State audits Pinellas elections (Florida)

[seafan]

State audits Pinellas elections
By WILL VAN SANT, Times Staff Writer
Published April 12, 2006

CLEARWATER - In the first such audit ever conducted in Florida, state elections officials Tuesday began examining the results of three Pinellas County municipal election held early last month.

The state previously has examined individual precincts or machines, but never a full election.

With no guidelines, the head of the Bureau of Voting Systems Certification devised his own.

"There are no auditing standards for Florida elections," said David Drury. "We are on a learning curve here."

Drury, a former jet engine engineer with degrees in business and history, said he came up with the protocol in about a half-hour. He welcomes suggestions for improvement, he said.

Area voting rights activists, however, were more concerned about the audit's limited scope. Drury is examining how votes were counted, not whether the machines accurately registered voters' choices.

"It's absurd to have an audit and not try to determine whether votes were recorded correctly to begin with" said Pamela Haengel, director of the Voting Integrity Alliance of Tampa Bay, which backs the use of paper ballots. "I think that we deserve better."

Pinellas Elections Supervisor Deborah Clark requested the state review the March 7 elections in Pinellas Park, Palm Harbor and Largo because of a two-hour delay in tallying results. She wants to reassure the public that the problem was caused by human error, not faulty technology.

snip

Drury and the rest of the state team will continue their work today and hope to give preliminary results to Clark soon. A finished report is expected May 12.

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/04/12/Tampabay/State_audits_Pinellas.shtml

[NotGivingUp]

1. Yes, very absurd! Get rid of the machines!

I'm in Pinellas County. I think I'll write to the Times and let 'em know how I feel.

[seafan]

2. Sock it to 'em, NotGivingUp. If we could demand paper and pen voting

in every county, we might see some fairness and accuracy for a change.

But, this is what certain people would like to quash, through any means possible.

Let us know if you are published in the paper! Let's keep the intense pressure on.

Welcome to DU!

[saltpoint]

3. Don't know the ground view there in Pinellas County, but

Rick Baker is the mayor of St. Petersburg there in Pinellas, and Rick Baker was the campaign manager for one Jeb Bush in Jeb's initial (and unsuccessful) race against Lawton Chiles.

But the race was very close.

I am not claiming any hard evidence, but the Baker-BushCo connection is a little fishy.