Volusia lacking in early voting sites, groups say

By JOHN BOZZO Daytona Beach News-Journal
Staff Writer

Last : October 05, 2004

DAYTONA BEACH Local, state and national elected officials joined NAACP leaders and an alliance of ministers on Monday to protest the lack of an early voting site in east Volusia County.

Meanwhile, county election workers processed more than 8,000 registrations on Monday, the last day to sign up to vote in the Nov. 2 election. They also prepared to mail out what's expected to be a record number of absentee ballot requests.

"If early voting is going to be something that's real and not just on paper, then it's got to be easily accessible to everyone in the county," said the Rev. John Long, vice president of the Daytona Beach Black Clergy Alliance.

State legislators approved early voting in May, but Volusia County officials decided not to set up polling places around the county. Early voting will be offered at the county elections office in DeLand from Oct. 18 through Nov. 1, with polls open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

That wasn't enough for the more than 50 residents and speakers attending Monday's press conference-protest at the Dickerson Community Center. They planned to attend the County Council meeting Thursday to demand more early voting sites and to file a lawsuit if necessary.

State Rep. Joyce Cusack, D-DeLand, one of six Democratic state legislators at the meeting, revived memories of the state's election controversy in the 2000 presidential vote.

"We want early voting sites on the east side of the county and for our friends in Deltona," she said.

Speakers targeted their criticism at Deanie Lowe, Volusia County elections supervisor, who did not attend the meeting.

Cynthia Slater, president of the Volusia County-Daytona Beach Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said setting up only one site for early voting "disenfranchises voters."

Lowe said in a telephone interview there is no "conspiracy to deny voting rights."

Residents have many opportunities to vote, Lowe said. They can carpool to vote early in DeLand or request an absentee ballot to be mailed to their home. County workers mailed 22,568 absentee ballots over the weekend and requests are still arriving. Lowe expects to send out 40,000 absentee ballots, exceeding a record of about 35,000 in the 1996 election.

Voters can also go to precincts in their neighborhoods on Election Day, she said.

Lowe said it's too late to set up more early voting locations. County workers are busy processing registrations, absentee ballot requests, servicing equipment and training poll workers. Additional vote-counting machines could not be obtained and workers hired in time to start early voting in two weeks.

Lowe estimated the cost would exceed $40,000 to set up early voting locations in Daytona Beach, New Smyrna Beach and Deltona. The state law authorizing early voting requires that if satellite locations are set up, there must be convenient locations for everyone in the county.

City Halls and libraries are too small for the early voting crowds, she said. Voters had long waits in 2000 when early voting by absentee ballots was allowed at City Island Library in Daytona Beach and the Brannon Center in New Smyrna Beach.

"All the more reason to have early voting," County Councilman Frank Bruno said.

Bruno was the only council member to support satellite early voting locations for absentee ballots in a February 2002 vote. No vote has been taken since the Legislature approved early machine voting this year.

Speakers said the machine votes are more secure than absentee ballots that are sometimes challenged.

"We're not looking for absentee ballots," Daytona Beach Mayor Yvonne Scarlett-Golden said. "We don't trust absentee ballots."