Board rejects crease request (FL)
Palm Beach Post. November 03, 2008. by Jane Musgrave

WEST PALM BEACH — The Palm Beach County canvassing board on Monday refused state Rep. Mary Brandenburg's request to examine all absentee ballots to ensure that voting machines aren't recording creases as votes.

Elections officials recently realized that creases in ballots were being read by high-speed tabulators as connected arrows, and thus votes. The creases are caused when absentee ballots are folded to fit into mailing envelopes.
 
Brandenburg's District 89 race against Republican Jeffrey Auslander is near the crease on some ballots. On others, it could affect a county commission race or a judicial merit retention.

"I don't want a machine voting for me and I don't think anyone else does," said Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach.

After checking with state elections attorneys, the board decided it couldn't legally examine ballots individually. It said that if a race is close, the crease could be used as a challenge.

Brandenburg wasn't satisfied: "It isn't really a question of how close a race is going to be but a question of justice."