New elections chief Anderson learns ropes, as LePore bids farewell

By George Bennett

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer  December 05, 2004

ORLANDO ? As Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Theresa LePore exchanged tearful goodbye hugs with fellow elections chiefs at one end of a hotel conference room last week, Arthur Anderson stood at the other end and exchanged business cards with elections software vendors.

The room was large enough and crowded enough for LePore and Anderson to plausibly avoid interacting with each other.
 Then LePore headed home and Anderson stuck around to begin learning how to take over her job.

So continued the long and awkward transition between America's best-known elections chief and the man who defeated her in a bitter Aug. 31 race.

LePore was in Orlando last week for her farewell appearance at a conference of the state's elections supervisors.

Anderson attended part of the conference, then went to an orientation session put on by the supervisors association.

During the roughly 24 hours their schedules overlapped, Anderson and LePore spoke briefly once.

"This is kind of like her last opportunity. I didn't really want to encroach upon her moment. I kind of stayed at a distance deliberately," Anderson said.

It was indeed LePore's moment ? for better or worse.

When her colleagues paid tribute to her Tuesday, activists from the group Black Box Voting suddenly appeared on stage and, with a video camera rolling, "served" LePore with a public-records lawsuit.

The group has been tussling with several Florida elections chiefs. But it singled out LePore, who even as a lame duck remains a marquee name in elections administration.

Anderson takes office next month. He's one of 16 Florida supervisors elected for the first time this year. But many in the newly elected class, such as Broward County's Brenda Snipes, were already incumbents after being appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush to fill vacancies.

Several others are becoming supervisors after spending years working in their elections offices.

Anderson is one of five supervisors coming into office with no experience in elections administration.

And he's the only supervisor who won by knocking off an incumbent.

Snipes, who had no elections experience before she was appointed last year, said an outsider can do the job, but faces "a great learning curve."

She said Anderson should begin by evaluating the elections staff and learning from it.

Other elections chiefs told new supervisors to start by studying Florida's elections laws.

"You have to know this stuff and you have to read it," said Citrus County Elections Supervisor Susan Gill, holding up her dog-eared compilation of the elections laws with multiple bookmarks.

Anderson said several supervisors introduced themselves to him last week, which he found "especially gratifying because I know that Theresa was a popular member of the group."

After a campaign in which Anderson attacked LePore's competence and capitalized on Democratic anger over her 2000 butterfly ballot, the two have had only one meeting to discuss the hand-over of authority.

Anderson said he has scheduled a meeting this month with four of LePore's key staffers to discuss the transition.

He plans to retain LePore's staff. He sat with three of LePore's employees at a Wednesday lunch at the conference.

Anderson said he also has asked former Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Jackie Winchester to help familiarize him with the office.

Winchester was supervisor from 1973 to 1997. LePore, who had been Winchester's chief deputy, was elected in 1996 with Winchester's support.

This year, Winchester said she was "not happy" with LePore, but declined to make an endorsement.

Anderson will have to learn quickly once he takes office. Municipal elections begin in February.

After the local elections, Anderson's longer-range goals include hiring a consultant to evaluate the organization of the office.

He also wants to study voting technology and possibly replace the county's paperless voting machines, and add printers to them to create a ballot paper trail.

Criticizing paperless voting was a major part of Anderson's campaign and a prime issue for Anderson's political patron, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach. But Anderson has been less adamant about the paper trail since winning election.

"I'm thinking in terms of the paper ballot trail, adding the printers," Anderson said.

But since no vendor has yet submitted a printer to the state for certification, Anderson said, "we really don't have to rush to make a final determination."

Also, he noted, "printers, too, can malfunction."

When new supervisors introduced themselves at a Thursday session, Anderson said he wanted to explore the possibilities of online voting.

"I think that holds tremendous potential if we can bring adequate security measures to the process," Anderson said later.

Asked what his biggest worry is as he prepares to take office, Anderson said: "I don't have any. My approach to life and to challenges is to step up to them."