Knight Ridder has released a story about two Miami Herald reporters hand
counting ballots in three Florida counties and concludes that there is no
evidence of election fraud.
The reporters are Meg
Laughlin who has been quoted on dKos before BUSH'S BUST:
Knight-Ridder Finally Goes There and David Kidwell. Both
reporters seem to me to be on the mavrick side of the picture. From what I
see, their past articles are challenging and insightful so I'll give them
credence and read their article Florida
newspaper finds no evidence of election fraud with an open mind.
(continued below the fold - with in line comments)
Florida newspaper finds no evidence of election
fraud
By Meg Laughlin and David Kidwell
LAKE BUTLER, Fla. -- Since President Bush captured Florida and the White
House again, critics have fixed their sights on northern pockets of the
Sunshine State and asked: How did the Republicans win so heavily in counties
stocked with Democrats?
Some wondered whether Florida's tally was corrupt, with one Internet site
writing: "George W. Bush's vote tallies, especially in the key state of
Florida, are so statistically stunning that they border on the
unbelievable."
This quote is from Bush's 'Incredible' Vote Tallies. Too bad they didn't frame the opposition in more reasonable terms. Ah well.
The Miami Herald last week went to see for itself whether Bush's steamroll
through north Florida was legitimate. Picking three counties that fit the
conspiracy-theory profile -- staunchly Democratic by registration, whoppingly
GOP by voting -- two reporters counted more than 17,000 ballots over three
days.
This raised my eyebrows immediately. If the two reporters were working alone
and working 8 hour days, then they were processing 6 ballots per minute
each. Seems like a hefty pace to me, but I'll hand it to them.
This also provides a great metric for the Ohio recount effort and perhaps a
rule of thumb for recounting any optiscan precinct.
The conclusion: no conspiracy.
The count of optical-scan ballots in Suwannee, Lafayette and Union counties
showed Bush whipping John Kerry in a region where registered Democrats
outnumber Republicans 3-1.
The Herald found minor differences with official results, most involving
ballots that had been discarded as unreadable by optical-scan machines but
in which reporters thought the voter's intent was clear.
Under the optical-scan system, voters fill in an oval or darken an arrow by
a candidate's name. A machine reads the card optically.
Kerry solidly won the battle in South Florida, but Bush won the war by
dominating everywhere else in the state, particularly in the 52 counties
that use optical-scan ballots, which can be checked for accuracy.
Republicans often had done fairly well in those counties, but this year more
so.
Well they really let me down right here. Their investigative ability hits the wall and they want us to accept their conclusion of "often" and "fairly". Rather subjective, I'd really like to see the data that led to this.
Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 340,000 voters in the 52 counties,
but Bush took them by about 340,000 votes -- a 680,000-vote swing that
assured him of victory.
The Herald focused on three counties that represented some of the more
severe disparities between registrations and votes, beginning Monday in
Union County, where more than 75 percent of registered voters are Democrats.
"People here traditionally register as Democrats to vote in local primaries,
but they're very conservative," Union County Judge Dave Reimer said. "When I
came here in 1983, there were only 54 registered Republicans in the whole
county."
Election Supervisor Babs Montpetit was more direct. "People here are mostly
fundamentalist Christians who work in the prisons," she said. "Do you think
they're going to vote for the liberal senator from Massachusetts?"
Babs Montpetit rang a bell for me. And a quick a9 search found this from the
2001 recount The Road to Illegitimacy.
She was also outspoken
about the felon list in 2000. Not a revolutionary, but clearly not a Bush
Tool either.
The Herald total: 3,393 votes for Bush, 1,272 for Kerry. Fifteen votes
couldn't be counted clearly.
The county's official total: 3,396 for Bush, 1,251 for Kerry and a few dozen
that couldn't be counted.
The next stop was west a bit, in neighboring Suwannee County. Election
Supervisor Glenda Williams greeted reporters at the election office in Live
Oak: "Most people in this county are against abortion and gay marriage. So,
they voted for Bush."
The Herald counted almost 60 percent of the votes in Suwannee, where nearly
64 percent of voters are registered Democrats.
The newspaper's total: 6,140 votes for Bush and 2,984 for Kerry, which
nearly matched the county's official tally.
Next stop: Mayo in Lafayette County, where 83 percent of voters are
registered Democrats. Along the way were neighborhoods called "The Christian
Village" and a warehouse called "The Christian Outlet." One billboard said:
"There is life before birth."
Four years ago, the Florida vote was so tight, and so flawed, that the
Herald counted every questionable ballot. The results weren't as close this
time, but questions remained. Reporters told Lafayette County Election
Supervisor Lana Morgan the newspaper had come back to end the speculation.
"Good," she said. "You don't know how frustrating it is to convince people
who are set on believing something -- even if it's not true."
The reporters' total: 2,452 votes for Bush and 848 for Kerry, with 20 that
couldn't be counted clearly. The official county total: 2,460 for Bush, 845
for Kerry and others that couldn't be counted.
Morgan invited the reporters for an early Thanksgiving dinner in her office,
but they had to return home, driving to the Jacksonville airport past
Snoball stands, chicken farms and anti-abortion billboards.
Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company
A few things I get from this article :
- Optiscan systems weren't used improperly
- There are incredibly conservative Democrats who voted for Bush
- The conclusion "no conspiracy" is as premature as calls of
fraud.
My next step is to write the reporters, thanking them for the great story and
asking them what they know about the dumpster
divers digging up garbage bags full of touchscreen paper tapes.