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Subscribe to RSSFlorida’s struggle to quickly report a winner of the 2012 presidential election has again made it the target of criticism that brought to mind the 2000 recount.
The presidency doesn’t hang in the ballot, as it did 12 years ago during the recount between George W. Bush and Al Gore, but that hasn’t saved the Sunshine State from scrutiny.
NBC's Chuck Todd discusses how Florida may be used as a model for the rest of the country to show how changes in demographics, particularly an influx of Hispanic voters in key counties, affected the outcome of the election.
On Thursday in Florida, absentee ballots are still being counted in three populous counties. (Under state law, counties have until Saturday to report their total vote, including absentee ballots.)
Here are the snarls and wrinkles in Florida -- some of which, of course, were not unique to the state this year:
A reduction in the number days on which Floridians could vote early
This was changed from 14 days to 8 days, even though the number of early voting hours (96) remained static. The state legislature and Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, enacted this change, which sparked furious criticism by Florida Democrats.
“The lay of the land had changed and we needed to change with it if we were going to win. To that end we instituted a very aggressive program to both increase the number of absentee ballot requests by Democrats and the number of absentee ballot returns. And we were extraordinarily successful,” said David Bergstein, a spokesman for the Florida Democratic Party.
Litigation over voting hours
The Florida Democratic Party filed a lawsuit last Sunday to ensure that in-person absentee voting was offered on Sunday and Monday in three predominantly Democratic counties: Broward County, Miami-Dade County, and Palm Beach County.
In their filing with the federal district court in Miami, the Democrats complained about “the prohibitively long lines at certain early voting sites within these counties. These extraordinary lines ... have required voters to stand in line for many hours to exercise their right to vote -- and in some cases have deterred or prevented voters from casting their ballots ... The lines and delays at certain early voting sites in these counties were substantially longer than elsewhere in the state.”
“That lawsuit more than anything else drew a considerable amount of attention to that (in-person absentee voting) process,” said Chris Cate, a spokesman for Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner. “I think it caused lot more people -- rather than go to their precinct -- to go vote absentee at the (county) supervisor’s office. When you’re counting these absentees, it’s a much more extensive process because you’re having to go through and make sure the person who’s voting absentee has not already voted and you have to look at the signature and do a signature match with the signature that’s on file ... .”
MSNBC's Thomas Roberts talks to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., about why Florida's Electoral College votes still haven't been allocated days after the election.
University of South Florida political scientist Susan MacManus, an expert on Florida politics, agreed with that analysis. “That extra volume was really unusual but it came as a clarion call by Democrats who felt that early voting hours had not been extended enough.” This resulted in long waiting times before Election Day at some county supervisors’ offices for in-person absentee voting.
A reduction in the number of voting locations on Election Day
It is increasingly difficult for county voting supervisors to find suitable voting locations, MacManus said, because many places are not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act “and a lot of places are worried about liability. Schools are now out for the most part” -- school administrators are concerned about the potential presence on Election Day on school property of sexual predators among the voting population.
This was one factor that led to delays on Election Day in some places.
The Palm Beach Post reported on the afternoon of Election Day that a pregnant woman and her husband stood in line at a voting location in West Palm Beach “for more than two hours before she passed out and was escorted to the hospital by ambulance. The woman, witnesses say, was overwhelmed by the crowd and humidity.”
The sheer length of the Florida ballot itself, with 11 constitutional provisions for voters to mull over
“It was going to take anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes to vote and the amendments were part of the reason,” MacManus said. “There were 11 amendments and they were very wordy. I think the longest one was 700 words. Normally if citizen petitions put an amendment on the ballot, the ballot summary is limited to 75 words. But because all 11 of these were placed on the ballot by the Florida legislature they were unlimited in the number of words they could use. People knew about them (before they voted) and a lot of people prepared, but the bottom line is: it still took a while to get through this ballot.”
The lengthy counting of absentee ballots after Election Day
Cate said the increase in the number of absentee ballots in this election was a “very significant” reason for the prolonged tallying process.
It’s vital to put the balloting in its full political context. In no state is voting ever going to be a purely neutral mathematical exercise of tallying up numbers. But in a state that both Republicans and Democrats desperately tried to win, and a state Republicans did win in 2010 – giving control of the legislature, the governor’s office and the choice of chief elections official to the Republicans -- everything about voting tends to become highly politicized.
Asked whether Detzner has recommend any changes in voting procedures based on what the state experienced in the past few weeks, Cate said, “Not yet, but we’re going to be taking a hard look at this election and see where we can make improvements and find efficiencies. We want to make sure that as many voters as possible are able to vote, and in an efficient process. I don’t think that anybody thinks that waiting in line until midnight is an efficient process.”
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Florida's political scene is like a poop fight at the monkey house. No wonder a simple thing like counting votes is a huge ordeal for them.
When it is all said and done, the good news is that President Obama took Florida! Well done!
It's almost as if they tried to deter voting. Reduce early voting days by nearly half for a presidential election???
If at first you don't succeed try, try again. In Florida's case, they won't stop until they get it right, that is, to completely drown out democracy and make the election go the way that they want it to go......in their state at least.
Florida is a good state because even if their state government tries to cheat the voters out of their right to vote, the repubs still lose. They cheated Bush into office and look what that did for our country, you would think, after awhile, even they would learn!!
The red counties are where all the r e t a r d s with tatoos and missing teeth live.
.
It will take a constitutional ammendment to get partisan hands off of the voting process. All eligible voters should be registered automatically, and the list constantly updated. Voting should be mandatory with a $100 fee for not voting. This fee will pay for the whole process easily at current voting rates, with the remainder going solely to reduce the national debt.
The only snafu is the sore loser complex!
A voting taxation? Not voting is in itself a type of vote. Making it mandatory would be foolish. We shouldn't be forcing people to vote if their political views do not align with one of the candidates.
Did any of you notice that Florida got in a part of the voting law that allows the people to look and compare signatures and if they don't look the same they can be thrown out. Now after 40 years my signature looks nothing like it did when I first voted. Of course, I want to point out that back then it was called a literacy test and was still allowed in the South only until the Supreme Court ruling, outlawing it! Now we have gotten it in the North. Totally Un-Constitutional. I refuse to sign and use an X. It is legal !
Florida is the home base of Rush Limbaugh, self-hating homosexual Matt Drudge, and a summer home for the kooky Ann Coulter. Hmmm, why is this a surprise? Load up all the senior citizens in the nursing homes and lets go vote-- Florida state Motto.
What happened to the Republican mantra "Less Government" It looks like the republicans got over involved in the voting process and Fu<&ed it up.
Yup, the people who are yelling smaller are making it bigger.
Don't forget Mike Huckebee now lives in a $3 million dollar mansion he had built in Destin ,FL. I lived in Pensacola 2009 - 2011, never in my life have I met so many racists & homophobes as I did in the FL panhandle (lower Alabama is what they call the panhandle), they are still pissed about the Civil War !
Sounds to me like the republicans were trying to make it difficult for the democrats to vote. Cutting early voting time, limited of voting places, Wording out the ballet so it takes longer to vote.
Republicans have shown themselves to be the slime of the country in so many ways. Oh, yea, blocking anything they can to make the president look bad for the last couple of years no matter what the cost to the economy, but that was their agenda.
So nice to see they got spanked.
Raise your swords up high. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3WJX1cIuY4
"a poop fight at the monkey house", but those are the best and most fun fights there are :P.
What else do you expect from the penis of America. We even have a dick for a governor that stole billions from a program designed to help people in need. I am impressed that Florida will go to Obama, not to mention the nation. It was close, hopefully is will be a good thing.
Republicans control Florida so what else can we expect. They do not want to let any one other than republicans to win. I drove around my city and found long lines in the minority sections and ease of voting and short lines in Repub areas in cold weather. I watched one line for over an hour in a minority area and not one person got out of line in frustration. Congradulations to all of those who stood for the right wings crap got out and voteed and showed them we cannot let you buy elections. You are the true American.
I have to wonder about this part of the story:
Why not do like we do in the USVI, and I think some mainland states do the same...close the damned schools on election day and use them as the polling locations. After all, the taxpayers are paying for those public facilities.
UnitesStates1776, you're a third class moron.
I had to vote a provisional ballot here because when I went to vote my name was not on the list. I registered about two years ago the same day, same place, same time as my wife. My wife is registered as a Republican; I'm not. She had no problem voting. Since Florida still hasn't counted the ballots, I doubt they've even looked at mine. I feel cheated.
By the way Florida Republicans, the joke's on you: My wife voted straight Democratic.
Another red state turning blue.
God bless America.
The Supervisor of Elections for Miami-Dade is NOT a Republican. Actually, the counties where things have been most messed up in the past have been primarily ran by democrats.
S FL counties were given an extra day, where other counties in FL were not.
The polls in Miami-Dade officially finally closed at 1:30AM (according to S FL news). The local news showed pictures of a polling station at 8:00PM after closing and then showed another at 11:00PM. The news video supposedly made at 11 showed more people in line waiting than at 8:00. Someone was also supposedly collecting paper ballots outside and telling people they would submit the ballots for the persons but not checking names against the list. All stories being talked about in S FL but not getting much national attention.
I'm just thankful that the Nation wasn't dependent on FL as that might had brought the spotlight on the irregularities and deciding the winner may have been even worse than the whole Bush v. Gore mess.
Florida, where all the rich F^CK's retire, gee, imagine that!
Thanks Mike for pointing out some facts. Miami-Dade is a huge Democrat controlled area.
It's hard to believe that a state that's governed by a super-smart, free- market loving, ace businessman can't seem to run something as simple as an election. Of course, in fairness, Florida has only had 12 years to come to grips with the debacle of 2000.
If I didn't know better, I might think that Rick Scott was the kind of guy who would defraud the government and engage in voter suppression.
I'm a Democrat but what is funny is my best friends are Republicans GO FIGURE, oh by the way they did not vote, they were mad that their party was trying to kill Obama-care, I think that may have been why Romney lost ... Oh well ....
Next time have two separate voting sheets, one for the president vote and one for constitutional changes, then they can take their jolly time counting the second one.
They can't figure out the rules of the road so why should we expect them to actually be able to fill out a ballot. Bet they know the lottery system though.
UnitedStates1776 said: "The red counties are where all the r e t a r d s with tatoos and missing teeth live."
The blue ones are where all of the illegal and dead Democrats live.
Florida once again shows how inadequate and inept they are at anything .Nice place to visit but almost as whacked as California. I say lets just skip Florida. Wait we have already done that.
So...by Saturday, for sure?
Jeb, I thought we knew ya!
as a floridian for 11 yrs., i can't even argue with any negative comment here. this entire state is so screwed up on so many levels, it's not even worth putting up with for the weather; florida is a perfect example of "it's a nice place to visit but i wouldn't want to live there".
"Amen" brother Celt Amen!
Also the insects and the alligators
Interesting that GOP strategists think Jeb Bush should run next time around. Now, what could possibly go wrong in Florida in 2016? Get it the fvck together 'cause we don't elect presidents from third world countries either!
1. Give Florida back to Spain. Problems solved.
2. Make Puerto Rico a state. The flag stays the same. No changes needed.
Let Spain deal with them. Payback for taking the "Black Swan" sunken treasure money.
Born and raised in Florida and I even have to go WTF?????
Common Sense from above: "It almost looks like they were trying to deter voting" .... I know your intentons were good but that is one of the most naive comments I've seen here ..... OF COURSE Republicans were trying to "deter" voting by minorities and middle class common folk, this was total manipulation by making it harder to vote.
The Florida Election apparatus needs to be investigated and brought up on charges of tampering with the federal election process, and those officials found guilty banned from ever over seeing any election again. The Federal Justice System should look into filing a Federal Suit to take the right of Florida to operate Federal Elections in the future.
politics as usual for republicans, did u really think they would go away quietly?
What made me rethink was in hearing the majority of the elderly voted republican. The republicans made it clear their social security and medicare would be safe from cuts if they were over 55, so they decided to toss the rest of us under the bus.
Florida and Arizona have become cess pools of Republican corruption and incompetence. Why any clear thinking American can continue to support the Republican Party baffles me............
The GOP is not only a crimnal organization it's also a contagious disease that must be eradicated.
What an embarrassment. I remember when the United States was a "shining city on the hill", a beacon for democracies around the world to follow. Now, thanks to our collective incompetence, as typified in the dysfunctional banana republic of Florida when it comes to running elections, we are not only a laughing stock; but we fuel the mockery of what we now laughingly claim as our own values in which our Jihadist enemies revel.
well, it took so long to bus in all the illegals to vote, then they couldn't read the ballot, then they couldn't count the ballots...but hey, YOU wanted them!!
Since Obama is ahead in the count in Florida, I wonder if the Supreme Court would have stepped in and handed the election to Obama like they did for Bush if Florida were needed to win the presidency? I'd bet not.
@ FedupwithFed
Either you're a very sore loser or talking out of your anal canal. Florida requires a photo ID and/or a signature voter registration card issued by the board of elections to vote. The problem with voting this time was the number of issues on the ballot that required 12 pages and the small number of voting booths that could not handle the number of voters. On top of that Rick Scott would not extend the voting days and even tried to reduce the number of hours the polls were open. Thankfully none of that worked because people of both parties insisted they be allowed to vote.
What gets me is that Florida has a population of 19 million. California has a population of almost 38 million. Polls closed here in California at 8pm and within 15 mins we knew who won. I know we ain't no poster child for perfect state but damn, Florida, how do you f*ck things up that badly?
I might also add that the presidency had already been decided before the last person voted election night so the poll workers packed up and went home to count the votes later.
@Chris
Unless my memory fails me, Obama was declared the winner of California the minute the polls were closed before any votes were counted.
Amazing that some many people are totally ignorant about the fact that the ONLY counties in Florida that are having problems with voting are DEMOCRATIC counties. That is true for every presidential election since BUSH/GORE. Those are the facts.
Larry, I LIVE in Florida and I was a poll watcher....I SAW what was happening!
so who is talking out of their ass???
@ FedupwithFed - If you are a poll watch as you claim, (since nobody would ever lie on a blog to bolster non-existent credentials) you are personally responsible for allowing these alleged illegal immigrants to vote.
It's far more likely that you're a simpering redneck bigot that nobody takes seriously and who cannot fathom the fact that these assorted brown peoples are better educated, better people and better Americans than you are yourself.
anti trust
It's interesting that there are accessibility issues. Seems Florida has had some stricter codes on accessibility than many states for quite some time.
Fed up
You think you have problems? In the Polling places republican poll watchers were kicked out of in Pennsylvania and Ohio end up with 99% and 100% of votes for Obama.
You probably really loved the UN observer's comment of "Why don't you have a requirement for voter photo ID's.
We are officially a banana republic.
We have to get RICK SCOTT OUT OF OFFICE!
So basically it amounts to Florida and Gov. Rick Scott did everything in their power to suppress Democratic votes (e.g., reducing early voting days, reducing polling locations, voter ID to prevent non-existant voter fraud, etc.) and all it did was galvanize Democratic voters to show up in droves, wait in long lines, cast absentee ballots, and give the state of Florida and it's 29 electoral votes to President Obama while simultaneously making Florida the laughing stock of the democratic world...
Congrats Gov. Scott, a resounding victory if I do say so myself...
...
This is total bull@!$%# I might add. Illegals cannot vote, lie more Fed...
Fedupwithfed. if you where correct, which you are not, that would mean that immigrants who can't speak English are still smarter then republicans. think about your statements lol
That's the wonderful thing about electronic voting. Not like it mattered but California was overwhelmingly Dem. Romney had zero chance of collecting Cali's electoral, which is why he spent almost no time campaigning here.
As for the Presidency being decided before the last votes were in. Of course it was. The Electoral count was already over 270 for Obama with several blue states yet to submit. At that point it was a forgone conclusion.
Once Florida gets it's head out of it's ass, it's 29 EV's will most likely go to Obama as well. Giving him 332 in the end. There was no way in hell Romney would have won. That was obvious to pretty much everyone even without those last few state results.
Though the 2nd best thing that night was watching Rove make an idiot out of himself.
It is not that the counties having trouble are democratic counties it is that they have the largest number of voters and the largest visability. Some voters here in Florida were screaming voter surpression for months. Starting with ID's which requried original birth, wedding, and SS card documents, plus $25. That's $50 for a couple to vote. Poll tax? Gov. Rick Scott, a former G. W. Bush business partner, would not allow additional voting days or hours, even after one poll had to be closed for a bomb squad to explode to packages. Scott, who was CEO of HCA hospital company which had the largest Medicare fraud payment in history, was not even charged. Of course, Scott's former business partner was the sitting President Bush. The Republican legislature put these regulations this year to take the heat off of 2016, when Jeb Bush will be considered for President.
This was not not just two counties. The RNC hired a consulting firm which got its hand in the ballot box, and fired them in Florida, (they had used this firm in all the swing states). The only hope for Florida to have an honest election in 2016 is to get a democratic swing in the legislature in the next election. They have taken the mentality that winning is not everything it is the ONLY thing. It seems to be just a fun game for the Republicans in Florida.
Ok, So, I was reading some of the comments on how our ancesters came here illegally and the rightful one's to be here are the Native Americans. Well, if we sit and think about it. Even the Native American's are here illegally, because if the history books stand correct we all came from apes in Africa. They came to North America from a land bridge. So, I quess we should all start packing our bags and head back to Africa. This is about legally becoming an American. Our ancesters that came here in a boat had to wait in line for days just to get a number identifying who they are and get degrating physicals in front of hundreds even thousands of others. They didnt just get off the boat and make a mad dash for the hills then feel entitled to get money from our country just because they are illegally here. No one said they couldnt come back, they can when they follow the rules and become an American legally.
George PaulJohn,
Are you serious? Asking Fedupwithfed to think is a little extreme. Wouldn't you say?
I've lived in Florida for 42 years. I don't want to hear how Dade county's election problems are caused by Democrats. All of Florida's notorious election problems are caused by Republican dirty tricks. Dade County especially, because they are the Democratic stronghold in Florida.
Early voting in my county of Manatee was a very bad joke. One poll opened in the entire County with 3 or 4 hour lines every single day. If ever there was a cause for discouraging citizen participation, I can think of nothing more effective. All of this because of Republican efforts of sabotage in Tallahassee.
Florida election 2000 seemed to be an anomaly. This repeat 12 years later proves it is deliberate. Washington must pass a law allowing the feds to take over elections in any state proven unable to provide this fundamental exercise in Democracy.
Frankly the poles should open at 6:00 AM on the first Monday of November, closing at 11:00 PM, and maintain those hours every day through the following Sunday. Seven days of voting and expanded hours. Voting hours and days should be the same in EVERY state, also. It is too important to have so narrow a window, just a few hours on one day.
There are many variables preventing people from getting there on one specific day; illness, unexpected travel for work, family death, etc. If people had a week we would have far greater participation in our system.
No matter your political views, the one thing I believe we should agree upon is that we need to be allowed to cast our vote and be part of the democratic process.
Voting in a Presidential election in the United States? Easy as wrapping ones legs around ones head, then walking a few miles on ones ass. The people of Zimbabwe have to be laughing their asses off. Wanna vote? Anyone? No! Not you! You don't look like you'd vote like I wish you to! You're a phony! No? Prove to me you're not! Gwaddamn republicans!
In Ohio, Husted tried the same things. It was part of the Republican agenda to get votes thrown out. Fortunately, a federal judge has called Husted and his cronies to the mat, and is demanding an explanation. A federal judge had previously denied Husted obstructionist agenda, and then Husted tried another end run the Friday night (at 7 p.m.) before the elections the following Tuesday. This behavior was so blatant that it staggers my imagination. Truly, these acts of desperation reveal the true face of the Republican party.
lol... a must watch for those observing florida voting process!
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/jon-stewart-gleefully-rips-into-fox-news-election-coverage-there-was-an-avalanche-on-bullsht-mountain/
1. Rick Scott did everything he could to suppress the vote. It still amazes me that some of the idiots in my community actually voted for someone who took the 5th 75 times in the biggest Medicare Medicaid fraud case up until that time, his company settled on a $1,700,000,000 dollar fine and he was forced to resign. I asked someone I know how he could vote for him knowing about the fraud case, his answer was "they're all crooks", yeah so wouldn't you want to vote for the crook smart enough to not get caught.
2.These 11 constitutional amendments were very awkwardly worded so you really had to take your time with them, Should do your research before you go the polls. Ultimately almost all were an attempt at a power grab by the tea party, and a few were against the us constitution, that would have never been legal, and 1 would have allowed public funds for religious use with no accountability. http://www.local10.com/news/Florida-s-2012-Proposed-Constitutional-Amendments/-/1717324/16633706/-/q1cq2w/-/index.html
3. All the hold up is in Miami Dade county AKA the Banana Republic. All the other counties were done and counted on time.
Guess you people do not realize who populates FL & AZ??
Retirees from the Northeast & Mid-West.
In FL , they are the largest contingent of the voting community.
FL born voters constitute roughly 8% of the electorate.
So, If you live in the NE or Mid-West , and think FL's screwed up??
Look in the mirror , and look at the cause.
One has to wonder if officials have deliberately muddled the process. If Florida had been the deciding vote in this past election, how easy would it have been to manipulate the outcome?
As the article implies very strongly, the Republicans in Florida, who had control
of the governor's office, the legislature, and the chief of elections office,
did almost everything they could do, and blatantly so, to discourage Democrats
from voting. I agree.
In Pennsylvania, the legislature passed legislation shortly before the elections
requiring photo IDs along with substantial and unnecessary restrictions. One of
the Republican leaders publicly bragged about how that legislation would enable
the Republicans to win in Pennsylvania. A Republican judge finally stopped
enforcement for this election, but refused to stop those same officials from
continuing to publicly advertise the photo ID program, which allegedly continued
to confuse and intimidate many voters.
Those same Republican leaders hypocritically claimed the rationale for the photo ID was to prevent voter fraud. There is an expression, "It takes one to know
one."
When I voted (in PA), a sheet asking for the photo ID was on the table. I ignored it, but I wondered how many people could have been intimidated or confused by it, especially if they were a Democrat and the person behind the table was a Republican, especially if they were at home deciding whether to make the effort to go vote or not. That is not Democracy. It made me ashamed to be a Republican.
It is time for our legislators and law enforcement officials to do their jobs by
putting a stop to these flagrant abuses of Democracy.
I'll be changing soon to be an Independent.
(c)
2012
I did that in 1969, life and at that time in OH, we were called GDI's...this will probably get me in trouble with the Code, but the full expression then was "those god damned independents." There were many general elections where I voted ONLY on ballot issues, and of course that is all that I could vote for in primaries...if there were any ballot issues. Here in the US Virgin Islands, we have an option on our ballots...NO VOTE (similar to Nevada's NONE OF THE ABOVE.) That has been my vote since 2000, when I realized that we had that option on our voting machines. And I encourage others to cast the same vote if there is no one that they feel comfortable really voting for.
Here in Nevada We had to show our ID and sign so the signature could be verified, and this was at a Mexican Learning center.
We also had to show ID and sign in Florida. Voting at the polls as a regular, registered voter was easy. But we must vote Rick Scott out of office at our first opportunity! Even his supporters now wonder WTF they were thinking.
What a disorganized, crooked madhouse!
If this operation were a normal business, those responsible for the whole mess would have been fired days ago.
Take action and do something NOW about this criminality, Floridians! (And don't just sit back and wait for your next opportunity to "vote" for different people in charge, since this obviously isn't a very workable or reliable solution for you there!)
Don't fool yourself that a vote for a third party, or none of the above is a real vote. No one cares about protest votes. Ralph Nader, Pat Buchanan or Johnson just took votes from one or other of the two who could win. Sometimes, like McCain's mother said, "You just have to hold your nose and vote". Sometimes, there are issues that make you disagree strongly with a person that is in the general direction that you want. The other person may want, however, to go the other way. There are total overall differences. Stand up and make a choice, not a snarky NO choice.
I live in rural (always red) Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was a state that passed, then temporarily stopped, voter ID laws. My mother was born on a Native American reservation and has no registered birth certificate. She is 80 years old and a registered Democrat who has voted in every election since she came of age including the last mid-term elections.
About a year ago she decided it was time to give up driving so, not thinking of the consequences, cut up her license. When the ID law came into effect I sent for a duplicate license for her; this was five weeks prior to the election, because she could not get a 'voter ID card' without her birth certificate. (her original license did not expire for another year and a half). The duplicate did not arrive and, even though the ID law was put on hold, I wanted her to have the ID. I called and called and every time I was told that it was "in the process".
The day of the election it still had not arrived. I drove her to the poll and, when we went in, there was a sign on the door stating that positive ID was required to vote. We ignored it and went to the desk. My mom's name and all of her information was in the ledger but there was a typed notation on her signature line that read: "Inactive" and instructed the poll worker to get positive ID.
After three of the other people in the polling place positively identified my mom (the town is only 4,500 people and we all know each other) the worker finally allowed her to vote. Mom's duplicate license came ... on Wednesday ... the day AFTER the election.
Voter suppression is real. Voting is one of the few rights left to us that allows us to have a say in the workings of our government. No matter the party affiliation, the one thing we should ALL agree upon is that our government does not have the right to stop us from casting our vote nor should they be allowed to make it difficult for the citizens.
I live in Florida and Governor Scott is a joke he caused this mess and refuses to admit it. I can't wait to vote his dumb ass out!
"and a state Republicans did win in 2010 – giving control of the legislature, the governor’s office and the choice of chief elections official to the Republicans"
Allowing one party or another to choose who the state election officials will be is pure lunacy. Not Party should control any aspect of a states election process without some sort of oversight from the other parties involved, and I don't just mean dems and repubs, all parties should have a hand in the election process.
Ali Baba Scott and his 40 thieves run Florida. They wanted to put the fix on for Karl Rove. Well,it didn't work. The President won without Florida (Floridah) The big money got the rug pulled out from under them. Lies,Lies,and Lies cost them the election. The worse was Lying to "Ohio voters" Motor city can tell a flim flam man 5 miles away. The smiling salesman, you know when his mouth moves he's lying.
Notice how once again,the majority of the Red counties are in rural areas of Florida. Along the metropolitan Gold Coast, solid Blue. The only major city that went Red was Jacksonville, but that's almost in Georgia. It would seem that the Romney misinformation campaign worked in the rural areas. Smarter city dwellers weren't fooled.
If you pull up a map of where people on food stamps live, it's all the Republican counties. Yeah, they hate people depending on the government, except for themselves.
That's actually a national trend. Even in blood red Texas the urban areas of Dallas and Houston are predominantly blue.
I live in Minnesota, where the red and blue are reversed. most of rural minnesota is Republican, except the poorest northern counties, who are all on government assistance. It's the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro that drives the consistently democratic presidential electoral votes.
Oh my God, what a bunch of BS you idiots are posting. The crazy thing is, your fellow liberals on here are too stupid to even realize it. The heavily populated areas in Florida went for Obama because they are full of blacks, Hispanics, and retired Jews from New York. @DaveHarris, you are particularly stupid if you think the red counties are the ones that rely on government assistance more than the ghettos in the very blue Dade county.
I'm so happy you are enjoying this. When those people knock on your door you can serve them "Watermellon".
I might point out that the blue areas on the Florida map is where the colleges and universities are located. Young students went for Obama as well as women. Hum, does that mean that the highly educated are liberal and tend to vote Democrat or does it mean that whiny old white men won't vote for a black man? Just saying.
After all it was the Republicans that wanted to raise the interest on student loans and deny women of their rights.
it's so hard for me to believe that after almost fifty years since the civil rights movement, people are still making these racist comments, still afraid of the dark and still making comments about water melon. The racist hates that Obama is president because it reminds them that the majority of America is no longer racist. But so many lag behind. if it where up to me, id give republicans half the country and build a wall across america. let all the repubs move south, and all the dems move north. then peace at last.
Well, the haters are really saying, "I'm not much, but at least I'm not_______________. You can fill in the blank with black, gay, fat, hispanic, short, a llibertard, et al. They still are "not much". but they get comfort a putting down others. That's is all these poor people will ever have in their lives since they will never accomplish or have anything. They need our pity.
Similar in TX, Checkered Demon.
Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, most of Houston and Dallas (and most counties bordering Mexico) are blue here. Yet famers and ranches have seen more aide and benefits under the current administration, including benefits for having wind turbines on their land. Guess those with the oil rigs (also all over rural Tx) won out this time instead though.
It's a good thing the country wasn't depending on Florida to decide this. After our Medicare-defrauding governor tried to make it as hard for people to vote as possible, and wasted lots of their time, they still voted for Obama. Big surprise. He'll be surprised in 2014 when he loses his re-election.
"Governor" Rick Scott -- and I use the term "governor" very loosely here -- shouldn't even bother running for re-election. He and the Republicans around here are more of a realistic threat to democracy than even the Soviets were in their heyday.
Rick Scott got a get out of jail free card. He should be in jail for Medicaid fraud. A tight rope walk with lawyers and judges got him off,but he is still as croaked as a tree branch. Tried to stack the State Supreme Court judges by having them removed for nothing . Smart voters stopped it. He's more dangerous than Allen West,the US congress mental moron. Last we heard,he was asking for a recount. I was hoping the Army would put him under the jail. "He can't handle the truth" Please take away his Colt 1911 ,45cal.
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Rick Scott is avoiding prosecution by archaic rules of privilege afforded the Governorship. Here in Florida he cannot even be recalled.
2014, when he is voted out, it's not too late to put him in prison where he belongs.
The only revenge is to vote in Democrat's. That will toast him up.
I still don't understand why Florida voted for a proven Republican crook while accusing Democrats of being crooked. Rick Scott's company had to pay money back for Medicare fraud yet the people of Florida voted for him unless that election was stolen too.
Two words: Katherine Harris.
Rick Scott was basically a Tea Party candidate back when the TP was feeling high and mighty. How his supporters could overlook his company's Medicare fraud is an absolute mystery to me. I can hardly wait until 2014 to vote him out and get a decent governor in office. I would take Jeb Bush back--Scott is that bad!
McManus, you are completely wrong. FYI, the day of the election it was teacher's planning day, therefore there were no classes on Miami Dade county schools.
What do you think, that the people of Florida and the rest of the nation are idiots who will believe the pathetic lies the officials are offering? All stupid excuses. They had plenty of time, after all we had an election in August to change Mayor in MDC... also, they could have simply check with the registered voters in advance what was their language preference (for those who don't know, in MDC is mandatory to post signs in English/Spanish/Creole), and adjust the software that printed the ballot to print only on the language of preference, thus reducing the time to read the draconian ballot they gave the citizens of MDC.
I wish the officials had the decency of taking responsibility for their errors instead of blaming on someone else. Lack of planning, or done on purpose to hinder the voter's ability to cast their ballot? I voted early, and on the Department of Elections headquarters there were only 2 computers and one printer.
Do you expect Poll worker and the dept of elections in MDC have any
thought process! Logic wasn't on the test.
Yes. This was done by one party like in Ohio where officials were fired for allowing better practices and not trying to starve the vote! Politics should not be involved in the voting process period. No other major democratic country allows parties to choose election officials!!!!! We need to do the same including redistricting!
Banana Republic, Republicans running the ship.
Chavez is laughing himself sick. He offered Karl Rove his wizbag of tricks but it didn't work here. He forgot to say"Give them gas at 30 cents a gal like I do"
Karl only snickered.
So simpleton your for gerrymandering that;s the only way you Republicans can win elections. Just like you did with winning the House that's the ONLY way you guys can win!
Our election procedures need a full blown overhaul. The system was fine in 1800's but now with all the resources we have and all the voters the overhaul is no only necessary it is critical ---
It should be like a national lottery. They get results within minutes.
how about, all Americans get a lottery ticket, they pick the numbers, and who ever wins becomes the president. same with other offices. then no more party politics. lol
And campaign funding: How about that anyone can donate to "campaign funding", but it all goes into one big pot, then gets taxed so that 50% of it goes to help pay off the national debt, then the remainder gets split down the middle and handed to each candidate and that's what they've got to operate on, period. If someone then wants to donate ads, cars, etc. directly, they too would have to pay 50% of the value in tax towards the deficit.
Just a thought.
Said Secretary of State Ken "How-Can-We-Marginalize-You" Detzner: When you're counting these absentees, it's a much more extensive process because you're having to go through and make sure the person who's voting absentee has not already voted and you have to look at the signature and do a signature match with the signature that's on file ... ."
Here's an idea, Ken: Stop whining about the job you announced to Floridians you wanted and would be competent at [which, arguably, you are incompetent at], and do something we generally call WORK.
The story needs to get its facts straight. Florida changed early voting from 14 calendar days prior to the election to 10 calendar days prior. This meant a reduction from 10 voting days to 8 voting days--not from 14 to 8 as stated by the story. This was the third election this year that this has occurred--the Jan Presidential Primary, the Aug Primary, and then the Nov General election. Why this has mystified and challenged any voter, I can't say. But it has been well publicized all year.
I heard that next election they are going to have more days to vote, more polling places, and much better voting machines, the only problem is only republicans will be on the ballot, what's up with that!!!
The Presidential Primary was only a Republican election - not a Democratic or Independent election - thus only 35% were impacted
Oscar you also forgot that they made the ballot 11 pages long. all of which has to be sent by fax when yo vote it took an average of 30 minutes to cast a single vote. Now why would make the ballot 11 pages long instead of using a condensed version like every state with a Democrat for a Govener in the country
It is exactly what the republicans did, slow the process down, make it difficult, less days to vots, less places to vote, all to keep people (democrats) from voting. Well that sure did bite them in the a$$ because now Florida didn't even count in the election and Romney lost Florida when eventually it does finish its counting process. A relative told me of no parking where they voted and police issuing tickets to voters parking on the street outside polling place. This was in Miami Dade county.
This was true about parking. Many dropped people off and called by cell to pick them up. 5 hrs later,still waiting. The people read the whole ballot. They had sample ballots they could have done at home. Well it's Floridah,right!
How can it be more difficult for dems than for rep? Seems everyone votes in the same place.
I bet the people in Palm Springs don't vote in the same place as the people in Miami. Get a clue!
I would think that any Republican that had to wait in line for 9 hours would have decided to vote Democrat by the time they got their ballot....
That's funny. But in my heavily Republican small town, there was no wait at all. No lines! I could have been out of there in five minutes if I hadn't had to do a provisional ballot (comment #1.18).
That would seem to be the whole point. In Republican counties, access was much easier than in Democratic ones. Thanks for illustrating this so well.
THANK GOD Florida didn't decide the vote in this election.
Al Gore wasn't so lucky. If he were President all this debt could have been diverted. We would not have lost all those GI's and Karl Rove would have gone to jail.
Amen Brother JB Amen!
And the Bushwacher would have been in some long deserted ranch in T-E-X-A-S!
I would think that any Republican that had waited in line for nine hours would have changed his/her vote to Democrat by the time they got the ballot...
We need national, non partisan supervision of elections with a mandate to ensure equal access and smooth running-that means early voting, easy registration, same day registration, etc. We need laws that prevent last minute voter purges, and ID laws. No state should be allowed to impose any new regulations until they can prove they have provided the necessary ID to all registered voters.
I would be happy to see a non partisan group like The League of Women Voters funded and tasked to oversee our elections.
Some would see this done by govt, but you can't keep the politics out of it-the GOP would absolutely try to take advantage of any opportunity to keep voters out of the voting booth.
Our voting situation is a national scandal-about the worst we have. This has been going on for years-we have been embarassed in election after election, and still, nothing is done.
Congress does have the power to place regulations on Congressional voting. If that's not enough, then we need a Constitutional Ammendment to protect our voting rights.
We are not free if we cannot vote. No one should have to stand in line all day to exercise this right. No eligible voter should be refused the right to vote because they don't have the right ID.
One solution is to issue a national ID, but we have never been a papers please country.
No party should be allowed to game the system to deprive voters of their rights.
What we really need is honest politicians (maybe an oxymoron). Here in Washington State, a Republican presided honorably and fairly over the election process for many years. Of course, the national Republican Party repudiated him because he refused to be corrupted by the party.
Romney won the Confederacy, what's up with that!!!
Google LBJ and the voting rights act. He predicted that his signing of the act would lose the South for the Democratic Party for at least our lifetime.
So far, he has been proven 100% right.
Voting can be a simple process if that is the desired outcome. In Florida they could extend early voting and absentee voting which would give them plenty of time to reconcile signatures. Of course the operative word is desire a simple process!!
The Republican Legislature tried to supress the vote by reducing early voting by half and adding idiotic ballot initiatives; clearly voters got upset by the attempt and went to the polls in greater numbers. Stop Tampering with Voters Rights
Why Florida still uses paper ballots and voting machines that have to be alignned properly with the vote cards is far beyond me.
My county has 11or 12 thousand people in it and we can afford electronic voting machines with a paper backup. If there are screwups I'm not aware of any. In fact, I don't think anywhere in my state has the idiocy to use paper ballots. Even absentee voting, unless done by mail, is on an electronic voting maching.
Get with it Florida.
As for Jacksonville going red, it's probably my idiot brother that cost the Democrats as his was probably the last vote counted.
Screw electronic voting machines. I know you said "with a paper back-up", but that just emphasizes the point that electronic voting machines can be hacked. You don't think Florida would do that?
I've said it before.
We need to implement secure electronic voting via the internet.
While it may seem remarkable to you and me, not everyone has access to the Internet. Yet.
@ Steve,
There is no such thing as secure Internet. Electronic voting with paper print out is the best thing, that way there will always be a hard copy of all votes.
We use paper ballots, a pencil and an optical scanner here in California. The dumber the system the better.
As a recently retired IT security specialist, I would really like to see how you would be able to "securely" vote over the internet. If you can, then you'd be worth millions to many companies. My guess is you're just naive.
"Secure" and "via the internet" don't belong in the same sentence, please.
It would have to be a combination of sources. US Mail. Biometrics (@MDV?). With modern technology, it can be achieved.
How many of you do online banking and are comfortable enough given that level of security? It's only your life savings, after all. Should be part of a national ID system. If you expect people who "look like illegals" to instantly provide proof of citizenship, is there a better way? It's inevitable that it will happen.
3thirty3 IT security I left to the pros as a valuable resource in my means to an end as an embedded control engineer. Like I said above, the inet would have to be just a component.
We need to enfranchise ALL Americans. EVERYBODY needs to vote.
These people act as though this state, Florida, is the only state in the entire country to have the problems of locations, absentee ballots, early voting etc, etc... After the ridiculous travesty of 2000, a true joke in voting history, you would think they could have gone on a field trip to one of the other 49 states that actually got it right!! I can't believe that the state organization (?!) or the federal system would allow this to continue! The rest of the country looks on with disdain and incredulity - its 2012, you haven't had a chance to get it right yet???
This is what happens in a Banana Republic governed by a known crook voted in office by a gullible electorate who, were it not for Miami, Palm, Broward and Orange counties, could easily pass for a bunch of ignorant geechees. When they had a chance at better options these dumba$$es chose Scott and nincompoops like Alan West. Don't expect improvement in future election cycles. Stupidity tends toward a longer half-life in tropical climates!
To be fair to the people of Florida, Governor Rick Scott (the man whom you are referencing as "a known crook") does have an approval rating that is forever hoving in the low 40's or upper 30's. So it's not like Floridians are completely clueless.
But he got voted in anyway!
My fellow Floridians also elected that do-nothing idiot token-"hispanic" Marco Rubio.
f--- this state