First, to the Daily Kos community, I must say how sorry I am. This diary will not be exciting or all that informative. It will not, of its own volition, cause you to hit the recommend button. My tip jar will not runneth over.
This is my first, and likely to be my only, diary. It will be dry and boring. The title is a bunch of bullshit because I'm not, at this moment, at the Sarasota County Elections Warehouse. But I do have pictures. And to get you to stick around `til the end - there will be a Poll.
UPDATE: Hat tip to AlanF for this comment re: Election Integrity.
"Here Goes Nothing" starts after the flip...
I got the opportunity to go to the first day of the recount of the FL-13 race between Democratic Candidate Christine Jennings and Car Salesman Vern Buchanan. The events leading up to my attendance were quite serendipitous, in fact, but I won't get into that here.
Long story short, I had planned to go to Jennings HQ after lunch to spend the afternoon preparing and notarizing Affidavits of voters who had problems with the E S & S machines, but thought better of myself and took the whole day off. Someone I know had been filming Jennings since the weekend before the election. He planned on capturing the last 72 hours or so of the campaign but kept the cameras rolling in hopes of securing enough footage for a feature length documentary. Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You! He asked if I wanted to come with him to the recount warehouse. I told him I would come if he let me use his still camera. He's easy and gave in without much prodding.
We arrived at the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Warehouse at around 10:30 Monday morning. It was a typical non-event event outside with live trucks and random people milling about on cell phones.
We signed in, grabbed Media badges, and proceeded down a long hallway where we saw this:
Kathy Dent was giving me a big ole SYFPH (hat tip to cskendrick). This wasn't the best way to start the day.
At the end of the hallway were two long tables set up where poll workers were going through the sign in sheets from each precinct in Sarasota County. I wasn't able to ask what they were doing but I assumed it had something to do with comparing the number of people on the registers with the number of votes counted. Let's all say hi to the poll workers!
The poll workers may have had a lot to do with the way this election turned out. Elections Supervisor Kathy Dent apparently "went around" to some of the precincts to let the poll workers know that there was a problem with the ballot. When I went to vote I engaged my poll worker in conversation, she asked me if I had ever used the touch screen system, but not once did she say there was a potential problem with the ballot design. Here is a ripped off picture of the ballot screen in question:
As you can see the Congressional race is at the very top of the page and the Governors' race is in the middle of the page. The blue highlight over the word "State" is said to have lead people's eyes towards the Governors' race and away from the Congressional race.
And now, before we get back to the recount, here is a picture of the camera man I attended with:
Swoon!
Anywho. The real action was around the corner from the poll workers. Media and the Public were cordoned off around the perimeter. Official Observers got special treatment. They were allowed to go behind the lines, examine the machines at will, etc. There were Recount badge holders as well; those who work for the Supervisor and who actually handled the machines. From my vantage point it was difficult to get any shots of these folks. They all looked pretty pissed though. I suppose I would be too if I worked a whole election cycle, thought the shit was over, and had to continue to work 16 hour days because the fate of our Democracy was at stake.
The star of the show was, of course, the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections, Kathy Dent. She never seemed too interested in what was going on around her. She gave the press dismissive looks and chatted with a few of the Observers who were obviously on her side. One such Observer was the Pasco County Supervisor of Elections, Kurt S. Browning. He's a schmuck long time Democrat turned Republican. Here he is chatting it up with Kathy:
It wasn't long after we arrived that things started happening. Recount folks started bringing electronic tapes with their paper print outs to a table that was set up right in front of the cameras.
There was a bit of controversy when the Canvassing Board, Sarasota County Judge Phyllis Galen, Sarasota County Commissioner Paul Mercier, and Supervisor Kathy Dent, were seen having a conversation that was not being mic'ed to the public. Susan Pynchon, from Florida Fair Elections Coalition, http://floridafairelections.org/... caused a bit of a ruckus when she informed the Board that all of their conversations were to be public record. Here is Susan talking to the Media:
A few minutes later, when the Board announced that they would begin reading the paper tapes from the machines, Ms. Pynchon, clutching a statute book, insisted that Public observers and Media be allowed to examine the machines, three people to a machine at a time.
Apparently there was a fairly heated exchange later on in the day between Dent and Pynchon. Dent stormed towards Pynchon, across the barrier between official and non- official observers, and is quoted as saying "I've had it with you". Link.
I missed that part but did see a few of the paper tapes being read aloud by Dent.
It was quite shocking to hear the results. It went a little something like this -
Dent: Buchanan, 212 votes.
Audience: [silence]
Dent: Jennings, 256 votes.
Audience [silence]
Dent: Undervotes, 155.
Audience: Gasp!
There were a few other "agitators" in the room, namely Kindra Muntz from Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections and Mike Ridgway from Voter Oversight.
Here is Kindra, my Hero:
Another thing that I noticed was that the official Observers, those on the other side of the plastic chains, were basically sitting around with their fingers in their asses. And when asked by the Media and the Public who they were with most just stared back in silence. It was kind of scary how languid they all were. Here is our favorite schmuck guy, Kurt Browning (on the left), "Observing" with some buddies.
My friend with the camera walked up on Browning being interviewed by a news paper reporter. He was defending the use of the E S & S machines and blaming the Sarasota undervote problem on the "maliciousness" of the 13th Congressional race. I took this as my opportunity to play interviewer. I asked him about the problems with the ballot design and although he acknowledged that there was a slight design flaw, he very loudly reasserted his claim that people simply refused to vote for either candidate in this particular race. I followed up by asking whether he thought a paper trail could clear up any confusion in that regard. He said that there was no need for a paper trail since the machines are so accurate and responsive. People see their votes on the screen and confirm their selections. Paper ballots, he said, only lead to questions of voter intent. It was very difficult for me to remain professional in the midst of all this douchebaggery. I wanted to kick him square in the nuts. I very calmly said how funny I thought it was that an ATM could give you a receipt of your transaction but not a voting machine. We are, after all, talking about our Democracy here. He shrugged. He hates America Democrats.
But what do I know. I am not a photographer or a blogger, obviously. I just think it is important to let ya'll know what's going on down here. Kos Front Paged the race on Wednesday and again yesterday. I'll reiterate his sentiments - Give Money, Bitches! Jennings still has a staff and with the potential for a special election they will need dough for a second round of GOTV.
And now, I humbly offer you a Poll: