Florida Ballot Confusion Affects Country

Voters Angry That Vote Rests On Possible Errors

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Since voters in Palm Beach County, Fla., scratched their heads in confusion at the polls Tuesday, the country has been sitting and waiting for the results of the presidential election.

Now election supervisors and even the governor of Florida are under fire for the confusion surrounding the vote.

Allegations of a poorly designed ballot, missing pages in the ballot book, the discovery of ballot boxes left behind by pollsters across the state Wednesday and all-around fraud have Palm Beach County and the state's election officials scrambling to come up with answers.

Click here for the Palm Beach County presidential ballot.

But reaction from voters in the county, the state and across the country is loud and clear.

Voters are angry, accusatory and distrustful of the system that they feel is failing them in the 20th hour of a presidential election that is keeping everyone on the edge of their seats.

E-mail received Wednesday by theWPBFChannel.com in West Palm Beach included:

• "We are ashamed to say we are residents of Palm Beach County today. This fiasco is one of huge proportions and screams FRAUD! We along with many others demand this be resolved and that elections supervisor Therea LePore submit an immediate resignation based upon a failure to serve with the public's best interests. The future of our country does indeed rest in Palm Beach County." -- Michael and Jennifer Mariano, Delray Beach, Fla.

• "It would seem to me that it would be very difficult for Jeb Bush, governor of Florida, to be impartial during the recounting process under way in Florida. I would think that he would not have any access to computers, staff or anything else connected to this delicate process. I was appalled when the news reported that he was checking into the election computers to get his brother immediate information as to tallies from the state of Florida last night." -- Raymond D. Hunsbarger

• "Why would they put a weak third-party candidate over any major-party candidate unless it was done deliberately to confuse voters? This is Jeb Bush country and it is very suspicious."-- Bill Cash

• "As an informed voter, I was really confused over the way the ballot read in voting for president. I spoke to two other people who felt the same way. The supervisor of elections should be held responsible for this gross incompetency." -- VACA101

• "I feel sorry for the people in Palm Beach. They were not able to effectively vote for their candidate, even if it means a Gore victory." Patricia Ashcraft, Huntington Beach, Calif.

Other voters are fuming over the "irresponsibility" of voters who didn't double-check their ballots:

• "If (voters) couldn't figure out the ballot, they probably have no business voting. We should begin a nationwide boycott and no longer vacation in Florida."-- Walt Krauchick

• "I voted on almost an identical form. I am far from a rocket scientist. Sounds like more DNC whining." -- Chris Durand, Chesapeake, Va.

• "I have no sympathy for an individual who wasn't paying attention while they voted." -- R.L. Dicke

• "Tell the protesters to go home and live with their own individual stupid mistakes." -- Caroline J.

Bearing the brunt of the criticism is Theresa LePore, supervisor of elections for Palm Beach County.

She said Tuesday that she felt that the design of the ballot was very clear and would be less confusing to older voters because the split-page ballot would make the print on the ballot larger.

LePore was expected to make a statement Wednesday about the problems surrounding her office and the election, but instead, Secretary of State Katharine Harris issued a written statement explaining the Florida law that requires an immediate recount if the polls in Florida are closer than one-half of 1 percent.

Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports of the FBI investigating ballots in Florida and particularly Broward County came from Gary Reese of InsiderAdvantage.com, in Atlanta.

Unconfirmed reports also say that the Democratic National Committee has hired a West Palm Beach law firm to investigate complaints filed in Palm Beach County.

No one from the firm was immediately available for comment.

However, another attorney looking into the allegations contacted theWPBFChannel.com Wednesday for more information in the case.

The number of ballots cast in Palm Beach County for Buchanan could support the case that the ballot was too confusing.

Buchanan received 3,407 votes throughout the county, when only 335 people are registered in Palm Beach COunty with the Reform Party.

When compared to the 446 votes that Buchanan received in Orange County and the eight votes cast in Okeechobee County, as well as his meager returns from other Florida counties, the Palm Beach County results raise questions.

TheWPBFChannel.com also contacted a senior graphic critic at Yale University to analyze the layout of the ballot. He was not available for immediate comment.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush confirmed Wednesday afternoon that the state will be recounting the votes that have come in. "It will be fair," Bush said. "I will not be any part of the counting.

"We knew it would be close, but in my wildest dreams I never thought it would be this close."

A press conference at the law offices of Weiss and Handler in Boca Raton, Fla., Wednesday announced a lawsuit filed with the Palm Beach County Circuit Court of the 15th District that named Bush, Republican vice presidential candidate Dick Cheney, Gore, Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman and LePore as defendants.

The lawsuit claims that because the ballot was confusing to voters, especially the elderly, it caused many voters to punch the wrong name. Therefore, according to the lawsuit, the election is in violation of a Florida statue.

The lawsuit asks that Tuesday's presidential results in Palm Beach County be declared null and void and that the county hold a new election for president, according to Barry Epstein, CEO of Barry Epstein Associates Inc. Public Relations.

Results of the Palm Beach County recount have not been made available, but the election hangs in the balance as the controversy surrounding it continues to tailspin.

Internet Broadcast Systems Inc. and theWPBFChannel.com will continue to keep you up to date as more information becomes available.

Previous Stories:

• November 8, 2000: Democrats Fear Confusing Ballot May Skew Fla.

• November 8, 2000: Several Ballot Boxes Found
• October 31, 2000: Glitch Prevents Thousands From Voting

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