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10/27/2004:

"Broward County Has Absentee Ballot Crisis"

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Election officials are questioning how many of a batch of 58,000 absentee ballots reached Broward County voters who requested them more than two weeks ago. State police investigated but found no criminal violations.

Hundreds of people have called the county elections office to complain that they never got their ballots. The phone system was so overwhelmed some frustrated voters could not get through.

The county election office said the problem involved ballots mailed Oct. 7-8, though the number of those actually missing was uncertain. Some absentee ballots mailed on those dates have already been returned to be counted.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said it investigated and found no criminal violations.

The county blamed the U.S. Postal Service. ``That is something beyond our control,'' Deputy Supervisor of Elections Gisela Salas said. ``We really have no idea what's going on.''

Postal officials said the post office was not to blame.

``We have employees that we assign to handle the absentee ballots that come in,'' said Enola C. Rice, a Postal Service spokeswoman in South Florida. ``So all the absentee ballots that are received by the Postal Service are processed and delivered immediately.''

Absentee voters who did not receive a ballot can request another, which officials said would be sent by overnight mail.

In 2000, Broward gave Democrat Al Gore his biggest margin among Florida counties. He received 67 percent of the vote there, while losing the state to George W. Bush by just 537 votes.

Full Article: Guardian UK