Volusia officials find three suspect bags of ballots

By Roger Roy of the Sentinel Staff

[Updated 11/10/2000 4:03 PM EST]

Election officials in Volusia County, preparing to begin a massive manual recount of all ballots from Tuesday's election, have discovered three bags of ballots that were not properly sealed.

One bag had split and some ballots had spilled out. But election workers recounted those ballots and confirmed none were missing, officials said. A seal was missing on a second bag, and the seal was broken on a third. The contents of those two bags were being recounted Friday afternoon.

The unsealed ballot bags were discovered as officials prepared to move all the Volusia ballots to the county adminstration building, where they plan to recount by hand all 184,000 ballots cast. Volusia will use additional county employees to assist in the recount, so it must be moved to the larger building. The recount, which could begin late Friday afternoon, won't be completed until next week.

In a contentious meeting with political party officials Thursday, Volusia's election canvassing board ordered a recount because of problems including a faulty memory card on a polling machine that on election night showed a negative 16,022 votes for Vice President Al Gore.

Unofficial results in Volusia show Gore with 97,063 votes and Texas Gov. George W. Bush with 82,214. Volusia is one of four Florida counties where Democratic Party officials have demanded a full recount.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/elections/1110vol.htm

-- Carl Jenkins (somewherepress@aol.com), November 10, 2000

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Adds more info to above story:

Volusia County facing manual recount for president

By RON HURTIBISE (ron.hurtibise@news-jrnl.com) and MATT GRIMISON (matt.grimison@news-jrnl.com)

Staff Writers

DELAND - Five days and counting.

A manual recount of all Volusia County ballots cast in the presidential race will begin Saturday and will stretch the election drama until at least next Tuesday.

During another exhausting day at the county Elections Department office Thursday, the three-member Volusia County Canvassing Board overruled objections by Republican attorneys and granted a Democratic Party request to count each of the 184,018 ballots one by one.

With the gap between Al Gore and George Bush narrowing to just more than 200 votes in the Florida recount, Elections Supervisor Deanie Lowe said the manual count is necessary.

"I think the race is so close at this point that none of us could sleep if every single vote wasn't counted," she said Thursday afternoon.

Democratic representatives lauded the decision, saying it is exactly what they asked for Wednesday when two of three Canvassing Board members turned them down in favor of a recount comparing computer tabulation numbers.

"I think it was very important to substantiate the vote here in Volusia County," said Frank Bruno, Gore's Volusia County campaign chairman. "We're down to 240 votes, and the whole world is looking at Volusia County."

But their Republican counterparts criticized the decision, saying it was based in part on an incorrect tally in a DeLand precinct that was easily corrected on election night.

"The Canvassing Board arrived at a quick decision based on erroneous information," said Republican observer George Burden, who was the Republican representative during Thursday's meeting. "There's really no basis to go to a whole manual recount."

The board decided on the manual recount request in response to a letter from the Executive Committee of the Florida Democratic Party. The party asked for manual recounts in four counties: Volusia, Palm Beach, Dade and Broward. National party chairman William Daley said counties were selected "where we have spotted oddities in the vote."

The state party's letter said Volusia was singled out due to "numerous problems" on election night "which call into question the accuracy and veracity of Volusia County's returns" in the race.

The "problems" include:

-- Six precincts were unable to transmit data over phone lines after polls closed.

-- A Holly Hill ballot tabulator malfunctioned.

-- A computer glitch in a DeLand tabulating machine suddenly subtracted more than 16,000 Gore votes and boosted Bush's total by more than 8,500.

-- A bag of unreturned ballots was brought into the elections office the day after the election.

While announcing Thursday that he favored the manual recount request, Judge Michael McDermott, chairman of the three-member Canvassing Board, said he was satisfied that Tuesday's "automatic recount" proved the county's vote tabulation was correct.

But he and the two other board members said it was crucial that voters of Volusia County, the state and nation are assured of an accurate count.

Board member Ann McFall, also a County Council member, noted during a break in the meeting that Wednesday's work was not technically a recount. The Canvassing Board, bowing to Republican attorneys' demands Wednesday, compared vote tallies from tabulating machines from each precinct with the department's final tally of the night.

Ballots were not re-fed through tabulation machines.

"We did a revisit' last night," McFall said.

Lowe said all problems noted in the Democratic Party letter had been addressed. She said she was confident that the results would hold up under the recount, but said "I wouldn't stake my life on the fact a few votes won't change here and there," she said.

Asked how she felt about Volusia County being singled out in the Democratic Party request, Lowe said, "I think it's great we were chosen. It shows we're important."

Lowe was scrambling Thursday night to set up the logistics of the daunting recount, which will involve physically checking each ballot by hand and recording the presidential vote, with no electronic equipment involved.

She will draft 77 extra county employees today to boost the workforce to 100 and set up an additional counting room in the Thomas C. Kelly Administration Center across the street from the Elections Office.

Volusia County officials agreed to have additional sheriff's deputies on hand. Representatives of the Democratic and Republican parties will be witnessing recounting at each table.

The workers will try to finish tallying the write-in votes today or early Saturday, then move immediately into the manual recount.

Lowe is racing against a Tuesday deadline. She has until 5 p.m. Tuesday to send certified election results to Tallahassee. Meeting that deadline may require around-the-clock work in shifts, but Lowe held out hope that Gov. Jeb Bush may grant an extension.

The decision came after some drama Thursday evening when McDermott ordered a Republican Party attorney removed from the Elections Department office.

As McDermott outlined his reasons for favoring a manual recount, David Brown of Orlando, one of three official GOP representatives, complained that Republicans were not being allowed to weigh in on the decision.

After a brief exchange, McDermott told him he was out of order, when Brown replied, "No, you're out of order." Afterward, in the parking lot, Brown said he had to speak up because McDermott was not accepting Republican input.

"There is no evidence in this county that any votes were miscounted," he said.

A key reason cited in the Democrats' request for a manual recount was a computer problem on election night that caused results to temporarily fluctuate.

A silver card about the size of a credit card that holds computer memory malfunctioned in precinct 216 in Earl Brown Park in DeLand. For a time it gave Al Gore minus 16,022 votes and artificially pumped up the returns of other candidates.

Elections officials spotted the problem when they were double- checking tabulation figures and responded by negating the original result and running each ballot through a separate tabulating machine in the Elections Office. The problem was cleared up by the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

On Thursday, elections workers going through their normal review of write-in ballots finished only about a third before attention turned to the Democratic request for the recount.

Only a handful of legitimate votes turned up during the write-in count, with Gore collecting two and Libertarian Party candidate Harry Browne receiving one.

Lost in the shuffle of the election controversy was a local voter turnout that was the best in years. The 70.61 percent turnout did not meet the record of 79.8 percent in 1992, but is the best since then, Lowe said.

County Councilwoman Pat Northey will replace Councilman Jim Ward on the Canvassing Board today because he is going out of the country. Although the statewide re-tabulation has been called a recount, various counties -- including the three others singled out in Thursday's request -- varied in their approaches.

Lowe called officials of Broward, Palm Beach and Dade counties to gauge their response to the Democrats' manual recount request.

Broward, Palm Beach and Dade counties fed all ballots through tabulation machines again on Wednesday. Broward canvassing board members plan to meet this morning to decide their response to the Democratic Party request.

Palm Beach board members agreed to manually recount just three precincts of the party's choosing on Saturday, and Dade board members said they will not decide on the request until Tuesday -- when one of their members returns from vacation.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/2000/Nov/10/AREA2.htm

-- Carl Jenkins (somewherepress@aol.com), November 10, 2000.

Adds more info to above story:

Volusia County facing manual recount for president

By RON HURTIBISE (ron.hurtibise@news-jrnl.com) and MATT GRIMISON (matt.grimison@news-jrnl.com)

Staff Writers

DELAND - Five days and counting.

A manual recount of all Volusia County ballots cast in the presidential race will begin Saturday and will stretch the election drama until at least next Tuesday.

During another exhausting day at the county Elections Department office Thursday, the three-member Volusia County Canvassing Board overruled objections by Republican attorneys and granted a Democratic Party request to count each of the 184,018 ballots one by one.

With the gap between Al Gore and George Bush narrowing to just more than 200 votes in the Florida recount, Elections Supervisor Deanie Lowe said the manual count is necessary.

"I think the race is so close at this point that none of us could sleep if every single vote wasn't counted," she said Thursday afternoon.

Democratic representatives lauded the decision, saying it is exactly what they asked for Wednesday when two of three Canvassing Board members turned them down in favor of a recount comparing computer tabulation numbers.

"I think it was very important to substantiate the vote here in Volusia County," said Frank Bruno, Gore's Volusia County campaign chairman. "We're down to 240 votes, and the whole world is looking at Volusia County."

But their Republican counterparts criticized the decision, saying it was based in part on an incorrect tally in a DeLand precinct that was easily corrected on election night.

"The Canvassing Board arrived at a quick decision based on erroneous information," said Republican observer George Burden, who was the Republican representative during Thursday's meeting. "There's really no basis to go to a whole manual recount."

The board decided on the manual recount request in response to a letter from the Executive Committee of the Florida Democratic Party. The party asked for manual recounts in four counties: Volusia, Palm Beach, Dade and Broward. National party chairman William Daley said counties were selected "where we have spotted oddities in the vote."

The state party's letter said Volusia was singled out due to "numerous problems" on election night "which call into question the accuracy and veracity of Volusia County's returns" in the race.

The "problems" include:

-- Six precincts were unable to transmit data over phone lines after polls closed.

-- A Holly Hill ballot tabulator malfunctioned.

-- A computer glitch in a DeLand tabulating machine suddenly subtracted more than 16,000 Gore votes and boosted Bush's total by more than 8,500.

-- A bag of unreturned ballots was brought into the elections office the day after the election.

While announcing Thursday that he favored the manual recount request, Judge Michael McDermott, chairman of the three-member Canvassing Board, said he was satisfied that Tuesday's "automatic recount" proved the county's vote tabulation was correct.

But he and the two other board members said it was crucial that voters of Volusia County, the state and nation are assured of an accurate count.

Board member Ann McFall, also a County Council member, noted during a break in the meeting that Wednesday's work was not technically a recount. The Canvassing Board, bowing to Republican attorneys' demands Wednesday, compared vote tallies from tabulating machines from each precinct with the department's final tally of the night.

Ballots were not re-fed through tabulation machines.

"We did a revisit' last night," McFall said.

Lowe said all problems noted in the Democratic Party letter had been addressed. She said she was confident that the results would hold up under the recount, but said "I wouldn't stake my life on the fact a few votes won't change here and there," she said.

Asked how she felt about Volusia County being singled out in the Democratic Party request, Lowe said, "I think it's great we were chosen. It shows we're important."

Lowe was scrambling Thursday night to set up the logistics of the daunting recount, which will involve physically checking each ballot by hand and recording the presidential vote, with no electronic equipment involved.

She will draft 77 extra county employees today to boost the workforce to 100 and set up an additional counting room in the Thomas C. Kelly Administration Center across the street from the Elections Office.

Volusia County officials agreed to have additional sheriff's deputies on hand. Representatives of the Democratic and Republican parties will be witnessing recounting at each table.

The workers will try to finish tallying the write-in votes today or early Saturday, then move immediately into the manual recount.

Lowe is racing against a Tuesday deadline. She has until 5 p.m. Tuesday to send certified election results to Tallahassee. Meeting that deadline may require around-the-clock work in shifts, but Lowe held out hope that Gov. Jeb Bush may grant an extension.

The decision came after some drama Thursday evening when McDermott ordered a Republican Party attorney removed from the Elections Department office.

As McDermott outlined his reasons for favoring a manual recount, David Brown of Orlando, one of three official GOP representatives, complained that Republicans were not being allowed to weigh in on the decision.

After a brief exchange, McDermott told him he was out of order, when Brown replied, "No, you're out of order." Afterward, in the parking lot, Brown said he had to speak up because McDermott was not accepting Republican input.

"There is no evidence in this county that any votes were miscounted," he said.

A key reason cited in the Democrats' request for a manual recount was a computer problem on election night that caused results to temporarily fluctuate.

A silver card about the size of a credit card that holds computer memory malfunctioned in precinct 216 in Earl Brown Park in DeLand. For a time it gave Al Gore minus 16,022 votes and artificially pumped up the returns of other candidates.

Elections officials spotted the problem when they were double- checking tabulation figures and responded by negating the original result and running each ballot through a separate tabulating machine in the Elections Office. The problem was cleared up by the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

On Thursday, elections workers going through their normal review of write-in ballots finished only about a third before attention turned to the Democratic request for the recount.

Only a handful of legitimate votes turned up during the write-in count, with Gore collecting two and Libertarian Party candidate Harry Browne receiving one.

Lost in the shuffle of the election controversy was a local voter turnout that was the best in years. The 70.61 percent turnout did not meet the record of 79.8 percent in 1992, but is the best since then, Lowe said.

County Councilwoman Pat Northey will replace Councilman Jim Ward on the Canvassing Board today because he is going out of the country. Although the statewide re-tabulation has been called a recount, various counties -- including the three others singled out in Thursday's request -- varied in their approaches.

Lowe called officials of Broward, Palm Beach and Dade counties to gauge their response to the Democrats' manual recount request.

Broward, Palm Beach and Dade counties fed all ballots through tabulation machines again on Wednesday. Broward canvassing board members plan to meet this morning to decide their response to the Democratic Party request.

Palm Beach board members agreed to manually recount just three precincts of the party's choosing on Saturday, and Dade board members said they will not decide on the request until Tuesday -- when one of their members returns from vacation.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/2000/Nov/10/AREA2.htm

-- Carl Jenkins (somewherepress@aol.com), November 10, 2000.

Past election-related problems in Volusia County

Here's a look at past election-related problems experienced by the Volusia County Elections Department:

-- September 2000, primary election: Computer glitches caused a 45- minute delay in the tabulation of votes.

-- November 1998, general election: A burned-out motor in an automated signature verification system forced elections workers to verify the signatures by hand on 3,000 absentee ballots. A repairman was unable to fix the problem, which happened on election afternoon.

-- November 1998, general election: Due to a printer's error, 62 ballots at Precinct 711 in Port Orange had the wrong County Council race. Only 56 were marked. Voters who received the wrong ballot and later realized what happened were given the chance to recast their votes.

-- October 1998: Some 73,680 absentee ballots were misprinted before the general election and another 125,650 ballots for polling places had the same flaws in the wording of constitutional amendments. Before the errors were discovered, 1,284 absentee ballots were mailed, so they were reprinted and mailed at a cost of about $20,000.

-- November 1996, general election: A Port Orange precinct ran out of ballots and voters had to wait about 10 minutes while precinct workers ran for more ballots.

-- November 1996, general election: Sheriff's deputies were asked to re-mark ballots that were improperly marked, prompting sheriff's candidate Gus Beckstrom to sue the elections office. A circuit judge in 1997 found no evidence of fraud but ruled that Elections Supervisor Deanie Lowe's office illegally re-marked ballots that could not be read by vote tabulation machines.

-- September 1996, primary election: Power outages delayed precinct returns.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------http://www.news-journalonline.com/2000/Nov/10/AREA2C.htm

-- Carl Jenkins (somewherepress@aol.com), November 10, 2000.