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Democrats Use Web To Demand Re-Vote
Democrats have launched an Internet-based campaign aimed at forcing a re-vote in Palm Beach County, FL, even as the rest of the nation awaits the results of a ballot recount in Florida that will determine who the next president will be.
Stories of confusing ballot cards, potential voter fraud and missing ballot boxes have put Florida at the center of national attention as Democratic Vice President Al Gore and GOP Texas Gov. George W. Bush await the final tallies in the presidential race. As of late Thursday morning, only 830 votes separated the two candidates. The winner of the popular vote will get all 25 of Florida's electoral votes, thus providing the margin for victory in the Electoral College.
The "Florida Margin of Victory Campaign" — located at www.Democrats.com — is encouraging voters in Palm Beach County and elsewhere who were confused by the ballot process to complete an affidavit form provided on the site and fax them to local attorneys who are preparing to file complaints with the canvassing board. The site also has recent articles on the election controversy and on Democratic electoral wins.
The accuracy of the Florida vote has been questioned because of the controversy in Palm Beach County. Because of a ballot design that uses a hole-punching system, some area voters say they were confused when they cast their ballots. Some Gore backers say they accidentally may have marked their ballots for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan instead, according to complaints.
Tallies from Palm Beach and the surrounding counties of Broward and Dade seem to indicate some inconsistency in voting patterns, with the numbers for Buchanan causing the most concern. Buchanan reportedly won 3,407 votes in Palm Beach County but only 789 in Broward County and 561 in Dade County.
Officials in Palm Beach County also have announced that 19,120 ballots have been tossed because voters who used those ballots picked more than one candidate. A group of voters filed a lawsuit Wednesday on grounds that the ballots were confusing, but officials like former Secretary of State James Baker III told NBC's "Today" show that those voters had the chance to preview the ballot. By state law, the ballots had been printed in newspapers and posted in public places before the election.
The overall recount in Florida continued Thursday, after Wednesday's recount trimmed 843 votes off Bush's lead. So far, Gore has gained more than 1,100 votes in Florida, compared with less than 400 for Bush. The recount includes all ballots received by Tuesday, including absentee ballots. Absentee ballots, which may total as many as 30,000, are eligible for counting if they arrive within 10 days of the election, so the final official tally probably will not be known until late next week.
Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth, D, said the reputation of the state is at stake in the recount. "The state of Florida is in the national spotlight right now — in the world spotlight. ... The integrity of our state is also at stake and the future confidence people have in our state."
In the midst of the controversy, Jeb Bush, Florida's Republican governor and the brother of George W. Bush, recused himself from the state's elections canvassing committee Wednesday even though the law allows him to participate. "I believe my brother will win," he said, "but the rule of law will determine that."
Jeb Bush also took the opportunity to lambaste the media. "Both candidates, in my opinion, were treated unfairly by the projections in Florida," he said during a televised press conference. Political news Web sites in particular have been criticized for leaking results before official calls have been made — leaks that underscore difficulties controlling the distribution of information in the Internet age. He also criticized the media for broadcasting news of voting irregularities.
AG: Results Could Affect Microsoft Case
Microsoft may be able to rest easier after Tuesday's elections tapped two new state attorneys general who may not drive toward a hard landing against the software giant in its landmark antitrust case.
North Carolina and Utah were watched closely during the election because they are two of the 19 states involved in the lawsuit against Microsoft. Mark Shurtleff, R, defeated Democratic candidate Reed Richards in Utah, winning 57 percent of the vote to Richards' 39 percent. Shurtleff told National Journal's Technology Daily in October that he thinks Microsoft can win its case and that he would pull Utah out of the case unless he was satisfied that Utah consumers were being harmed.
Shurtleff's campaign manager, Ally Isom, said on Thursday that the new attorney general has a long list of things to do to learn about the job. "I don't know if [a decision about the Microsoft case] would be on the top of his priority list," she said. "There are a lot of other pressing issues in our state." But "his feeling is, overall, when it comes to large industry and corporations, he's had a real problem with attorneys general nationally who have been trying to legislate through litigation ... and overstepping their bounds."
In North Carolina, Democratic candidate Roy Cooper beat Republican Dan Boyce in the attorney general's race by a vote of 51 percent to 46 percent. Boyce and Cooper both had indicated that they did not wholeheartedly agree with the state's stance to sue. Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) has a chapter in North Carolina and lobbied both candidates to soften any blows against Microsoft.
"We made the issue an election issue," CSE Director of Regulatory and Technology Policy Erick Gustafson said. "We didn't want to just come in and go negative on one guy or the other on the position. ... Our goal was to get everyone in general agreement that North Carolina needs to reposition its role."
With the combination of former Attorney General Mike Easley, D, vacating the seat after being elected governor and Cooper moving into the job, Gustafson said, "I would predict that by the end of 2001, North Carolina's off that case one way or another."
But Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller does not expect any states to drop out of the lawsuit, according to his spokesman, Bob Brammer. "We wouldn't anticipate it in this case, especially after Judge [Thomas Penfield] Jackson's very strong decision and in light of the fact this is really a law-enforcement matter and that's what attorney generals do."
NCSL Schedules Mid-December Meeting In Washington
The National Council of State Legislatures will hold its Communications and Information Policy Committee meeting Dec. 13-15 in Washington, DC. On Dec. 13, the committee will host tours of the IBM Institute of Electronic Government and America Online. Issues on the agenda Dec. 14 include identity theft, consumer protection for the electronic marketplace and the emerging cyber legislature. On Dec. 15, there will be a special briefing on consumer privacy and the Streamlined Sales Tax Project.
Virginia Urges Seat Management
Virginia Secretary of Technology Donald Upson on Wednesday hosted the Seat Management Vendor Information Day in Richmond to help state government organizations take advantage of the benefits of seat management.
Virginia's Seat Management Initiative aims to place state-of-the-art technology on every desktop, or "seat," in government. Gov. Jim Gilmore, R, recently announced three winners of the nation's first seat-management contracts who will provide a full range of desktop and server planning, acquisition, installation, training, support and disposal services. A committee selected Unisys, DynCorp and ACS Government Solutions to provide the services to state government organizations. The system seeks to bring new efficiency and effectiveness to government allocation of technology dollars.
- by Liza Porteus
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