Half of provisional ballots rejected

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS   09 October 2004

ST. PETERSBURG Nearly half of the provisional ballots cast in Florida's August primaries weren't counted, according to a newspaper's survey.

Canvassing boards rejected 41 percent of the approximately 2,000 provisional ballots cast across the state, the St. Petersburg Times reported.

The 851 ballots represent a small percentage of the total vote, but in the state where the presidential election was decided by 537 votes in 2000, that's enough to worry many people.

"In a state where it is close, it could be that the counting of the provisional ballots is where the decision is made," said Kay Maxwell, national president of the League of Women Voters.

Reasons for turning down the ballot included that the voter wasn't registered, had voted in the wrong precinct or was a felon ineligible to vote.

In Pinellas County, the canvassing board threw out the votes of three people who insisted on provisional ballots because they didn't trust touchscreen machines.

That board also rejected ballots cast by four voters who went to the wrong precinct, but counted the votes of three people who voted in the wrong place in a building that housed more than one precinct.

A coalition of unions, including the AFL-CIO, is disputing a state law that requires voters to cast provisional ballots in their home precinct, arguing Florida's Constitution only requires voter to cast ballots in their home county.

The state Supreme Court scheduled a hearing on the lawsuit next Wednesday. It could order election supervisors to make changes to voting procedures days before the Nov. 2 presidential election.

"There have not been statewide standards for how the counting is going to be done," Maxwell said. "It's important that everyone know how it's done, and it be done the same way."

Technology, such as laptop computers that help poll workers search master voter rolls and redirect voters to the right precincts, have helped reduce the number of provisional ballots used, elections supervisors said. More than half of Florida's counties reported less than 10 provisional ballots in the primaries. Duval, Miami-Dade and Broward counties, which all figured prominently in the 2000 recount, rejected the most provisional ballots in the primary. Hillsborough and Pinellas threw out more than half, and Orange County rejected 80 percent.