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Voting in Jacksonville, FL - 2004
Black Voter Net had a
team in Jacksonville for the elections and is preparing a report.
Presidential debate - Reporter Greg Palast and Salon's Farhad Manjoo debate the election results in Ohio. 11/16/2004 Salon: "The result: 93,000 votes spoiled, uncounted. Salon's Manjoo, ignorant of the ACLU's precinct-by-precinct studies, simply dismisses out of hand the assertion that most of those were Kerry votes. But given that Ohio's spoiled ballots are concentrated in black and poor communities, it is hardly a wild leap to discern which candidate got punched out by the punch cards. Now, on to the second pile of no-count ballots, the provisionals. And guess who got these second-class, back-of-the-bus ballots? Once again, Ohio's African-American voters. The Republican Party declared the hunting season open for dark-skinned voters in October, announcing a plan to challenge "fraudulent" voters on a mass basis, the first such programmatic attack on the franchise since the days of the Night Riders… Here's what we discovered at the BBC: several lists of voters, every one of them in an African-American precinct. Fletcher's official explanation (her third variant, by the way) was that these were returned undeliverable fundraising solicitations. Odd, that: Many of the addresses were those of homeless men's shelters, not where I'd expect a lot of Bush-Cheney donors. And why were the Republicans sending solicitations only to black voters? Is that their normal funding group?" [The same explanation was given for the Jacksonville, FL, "Caging List" which also targeted black neighborhoods.]
Sunday 11/14/2004
Ghosts of Florida 11/14/2004 Intelligence Squad: "Tom Grayman was in Jacksonville, Florida on Election Day 2004 and observed the administration of the vote in that heavily-African-American city. He has recently been interviewed on the topic of the 2004 election on Air America Radio’s "The Al Franken Show;" on "BET Nightly News;" and on NPR, Pacifica, commercial, and community radio stations in such markets as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tampa, Atlanta, Boston, St. Louis, and Washington, DC."Wednesday 11/10/2004
Most provisional ballots rejected; voters often in wrong precinct 11/10/2004 Palm Beach Post, FL: "The vast majority of provisional ballots — voters' last chance to have their voices heard — were rejected, a review of the presidential election results from across the state found."Tuesday 11/9/2004
'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' for Nov. 9 11/9/2004 MSNBC: Scroll way down for this scam - "And number one, the “Florida Times-Union” newspaper of Jacksonville. Its editors apologized for having on the front page of last Tuesday‘s special election issue, printed a phone number that the paper said was for an emergency line for voting problems. It was in fact a sex talk service."Monday 11/8/2004
An Examination of the Florida Elections 11/8/2004 Brandon Adams Saturday 11/6/2004
Did Republicans steal the Florida election by rigging optical-scan voting machines? 11/6/2004 Blue Bunny: "So, after wrestling with this issue for three days, I've concluded:
The exit polls were actually wrong.
The odd-looking Florida numbers are easily explained by the fact that many southern Democrats are Democrats in name only and increasingly vote for Republican candidates.
What is not in doubt is the fact that the Republicans carried out a number of schemes to suppress voter turnout in traditional Democratic constituencies, particularly the African-American community. It is difficult to tell just how successful these despicable measures were, but the possibility remains that they determined the election's outcome. Once African-Americans vote, their votes may not be counted, due to high rates of ballot "spoilage" in low-income African-American election districts. In other words, the system itself suppresses the African-American vote."Friday 11/5/2004
Florida Stories 11/5/2004 Election Protection Surprising Pattern of Florida's Election Results 11/5/2004 US Together: "Voters nationally voted along party lines by about 90%. We are in the midst of doing further studies of other states' election results and other measures of comparing counties for comparison." [not so in Florida…]
Big Wins for Instant Runoff Voting - Election 2004 By the Numbers 11/5/2004 Counterpunch: "If anything, the number of battlegrounds likely will decline in 2008. If this year,s national vote had been a 50-50 tie and the vote share had changed equally across the nation, only 5 states would likely have been decided by less than 4%, and only 15 states by less than 8%. Democratic states in fact are more solid than Republican ones in this scenario a tie vote this year certainly would have elected John Kerry based on this year,s results. Thus, don,t expect more inclusive presidential campaigning in 2008 and quite possibly an even smaller one, with all attention again paid on the two big truly swing states, Florida and Ohio."
Thursday 11/4/2004
Florida numbers vs 2000 - something is wrong 11/4/2004 KOS Yes, the evidence of fraud is indisputable...but there is no accoutability 11/4/2004 Democratic Underground: "Analysis of Florida's 67 counties: Mysterious variance between Touchscreens and Optical-Scanners ...It is noteable that exit polling has worked for decades both here in the US and elsewhere, but since the widespread implementation of auditless electronic voting machines in 2000, the exit poll methodlogy has suddenly become flawed? No. Politics is a high-stakes game, and the history of voting manipulation is long and sometimes colorful. But today it can be done quietly from a remote keyboard, and essentially transparent without exit polling data or audit capability."
Wednesday 11/3/2004
Surprising Pattern in FL counties by voting machine type 11/3/2004 Stolen Election 2004: "There is a striking difference in patterns with a HUGE percent change
that Republicans picked up in op-scan counties that is amazingly larger
than in DRE counties."The View From Jacksonville: Scoring the Fight for Florida 11/3/2004 Village Voice
Florida numbers vs 2000 - something is wrong 11/3/2004 Stolen Election 2004
Tuesday 11/2/2004
Foreign monitors barred from some US polling stations: OSCE observer 11/2/2004 Sierra Times: "Another Danish OSCE observer, conservative Carina Christensen, reported less serious irregularities in Jacksonville, Florida, but said police had been called when she tried to visit a Republican office.
She and three other delegation members had been well received by local representatives of the Democrat Party who had ensured their access to polling stations.
But Republicans were less welcoming. "We were denied entry to a local Republican office in Orlando," she told Ritzau: "They called the police, saying they had received guidelines from Washington to do so." "Saturday 10/30/2004
Kerry squeaks ahead in Florida 10/30/2004 Palm Beach Post The Caging List - Jacksonville, FL 10/30/2004 Black Voter Net: "Are Republicans keeping a Caging List so as to challenge Black voters?"
Friday 10/29/2004
Bush Administration Attempts To Overturn Decades of Legal Precedence & Block Voting Rights Lawsuits From Voters 10/29/2004 Democracy Now Tensions rise in Florida as charges of intimidation, ballot problems 10/29/2004 KVOA, Tucson
Poll watchers will keep their eyes on Florida 10/29/2004 Orlando Sentinel: "The lawyers and election observers must stand 50 feet from the entrance to the polling place, along with those soliciting votes for their candidates. Pax Christi USA, a Catholic peace group, is bringing in an international monitoring team of 30 foreign observers to scrutinize the voting in Duval, Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The team is comprised of observers from Africa, South America, Europe, Southeast Asia and Canada. "They will be looking for a lack of translators, accessibility issues for people who are disabled and voter intimidation," said spokesman Johnny Zokovitch."
Residents see a pattern of prejudice 10/29/2004 Detroit Free Press: published 12/13/00, the Board is now more diverse - "The all-white and all-Republican Duval County Canvassing Board deliberately confused voters by issuing a ballot that was radically different from the sample ballot that had been released earlier to newspapers and voters. Voters were encouraged to bring the sample ballot to the polls with their choices already marked. Voters who made mistakes on the ballot and realized it were refused replacement ballots, a violation of Florida law, which allows voters up to two replacement ballots."
GOP calls 925 felons illegal voters 10/29/2004 Miami Herald: "The Republican Party of Florida drew up its own list of felons it says are ineligible to vote. The party could use the information to contest election results if they are close again in Florida."
Voter Intimidation, Missing Ballots in Florida Counties Set the Stage for International Observers 10/29/2004 Pax Christi/NAACP: "Thirty international observers preparing for their delegation to witness the elections in Florida circled “intimidation of voters” on their observation checklists as news reports Thursday focused on a “challenge list” of nearly 2,000 voters in predominantly black and traditionally Democrat areas of Jacksonville, Fla. A team of international observers from the Voting Justice Project of Pax Christi USA (www.paxchristiusa.org) and the NAACP (www.naacp.org) are set to document their observations at polling precincts in Duval County."
Secret Document Suggests GOP Preparing to Challenge Black Vote in Florida 10/29/2004 Democracy Now: "GREG PALAST: Yeah. That's why I’m grateful that you have run the report today. Because the Republican National Committee is threatening BBC, as they have done before with my reports, saying that if Greg Palast is on the air there will be no interviews for the network. From the Republican National Committee, which is, of course, cutting off the air supply of the news organization, and you can immediately see why American news organizations won't touch the story. That's basically that the Republican Party has a hit list of black people they're going to try to wipe out on Election Day, stop them from voting, and in particular, this has the effect of not only of intimidating the voters, eliminating voters, but in places like Jacksonville where three and four-hour waits are expected, this could entirely sabotage the voting operation. Understand, this is illegal if they're targeting black folk. It is against federal law." ...GREG PALAST: What you saw was a guy, Ion Sancho, who is probably considered the most experienced and respected of election supervisors in Florida. Unfortunately, my one mistake was to identify him as a Democrat, because the Republicans told me he was a Democrat. He's very independent, not affiliated with any party. He has also asked the parties not to challenge voters on Election Day. The supervisors have said it's really never been done in Florida history. This basically is an attempt to stop the entire voting process, bring it to a halt. As for registrations, what happened was that students, mostly Democrats, students filled out petition forms for medical use of marijuana, and it turns out they were signing the back of registration forms without knowing it, reregistering themselves as republicans. This was definitely tied to a republican-paid operation, and at least 4,000 of the forged registrations, which is a felony to forge registration, have been found, and Jeb Bush's department of law enforcement says that they don't have time for the next few weeks to get around to arresting the forgers. It's just -- this is just the beginning of the game."
Thursday 10/28/2004
New Evidence of Voter Blacklist in Florida? 10/28/2004 Institute for Public Accuracy Republican list of ineligible voters stirs controversy in Florida 10/28/2004 KRT: "The GOP found the allegedly illegal voters by using the same flawed list of felons that had been drawn up by the state elections division but was scrapped after news organizations exposed its inaccuracies. The party has built a list of 14,489 registered voters it says should not be allowed to vote because they are felons whose civil rights have not been restored. Of those, Republican officials say 925 thus far have either voted early or requested an absentee ballot."
Gov. Bush: Poll watchers can, should challenge voters 10/28/2004 St Petersburg Times: "Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson met with a John Kerry lawyer this week to discuss how to handle challenges from Republican lawyers. "We are hopefully going to rely on civility, and beyond that, we are going to rely on law enforcement," Johnson said. The concept of challenging voters isn't restricted to Florida. In Ohio, Republicans already have challenged the eligibility of 35,000 of Ohio's 800,000 newly registered voters. Florida Democrats on Wednesday released a memo sent to state and local election officials insisting such challenges should be rare, accompanied by irrefutable proof and not disruptive to other voters. The Democratic Party and Kerry's campaign said it will have 7,000 poll watchers in Florida on Election Day, including 1,500 lawyers."
Wednesday 10/27/2004
International observers set to descend on Florida 10/27/2004 AP: ""We welcome people to come to the state, to watch the process we have in place," said Alia Faraj, a spokeswoman for Hood. "We're proud of the reforms and Florida's accomplishments."
State law says that only the political parties and candidates can request precinct poll watchers and anyone not authorized to be inside the polling places must stay more than 50 feet away from the entrance. Faraj said no one from OSCE had yet asked for poll access. OSCE, based in Vienna, Austria, had not yet worked out the details on where monitors would be stationed or exactly what they would be doing, spokeswoman Urdur Gunnarsdottir said by e-mail."Going through hoops to vote 10/27/2004 North Jersey Media: "In spite of being dazed by a sucker punch, Florida's black voters have rallied through aggressive outreach and have increased African-American registration by more than a third. Look at how those Jacksonville folks got knocked down and are up before the 10 count to fight for those precious few minutes to choose governmental representatives. Florida is up 18 percent overall, New Jersey 18.5, both impressive indicators of increased voter interest."
Democrats file 9 suits in Florida 10/27/2004 Washington Times
Voter Intimidation in Jacksonville 10/27/2004 Black Voter Net: "Voter intimidation is not a myth my God I feel like I am in a third world country so far today I have handled four cases that were clear intimidation that we over turned with lawyers the office I am running has had the computers compromised, my phone bank suddenly shut down, and then a county inspector came in and shut off our water so we have no bathrooms. We are in a strip mall and we are the only ones shut down and we can't get anyone over to turn us back on, I had to go back to my host home to get computer work done."
Tuesday 10/26/2004
The "Caging" of Black voters in Jacksonville by the GOP 10/26/2004 MyDD: "UPDATE: A few readers have pointed out that even if the Republicans are telling the truth that the list is only a compilation of bad addresses returned from a direct-marketing mail, its purpose could have been less than innocent -- to challenge voters on residency grounds (since the GOP would have some reason to believe their addresses didn't qualify). This is plausible; it's worth noting, and we should have noted earlier, that the RNC has in fact been accused of these actions before, and in 1987, in response to a civil rights suit, it signed a consent decree pledging not to do this. But Republicans told War Room that this was not the purpose of this list, and, so far, we have no way of proving them wrong."No more stolen elections - Wednesday, November 3rd 2004 05:30 pm - Gainesville, FL USA 10/26/2004 Nov3.us: "A rally and march in response to vote suppression by Republicans and related election theft activities--women struggled for the vote for over a century, we're not about to let the male supremacists steal our vote now so they can take our rights next. All groups and individuals who want to see a fair and just election and want to see democracy protected and expanded are invited to join us."
Poll reveals Florida blacks wary of touch-screen voting 10/26/2004 AP
Mel Martinez: a Monster in Silk Clothing 10/26/2004 AfroCubaWeb
New Florida vote scandal feared 10/26/2004 BBC: by Greg Paslast - "Two e-mails, prepared for the executive director of the Bush campaign in Florida and the campaign's national research director in Washington DC, contain a 15-page so-called "caging list". It lists 1,886 names and addresses of voters in predominantly black and traditionally Democrat areas of Jacksonville, Florida. An elections supervisor in Tallahassee, when shown the list, told Newsnight: "The only possible reason why they would keep such a thing is to challenge voters on election day." "
Gore urges Riviera Beach crowd to take action at polls 10/26/2004 Palm Beach Post: "Gore also got in a jab at Elections Supervisor Theresa LePore, whose "butterfly ballot" design is blamed by many Democrats for confusing voters and costing Gore the election. This year, LePore has been criticized by some black leaders for not putting an early voting site in predominantly black Riviera Beach. "I believe there ought to be a place to vote early here in this community, in Riviera Beach," Gore said. When members of the crowd mentioned LePore's name, Gore said, "Is she still in office? Yes, she is. Not for long, but she still is.""
Getting it on in Florida 10/26/2004 NY Daily News: datelined Jacksonville - "Corrine Brown, a Democratic congresswoman from Jacksonville, said yesterday that state officials in Tallahassee have 60,000 more registered Duval County voters on their lists than local pols ever knew about. Those names, according to Brown, are about to be struck from the rolls as "inactive" because they have not voted since 2000. The congresswoman is threatening - what else? - a lawsuit to get to the bottom of the possible purge. "Blood is thicker than water. It's thicker than good government," says Brown, referring to Gov. Jeb Bush, the President's brother."
Monday 10/25/2004
Gore and Kerry Unite in Search for Black Votes 10/25/2004 NYT: "Mr. Gore presented himself on Sunday as an example of the importance of voting. It was a pilgrimage that took him to six Baptist churches on the north side of Jacksonville, where nearly every person in every pew was African-American."'President' Gore rallies black Florida voters 10/25/2004 Toronto Star: ""If any of you felt frustrated or angry about what was done four years ago involving 27,000 votes here,'' the former U.S. vice-president said, "I want to encourage you — not to ignore those feelings — but don't turn them into angry acts or angry words. "But turn all of that energy and all of those feelings into a non-stop effort between now and 7 p.m. Nov. 2 in making certain everyone you know who is qualified to vote gets out to the polls and votes early starting today.''"
Early vote sites besieged by chaos 10/25/2004 Palm Beach Post: "Similar problems have erupted in Palm Beach County, where Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore said Sunday that she wouldn't rule out closing one or more of the county's eight early voting sites. Staff members have been harassed by campaign partisans and unruly voters, she said. Several temporary workers have abruptly quit their posts because of the abuse, she said."
Kerry sounds clarion call to Florida's black voters 10/25/2004 St Petersburg Times: "At Abyssinia Missionary Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Senior Pastor Tom Diamond ntroduced Gore as "president-elect" and reminded his 500 congregants in the pews of the spoiled votes in Duval County four years ago. "The Republican Party threw out 27,000 of our votes," Diamond said. "It's as if they were spitting on the graves of our ancestors, by taking away the rights we have fought for and died for." ...But for all the anecdotal evidence of heavy African-American turnout, there are hints that Kerry might not be doing as strongly as he needs to be. At a John Edwards rally in St. Petersburg on Saturday, white people held "African-Americans for Kerry-Edwards" placards. A St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald poll released Sunday showed Bush more than doubling his support from black voters since 2000, with 19 percent support. That estimate is imprecise because the pollsters surveyed fewer than 100 likely black voters in Florida, and the Kerry-Edwards campaign says its internal polling never shows Bush in double digits. But it mirrors a national poll released last week showing 18 percent of African-Americans backing Bush. "I'm hoping that we will at least double what we did last time," said Dorsey Miller, a Broward County consultant leading Bush-Cheney's African-American outreach in Florida. "We haven't fared well on the national level giving all our support to one party, and people are beginning to think about that." Exit polls showed Bush winning fewer than one in 10 black votes in 2000, the worst Republican performance since Barry Goldwater in 1964. He could hardly do worse this time, but Rob Schroth, one of the pollsters who conducted the Times/Herald poll, questioned Bush's prospects of approaching 20 percent."
Reports of intimidation mar early voting 10/25/2004 Orlando Sentinel: "Incidents from Miami to Jacksonville prompted the Republican Party on Friday to send Secretary of State Glenda Hood 13 affidavits from voters who said they were intimidated along with a letter pleading for more voter protection at early-voting sites. "We had one guy that walked away and didn't cast his vote," said Mindy Tucker Fletcher, a senior Republican adviser. "It's a problem. People shouldn't be harassed as they go in to vote." The Democrats also reported some abnormalities, including voters who called a Democratic hotline to report that they "felt intimidated" or were turned away from voting, said Christine Anderson, a spokeswoman for the national Democratic Party."
Sunday 10/24/2004
Martinez, Castor seek last-minute support in final debate 10/24/2004 Times Union, Jacksonville, FL: "Geoffrey Becker, former executive director of the Republican Party of Florida, said Castor is expected to run strongly among South Florida's Democratic base. But Martinez, who would be the first Cuban-American in the U.S. Senate if elected, could undermine that in Miami-Dade.
"In a race like this, if he can blunt Betty's obvious Democratic strength in southeast Florida ... (with) the story, he's way better positioned," Becker said."Priced Rite Investigations, Jacksonville 10/24/2004 E Investigator: noticed videotaping the one Jacksonville voting location serving over 2 million people - "Priced Rite Investigations. Owner Name Fred Hillerich, Address 6453 Solandra Dr. So., Florida, Telephone 904-779-9815, E-Mail spott@bellsouth.net, Description Video SV, Domestic and Background Checks, wireless remote cameras."
Scheu is 'right' for election - Those who know interim supervisor say governor made a "brilliant pick." 10/24/2004 Times Union, Jacksonville, FL: "In the mid-1990s, he helped mediate between the NAACP and the School Board on the issue of desegregation."
BALLOTS - Training is needed 10/24/2004 Times Union, Jacksonville, FL: "The North Florida Democratic Party leadership would do well to undertake an extensive voter education program. There is no doubt that if all the ballots been properly cast in 2000, we would have had a different outcome. It is time to stop the complaining and start the training. G.I. BIARNESEN, inspector, Jacksonville"
Corrine Brown and Michael Moore at Metropolitan Park 10/24/2004 Jacksonville Advocate
Florida vote still a tossup; turnout will be key factor 10/24/2004 Times Union, Jacksonville, FL: "Kerry received 48 percent support in the poll. Bush had 47 percent, and independent Ralph Nader had 2 percent. In a sign the race is intensifying toward a battle over turning out voters, only 2 percent were undecided. The survey of 600 likely voters was conducted Monday to Thursday by Research 2000, a Maryland polling firm. The poll's margin of error is 4 percentage points."
Activists Criticize Limited Hours Of Duval's Early Voting Sites 10/24/2004 News4 JAX: "Monday through Friday, while the downtown office will be open for voting 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., voting hours at the libraries will be 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. But weekend hours for voting at the library sites and the supervisor's office at 105 East Monroe St. will be 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, which has prompted criticism from Democratic officials and civil rights activists."
Florida Sets Up Voter Fraud Task Force 10/24/2004 AP: "FDLE spokesman Tom Berlinger said most of the problems seem to be cropping up with forms turned in by groups that hire people to register new voters."
FDLE Investigating Voting Fraud In Duval, Other Counties 10/24/2004 News4 JAX: "Many of the problems seem to be cropping up with forms turned in by groups that hire people to register new voters. An FDLE press release singled out the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, saying its "workers have been connected with the widespread voter irregularities." [And from ACORN's site, www.acorn.org, "ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is the nation's largest community organization of low and moderate-income families, with over 150,000 member families organized into 800 neighborhood chapters in 65 cities across the country. Since 1970 ACORN has taken action and won victories on issues of concern to our members. Our priorities include: better housing for first time homebuyers and tenants, living wages for low-wage workers, more investment in our communities from banks and governments, and better public schools."
Priority placed on getting mistakes off the ballot 10/24/2004 USA Today: "Duval County, Fla., had the most errors. It spread the presidential candidates' names over two pages. More than 10,000 people voted once on the first page for Bush or Gore, then again on the second page for a minor-party candidate. It won't happen again. Duval County replaced its punch-card system with touch-screen voting machines that make such errors impossible. "We've gotten rid of those gosh-awful things," says Mike Hightower, Republican Party chairman in Duval County, which includes Jacksonville. His Democratic counterpart, Clyde Collins, agrees: "The new design is light-years ahead of what we had."" [But can you do a recount?]
Early voting runs smoothly at libraries 10/24/2004 Times Union, Jacksonville, FL: "An Arlington-area library drew the most early voters Saturday, the first day Duval County election officials opened four new sites at the urging of a local voter rights coalition. Those four locations and the downtown Supervisor of Elections Office will open from 1 to 5 p.m. today." [Vote early, but only during those hours.'
Saturday 10/23/2004
Early vote case in federal court; state forms task force on fraud 10/23/2004 Times Union, Jacksonville, FL: "Coalition of preachers, citing black "disenfranchisement," want 4 more Jacksonville voting locations."Voter intimidation begins early in Florida 10/23/2004 Simply Appalling: "Black ministers and others decried Carlberg's decision to open a single early voting site and last week descended on his office but left unappeased after Carlberg, who is white, refused to open additional sites or work to correct voter registration applications that were incomplete… On Thursday, the elections office contacted police after Democrats complained about men videotaping people in front of the office all day. U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown and coalition members confronted them in the evening. But Scheu said the videotaping was allowed on a public sidewalk across the street. "We're powerless to stop them," Scheu said. Owner Fred Hillerich of Price Rite Investigations of Jacksonville declined to say who hired his firm to videotape events at the office. But he said he had done the work elsewhere before, and "I ain't doing anything to nobody." "I'm sure it is, it's intimidation," said the Rev. Willie M. Bolden, a Southern Christian Leadership Conference official who joined others questioning Hillerich. "They're doing all kinds of things across the state." "
Black Caucus members visit Florida to get out vote 10/23/2004 Dallas Morning News: "Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas, said after a Kerry rally in Pembroke Pines, near Fort Lauderdale. "We've already witnessed some of the shenanigans going on." "
Florida Has 1.55 Million New Voters 10/23/2004 News4 JAX: "Since November 2000, Republicans have increased their numbers by 465,328 while Democrats have added 460,461 new party members, a difference of 4,867 in favor of the GOP. "I'm shaking my head. To think that out of 1.6 million that there would be less than 5,000 new registrants separating the two parties," said Aubrey Jewett, a University of Central Florida political science professor. "I just can't believe it." What that means as Democrat John Kerry tries to defeat Bush on Nov. 2 is anybody's guess, especially considering 628,507 new voters didn't choose either party."
British ex-envoy heads international observers of voting 10/23/2004 Washington Times: "The mission is being conducted by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). They will monitor electronic voting, watch for voter fraud and track whether the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) is being implemented."
Florida: Questions raised about double voting, student registrations 10/23/2004 AP
Friday 10/22/2004
Group wants 8 more sites for early voting 10/22/2004 Times Union, FL: "Owner Fred Hillerich of Price Rite Investigations of Jacksonville declined to say who hired his firm to videotape events at the office. But he said he had done the work elsewhere before, and "I ain't doing anything to nobody."
"I'm sure it is, it's intimidation," said the Rev. Willie M. Bolden, a Southern Christian Leadership Conference official who joined others questioning Hillerich. "They're doing all kinds of things across the state.""Florida's E-Voting Concerns Complicate Recount Worries 10/22/2004 News4 JAX: ""The Republican party has tried to disenfranchise us," said Addie Greene, a black Democratic commissioner for Palm Beach County. Greene helped the county purchase 5,000 Sequoia voting machines, and then became an active opponent of paperless voting and is asking constituents to send in absentee ballots. "Palm Beach County will create a stir nationwide that no one ever would believe ... if we're disenfranchised again," she said."
Florida is focus of furor again 10/22/2004 Gregory Law Firm - USA Today
Thursday 10/21/2004
Federal Judge: Provisional Ballots In Wrong Precinct Don't Count 10/21/2004 News4 JAX: "TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Rejecting a claim by Democrats, a federal judge said Thursday that the state must reject provisional ballots if they're cast in the wrong precinct."SCLC asks for probe of voting tactics - Duval, Leon counties targeted for practices that are taken as discouraging black voters 10/21/2004 Times Union, Jacksonville, FL
ELECTIONS: Make them fair 10/21/2004 Times Union, Jacksonville, FL: "In Jacksonville, 27,000 votes were invalidated by the people who cast them. In 5,000 cases, they simply failed to cast a vote. In 22,000 other cases, they voted for two or more candidates in the presi- dential race. (It should be noted that their votes did count in the races where they voted properly.) No liberal yet has been able to explain how elections officials could have divined the voter intent in those invalid ballots, absent the aid of a psychic." [Note how the city's main paper fails to mention that the instructions said to vote for one per page but the presidential candidates extended over 3 pages!]
Wednesday 10/20/2004
CITY SOJOURN: Young, voting and black 10/20/2004 Times Union, Jacksonville, FL Tuesday 10/19/2004
Still fighting to vote 10/19/2004 NY Daily News: "A recent report by the New York-based Century Foundation, summarizing the many studies ofthe 2000 election, concluded: "Every study found that African Americans in Florida had a profoundly higher rate of votes thrown away than whites. ... Among the 100 precincts with the highest numbers of disqualified ballots, 83 were majority black."
The New York Times, which conducted its own study of 6,000 Florida precincts, found "a strong pattern of ballot rejection in black precincts that is not explained by socioeconomic differences or voting technology." "Across the Country, Beware of Attempts to Block the Vote 10/19/2004 Minneapolis Star-Tribune: "Florida's secretary of state recently ruled that voter registrations would be deemed incomplete if those registering failed to check a box affirming their citizenship, even if they had signed an oath saying the same thing elsewhere on the form. Many counties are, sensibly, ignoring this ruling, but it's apparent that some officials have both used this rule and other technicalities to reject applications as incomplete, and delayed notifying would-be voters of problems with their applications until it was too late. Whose applications get rejected? A Washington Post examination of rejected applications in Duval County found three times as many were from Democrats, compared with Republicans. It also found a strong tilt toward rejection of blacks' registrations."
Monday 10/18/2004
DEMOCRAT PLANS IN FLORIDA 10/18/2004 Free Republic: "Well .. there's an additional Democratic tactic in Florida. The Drudge Report has obtained a copy of the Kerry/Edwards election manual for Florida. Campaign workers are encouraged to canvass local Democratic strongholds and pick up completed ballots. The ballots will then supposedly be delivered to Florida's Early Vote locations."Saturday 10/16/2004
Election-related lawsuits 10/16/2004 Palm Beach Post: "Here are the major legal challenges to Florida election laws:"Thursday 10/14/2004
Florida: Bus Tour to Encourage Blacks to Vote 10/14/2004 AP: "Democrats say there has been an effort to discourage blacks from voting, and they've planned a four-day bus tour across Florida to encourage black voting and assure people that they're fighting to eliminate problems at the polls."Monday 10/11/2004
Kerry reaches out to black voters in Florida 10/11/2004 WTEV Saturday 10/9/2004
Jacksonville voters describe Election Day fraud and intimidation 10/9/2004 World Socialist: published 12/00, to be repeated? "A review by the Jacksonville-based Florida Times-Union found that nearly 42 percent of the discarded votes in Duval County came from City Council Districts 7, 8, 9 and 10, located in predominantly African-American areas of Jacksonville. More than 11,300 of the 59,650 ballots in those four districts—about 19 percent—were thrown out. By comparison, 7.5 percent were discarded in District 4, where 64 percent voted for Bush."Thursday 10/7/2004
Group demands more early vote sites - Duval election office leaders "arrogant," ministers and civil rights leaders say. 10/7/2004 Times Union, Jacksonville, FL Monday 10/4/2004
Thousands May Be Turned Away At Polls Due To Faulty Registration 10/4/2004 News4 JAX Saturday 10/2/2004
Thousands of faulty registrations found in Florida 10/2/2004 AP Friday 10/1/2004
Homeless registering to vote
Person's home address is the address of the agency in which he registers. 10/1/2004 Times Union, Jacksonville, FL Wednesday 9/29/2004
Nat'l Hip Hop Get Out The Vote Tour Launched 9/29/2004 Davey D's Hip Hop News Thursday 8/26/2004
Civil Rights Coalition To Monitor Voting In Duval, 4 Other Counties 8/26/2004 News4 JAX: "Election Protection, a group that includes People For The American Way, the NAACP and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said they will use volunteer poll monitors and on-call attorneys in Duval, Broward, Miami-Dade, Orange and Leon counties to "ensure a fair and honest election."
The group has set up a hotline -- (866) OUR-VOTE -- where volunteer lawyers and law students trained on Florida election law will be available to answer questions. Voters or poll worker noticing irregularities are also encouraged to call the hotline with information."Wednesday 8/18/2004
Jacksonville NAACP Leader Claims Police Brutality 8/18/2004 Brown Watch: "Local NAACP President Isaiah Rumlin has his arm in a sling and a sore shoulder, and he says the excessive force of a Jacksonville sheriff's officer is to blame. The civil rights leader says he was a victim of an abusive officer who wouldn't let him check on his insurance business after Thursday's tornado tore through Northwest Jacksonville. His business was located just inside the police perimeter. "He turned me around, slammed me. My face would've went right through this side window," explained Rumlin, pointing out where the alleged incident took place. "All I was doing was trying to get to my office." Rumlin's claims are now being investigated."Wednesday 8/4/2004
Foreign Media In Jacksonville Covering Elections 8/4/2004 First Coast News: "Representative Corinne Brown was scheduled to confront the Supervisor of Elections Office Tuesday afternoon, but, when she showed up the British network tagging along with her received more attention... "The discussion of how the vote may not be fixed in Florida as last time, whether the President's brother is playing games with the voting. That's a much bigger discussion in Europe, in Brazil, in Latin America, in Asia."Tuesday 5/13/2003
Glover concedes Jacksonville mayoral race 5/13/2003 Gainsville Sun: "Jacksonville Sheriff Nat Glover's bid to be the first black mayor in the "Bold New City of the South" ended in defeat Tuesday to a Republican businessman making his first run for political office."Thursday 5/8/2003
Old South racism appears during New South election - Racial graffiti in Jacksonville 5/8/2003 Miami Herald: "And a sign in front of the office of one of Glover's white Republican supporters was defaced to label him a ``N----- LOVER.''
''It's despicable and certainly not consistent with what Jacksonville is all about,'' said Glover, the first black sheriff elected in Florida since Reconstruction. ``I think the city took race off the table when they elected me sheriff in 1995 and reaffirmed it in 1999, when I won with 81 percent of the vote. I won't say we don't have our problems, but this is not the work of the larger community.'' "
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Chris Wilson
Board Member, Buddhist Peace
Fellowship
Chris has been an
attorney, investment banker and software executive. He has long
been active in the U.S. Civil Rights movement, including work with
the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Hattiesburg,
Mississippi in 1964.