daveman
Diamond Member
TRR: Allen West Seeks Recount Amid Growing Vote Count Scandal
The race for Floridas 18th Congressional district has taken an ugly turn, with charges of incompetence, illegal activity and possible fraud on the part of local election officials. Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy has declared victory with an apparent 160,328 votes to West's 157,872. However, serious questions arose immediately about the integrity of the vote count, especially in St. Lucie County. On election night incumbent Republican Allen West had maintained a district-wide lead of nearly 2000 votes until St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections Gertrude Walker inexplicably recounted thousands of early ballots, resulting in 4,400 vote shift to the challenger. Observers on the scene say the process is biased and the election results are fatally compromised. Mr. West is asking a court to impound the ballots and order a recount.
--
We are not getting to observe the vote count, he said. Mr. Shapiro has been overseeing the process at the Riveria Beach vote tabulation center. Temporary workers are helping the local staff oversee the count of absentee ballots, those damaged by voting machines, and ballots in which the three pages have become separated. They are making new ballots to replace the damaged ones, and are required to mark them with the same votes. Florida law allows observers to be present but they are being blocked from making sure the ballots are marked accurately.
A physical barrier had been erected making it impossible for the observers to see what was going on. After repeated objections, the observers were allowed to stand behind the people reproducing the ballots. But then the ballot workers blocked their view. Half of the people reproducing the ballots are crowding together, Mr. Shapiro said, to make it impossible for anyone to see what they are doing. He added that there is a sense that since they spend so much time obstructing our view they are not reproducing [the ballots] correctly.
An elderly man who stood up to try to get a better look at the ballots was ordered to sit down. When he asked why, Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher called a sheriffs deputy to have him escorted out of the building. Team West volunteer Ellen Snyder has also faced the wrath of the supervisory staff. They screamed at me twice for asking questions she said, and threatened to have her removed.
Critical questions are also being raised about the estimated 8,000 military absentee ballots, These ballots could decide the election but were only picked up on Wednesday. They are being counted in an area that is off-limits to observers, but no explanation has been given why. Unlike the damaged ballots, the military ballots are not being reproduced but only counted. Yet from a distance Ms. Snyder saw a worker marking them. When she tried to bring this to the attention Mrs. Buchers assistant she was ignored. Another observer saw four military ballots in a row being peremptorily invalidated with no explanation. When Ms. Snyder tried to ask Mrs. Bucher a question about what was happening she looked like she wanted to spit she was so mad. She is very hostile.
Democrats sure do hate democracy, don't they?--
We are not getting to observe the vote count, he said. Mr. Shapiro has been overseeing the process at the Riveria Beach vote tabulation center. Temporary workers are helping the local staff oversee the count of absentee ballots, those damaged by voting machines, and ballots in which the three pages have become separated. They are making new ballots to replace the damaged ones, and are required to mark them with the same votes. Florida law allows observers to be present but they are being blocked from making sure the ballots are marked accurately.
A physical barrier had been erected making it impossible for the observers to see what was going on. After repeated objections, the observers were allowed to stand behind the people reproducing the ballots. But then the ballot workers blocked their view. Half of the people reproducing the ballots are crowding together, Mr. Shapiro said, to make it impossible for anyone to see what they are doing. He added that there is a sense that since they spend so much time obstructing our view they are not reproducing [the ballots] correctly.
An elderly man who stood up to try to get a better look at the ballots was ordered to sit down. When he asked why, Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher called a sheriffs deputy to have him escorted out of the building. Team West volunteer Ellen Snyder has also faced the wrath of the supervisory staff. They screamed at me twice for asking questions she said, and threatened to have her removed.
Critical questions are also being raised about the estimated 8,000 military absentee ballots, These ballots could decide the election but were only picked up on Wednesday. They are being counted in an area that is off-limits to observers, but no explanation has been given why. Unlike the damaged ballots, the military ballots are not being reproduced but only counted. Yet from a distance Ms. Snyder saw a worker marking them. When she tried to bring this to the attention Mrs. Buchers assistant she was ignored. Another observer saw four military ballots in a row being peremptorily invalidated with no explanation. When Ms. Snyder tried to ask Mrs. Bucher a question about what was happening she looked like she wanted to spit she was so mad. She is very hostile.
