Orange flouts Hood on voters
About 100 registrations will be accepted, despite a ruling by state officials.  
By Jason Garcia | Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted October 7, 2004

Orange County will defy Secretary of State Glenda Hood and accept some incomplete voter registration applications, officials said Wednesday.

At issue are applications on which voters did not check off a box confirming they are U.S. citizens, but signed an oath at the bottom of the application swearing as much.

Orange County Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles said his office received roughly 100 such applications from January to this week's registration deadline.

Hood, the former Orlando mayor overseeing Florida's elections, contends that such applications are incomplete and should be disqualified.

"The Legislature by creating two separate requirements clearly intended that the registrant both check off the box and sign the oath," Richard Perez, the general counsel for the Department of State, wrote last week in an advisory opinion sent to supervisors of elections.

But Cowles said his office has allowed such applications for years. And he said he sees no reason to change that. County attorneys finalized a legal opinion supporting the position Wednesday.

"The interpretation is one that we will agree to disagree [with Hood] until some higher authority tells us we're right or we're wrong," Cowles said.

Some other Central Florida counties, however, are siding with Hood. In Volusia, for example, Supervisor Deanie Lowe said she's following the state's direction because "that's how it's been done since the very beginning."

Osceola and Seminole counties are also abiding by the state's decision.

Hood's office did not return phone calls seeking comment.

While the number of applications in question may not seem large, election watchers say every vote is pivotal in the state that decided the 2000 presidential election by just 537 votes.

"If we learned anything in 2000, it's that every vote matters," said Brian Kettenring, the head organizer for the Florida Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, an advocacy group that is registering voters.

"We're pleased that Bill Cowles has shown real leadership in trying to ensure the integrity of the November election," Kettenring said.

"We think the leadership in Tallahassee should be removing barriers to voting, not constructing barriers."