contests, it was expected to be less taxing on election officials.
Early reports showed minor glitches.
In Broward County, voting was briefly delayed at four districts. In two precincts, the electronic ballots were mixed up, delaying votes for about half an hour. In the other two, a poll worker unintentionally wiped the electronic ballot activators, delaying voting for more than an hour, said Mary Cooney, spokeswoman for the Broward County Supervisor of Elections.
In the Jacksonville suburb of Orange Park, voters were forced to use paper ballots after an electronic machine broke.
"This was the worst that I've ever seen," said Barbara Dowling, who works at Orange Park Medical Center. "It took too long to vote."
Most voters reported no trouble.
"It was easy to vote on the machines. I didn't even need my reading glasses," said Gary Goldstein 61, a retired dry-cleaning owner in Pittsburgh.
Despite being a midterm election, voter interest was still high this year because Republican Charlie Crist or Democrat Jim Davis will be chosen to replace GOP Gov. Jeb Bush. The balance of power in Congress could also shift because of several House races in Florida.
Iraq, too, was on the minds of many, including 47-year-old Geraldine Anderson of Orlando. "Why are they still there?" she asked of American troops. "Something has to be done."
Mario Georgalas, 41, voted in Miami Beach on his way to work restoring ocean front hotels. "This is my duty. I was in the Navy for six years, that's why I vote," said Georgalas, who supported the Republican ticket because he didn't believe the U.S. should leave Iraq.
"What you start, you should finish," he said.
Apart from the infamous chads and butterfly ballots in the 2000 election, election problems have included poorly trained poll workers, precincts opening late or closing early and trouble tallying votes on electronic machines.
To prevent potential problems, Miami-Dade, Duval, Hillsborough and other counties had extra voting machines, paper ballots and poll workers on standby. But there were bound to be at least some glitches.
Florida Secretary of State Sue Cobb said initial projections for turnout were just over 50 percent. Midterm election turnout has averaged 55 percent. The 2004 presidential election had 74 percent turnout.
Cobb didn't expect serious problems with the touch-screen voting machines in use in 15 counties, including most of the largest ones.
"History has shown that the machines are far more accurate than paper so we're quite confident in it," Cobb said. "There is absolutely no reason to believe that there will be any security issues, any hacking going on."
To be on the safe side, the Justice Department was sending federal election observers to five Florida counties: Broward, Duval, Hillsborough, Osceola and Palm Beach. Those were some of the hot spots in the 2000 election.
Several voter advocacy groups urged Floridians to be vigilant about ensuring their votes were counted. A coalition that included People For the American Way Foundation and the NAACP set up a toll-free number for voters to report problems.
The group also planned to deploy nonpartisan poll monitors in precincts in Miami-Dade, Duval and Broward counties to assist voters and encourage voter turnout.
"The stakes are extremely high in this year's midterm elections. We want to make sure that every eligible voter is able to take part in the process," said Jorge Mursuli, vice president of Hispanic affairs at People For the American Way.
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