Mistake found on absentee ballots in Palm Beach County

By Luis F. Perez in the South Florida Sun Sentinel
Staff Writer
Posted August 12 2004

Palm Beach County's elections chief said Tuesday that there is a mistake on some absentee ballots.

Voters should know that a witness' signature is no longer required on absentee ballots, Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore said.

That point might be a bit confusing to the first 22,000 people who received absentee ballots. The first batch went in the mail Monday with an error a sentence referring to a witness needing to sign.

Proofreaders, including LePore, missed that sentence before they sent the ballots to the printer, she said. The ballot includes this sentence: "Failure to sign this certificate and have my signature properly witnessed will invalidate my ballot." Also on the ballot, the word "properly" was misspelled as "property."

The Legislature recently eliminated the witness requirement.

Arthur Anderson, who is opposing LePore in the Aug. 31 election, immediately jumped on the miscue.

"This is a pattern of incompetence on part of Theresa LePore and continues to give the voting public grave concerns about the integrity of the voting process," he said in a statement.

Anderson observed LePore in action later in the day as she ran through a test of voting machines at the elections office west of West Palm Beach. He said the error misinforms the public.

"Once again, this glitch heightens the lack of confidence in the voters," Anderson said. " ... People are very concerned that their vote might not count even if they voted by absentee ballot."

Secretary of State Glenda Hood also watched as LePore and local elections officials ran through the test. She said people can still use the absentee ballots and don't need an additional signature.

"It doesn't prevent people from casting their ballots and exercising their right to vote," Hood said.

She urged voters to follow the directions so their vote will count, Hood said.

Before the testing, the county's election Canvassing Board agreed to accept any absentee ballot that came in with an additional signature.

LePore acknowledged and lamented the mistake on a day when hordes of media were on hand to watch the voting machines being tested.

"Now, I'm sure it'll be all over how incompetent I am, just because of that little mistake," she said.

Elections officials have corrected the error for the second printing. And they're blacking out with a marker that sentence on the balance of the absentee ballots already printed but not sent yet.