GOP: MIAMI WORKERS MESSED WITH BALLOTS Thursday,November 30,2000

By GREGG BIRNBAUM and KENNETH LOVETT

TALLAHASSEE - George W. Bush's lawyers yesterday charged that workers in Miami-Dade County tampered with ballots as they prepared to ship them to a judge for possible recounting.

The GOP camp's accusations came in court as Circuit Court Judge N. Sanders Sauls agreed with a GOP request to send all votes cast in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties - more than 1.1 million - to the state capital, not just the 13,000 disputed ballots sought by Democrat Al Gore.

In a hastily called hearing, Bush attorney Phil Beck complained to Sauls that Republican observers in Miami-Dade County had spotted county employees monkeying around with ballots as they were getting them ready for the 450-mile journey to Tallahassee.

"We are very concerned they are potentially compromising the evidence in this case," Beck said. "I'm concerned we're going to have a hopeless mish-mash."

Sauls warned lawyers for Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties not to tamper with the ballots.

"Let's not do anything else - pack 'em up just the way they are," Sauls said, drawing laughter when he wondered out loud at one point, "Is there going to be a convoy? How many semis?"

Beck accused the county workers in the heavily Democratic county of running some ballots through vote-counting machines although they had no reason to do so and trying with others to determine if there was a vote for president despite their having been rejected by the machines as unreadable.

Beck charged the unauthorized employees were "doing their own little manual recount" and improperly putting some of the ballots into piles for either Bush or Gore.

"They were deciding they were votes," Beck said.

Miami-Dade lawyer Murray Greenburg strongly objected to the Bush lawyer's charges, saying the county employees Beck referred to were election workers who had done nothing wrong.

Gore's legal team also today plans to press the state's top court for a super fast-track handling of their lawsuit seeking to force a judicial recount of the 13,000 ballots from southern Florida.

Sauls scheduled a hearing for Saturday to take up the issue of whether he should tally about 13,000 ballots that the Gore campaign said went unread by the voting machines or were counted incorrectly.

But Gore's lead lawyer David Boies insisted the counting "has got to start right away" and will appeal Sauls' timetable to the Florida Supreme Court, officials said.

Meanwhile, the 1.1 million ballots - all those cast in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties Nov. 7 - will be driven by police today and tomorrow to the Leon County Court here. Bush's lawyers said there is no authority in Florida law for any type of recount by Sauls.

But they wanted all the ballots brought to Tallahassee because their fallback position is that if the judge decides to permit a recount, it must be of all ballots cast in the two counties - not just some selected by Gore's lawyers. The Democrats' legal team didn't oppose Bush's request to bring all the ballots here.

Also yesterday, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said for the first time that he would sign legislation naming a separate slate of presidential electors for his brother if "it was the appropriate thing to do."

WORKERS TAMPERED WITH MIAMI-DADE COUNTY BALLOTS

-- Ain't Gonna Happen (Not Here Not@ever.com), November 30, 2000

Answers

"republican observers"

Oh. You mean the same folks that accused an official of stealing ballots when he had a sample ballot, nearly mauling him in the process? The same republican observers who told us illegal haitians voted in the election.

I submit the following definition of republican observer: Yarntellers of the highest level whose only objective is to delay the process so the votes will not be counted.

Need I remind everybody that the US Supreme court rejected the portion of the Bush Writ that contained allegations of ballot tampering and other similar allegations. Pure Hogwash. And the Supreme court could see it a mile away.

This is a concerted, orchestrated effort by the Republican nazis to prevent the courts from issuing decisions. Folks, it aint gonna work.

-- SydBarret (dark@side.moon), November 30, 2000.

...."This is a concerted, orchestrated effort by the Republican nazis to prevent the courts from issuing decisions. Folks, it aint gonna work".....

Nope, it sure ain't...because we good folks of rural Florida are not going to stand for it. Rednecks we may be, but redneck is spelled, INDEPENDENT and we are not going to let the playboys and the deadbeats of the cities rule our nation if we have any chance/choice in the matter. Its a wonderful and very wise thing that our Capital is in northern rural Florida, rather than down south where the great populace of non-Floridians live. We'uns up here in the woods are having meetings too. We are trying to figure out how we can give Palm Beach, Miami/Dade and surrounding environs to Castro. Betcha he could figure out this voting mess in a Hot Havana Second. Taz...who is checking her sights twice!

-- Taz (Tassie@RuralFlorida.com), November 30, 2000.

I heard about an underground cuban lead movement to take the south end of florida and make it a free version of cuba from a few years ago and how it was put down. Don't you wish it had succeded now?

-- just passin through (nobody@nowhere.com), November 30, 2000.

Yeah...the Cubans all voted for Bush! Gore is on their #%&* list big time since the Klintoon bunch gave Elian back to Cuba.

-- Taz (Tassie@RuralFlorida.com), November 30, 2000.

I think Clinton was right to give Elian back to his father. A decision Gore opposed.

-- butt nugget (catsbutt@umailme.com), November 30, 2000.