Primary Election Integrity Estimate: Florida

[Patsy Stone]

Well, really, what can be said about the history of Florida elections that hasn't already been said? Thankfully, the future looks brighter than the past due to our new RINO Governor, Charlie Crist. Crist made changes to two major laws affecting voters in Florida.

First, the November 2008 Presidential elections will be entirely on paper (Op-Scan) with the exception of some touchscreen equipment (paper receipt) used for ADA compliance. Second, a positive change to laws regarding restoration of voting rights and changes to the Clemency rules allows for less disenfranchisement.

The Florida Presidential Primary was moved to coincide with the real issue facing Florida these days: a Constitutional Property Tax Amendment. This Amendment was the reason the election was originally scheduled on January 29th. The long history of why and how Florida ended up moving its Primary, and the stripping of delegates which ensued, is described in detail here in madfloridian's journal. Unlike Michigan, however, here in Florida all of the Democratic candidates' names appear on the ballot.

All 67 counties will vote, some will also have smaller municipal elections. The majority only have the Primary and the Amendment.

Florida is a closed primary state. This means no Independents or third parties may vote for Presidential Primary candidates. Their ballots contain only the amendment and any relevant non-partisan local elections.

Early voting is currently underway. It began January 14th, and runs through January 26th.

State of Florida Election Links:

State Election Laws: http://election.dos.state.fl.us/laws/index.shtml / http://election.dos.state.fl.us/publications/pdf/2007electionLaws.pdf

E-Results Statewide: http://election.dos.state.fl.us/elections/resultsarchive/enight.asp

Candidate and race tracker: http://election.dos.state.fl.us/cand/

Overall statewide voter statistics: http://election.dos.state.fl.us/voterreg/vrArchive/2008voterreg.shtml

Breakdown by party by county: http://election.dos.state.fl.us/voterreg/pdf/2007/PPP2008_CountyParty.pdf

Early Voting and Absentee Voting: http://election.dos.state.fl.us/fvrscountyballotreports/FVRSAvailableFiles.aspx

Voting Systems:

Diebold, ES&S, and Sequoia all have a piece of the State's current voting system.

OS Name: Diebold Election Systems, Inc. 2005 B (Blended)+(Plus Audio)
ADA System: AccuVote TSx
Precinct: AccuVote OS
Absentee: AccuVote OS
Number of counties: 6
Counties: Brevard, Flagler, Madison, Monroe, St. Lucie, Taylor

OS Name: Diebold Election Systems, Inc. Release 1-18-19, Version 2
ADA: AccuVote TSx
Precinct: AccuVote OS
Absentee: AccuVote OS
Number of counties: 25
Counties: Alachua, Baker, Calhoun, Citrus, Columbia, DeSoto, Dixie, Duval, Gilchrist, Glades, Hardee, Hernando, Jefferson, Leon, Levy, Manatee, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, Osceola, Polk, Putnam, Seminole, Volusia, Wakulla, Walton

OS Name: Diebold Election Systems, Release 1-18-25, Version 1
ADA: AccuVote TSx
Precinct: AccuVote OS
Absentee: AccuVote OS
Number of counties: 1
County: Sarasota

OS Name: ES&S Voting System, Release 4.5 Version 2 (No paper at all except for Absentee)
ADA: iVotronic
Precinct: iVotronic
Absentee: Model 650
Number of counties: 10
Counties: Broward, Charlotte, Collier, Lake, Lee (Model 150 for Absentee), Martin, Miami-Dade, Nassau, Pasco, Sumter

OS Name: ES&S Voting System, Release 4.5 Version 2
ADA: iVotronic
Precinct: Model 100
Absentee: Model 100 / Model 150 / Model 650
Number of counties: 13
Counties: Bradford, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Hamilton (Model 650 for Absentee), Hendry (Model 150 for Absentee), Highlands, Jackson, Lafayette, Liberty, Marion (Model 650 for Absentee), Suwannee, Union

OS Name: ES&S Voting System, Release 4.5, Version 1
ADA: iVotronic
Precinct: Optech III-P Eagle for Precinct
Absentee: Optech IV-C / Optech III-P Eagle
Number of counties: 6
Counties: Clay, Holmes (Optech III-P Eagle for Absentee), Orange, Santa Rosa, St. Johns, Washington (Optech III-P Eagle for Absentee)

OS Name: AVC "Edge" Voting System, Release Level 4.3.320
ADA: AVC Edge I
Precinct: AVC Edge I
Absentee: Optech 400-C
Number of counties: 3
Counties: Hillsborough, Palm Beach, Pinellas

OS Name: ES&S Voting Systems, Release 3.0.1.1, Version 1
ADA: iVotronic
Precinct: Optech III-P Eagle
Absentee: Optech IV-C
Number of counties: 1
County: Escambia

OS Name: ES&S Voting Systems, Release 3.0.1.1, Version 2
ADA: iVotronic
Precinct: Model 100
Absentee: Model 650
Number of counties: 1
County: Bay

OS Name: Sequoia Voting System, Release 3.1.077, Version 1
ADA: AVC Edge I
Precinct: AVC Edge I
Absentee: Optech 400-C
Number of Counties: 1
County: Indian River

County Links:

There is a huge amount of information at the individual sites, including some information about how they count Absentee ballots. I've just listed the main site, a link to a sample ballot (or sample ballot page) and any information they offered about the voting machines in use. The number of precincts is in parenthesis. An asterisk indicates other municipal elections on January 29th, 2008:

Alachua* (69) Sample Ballot
Baker (9) Sample Ballot
Bay (59) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.bayvotes.org/VotingEquipment.aspx
Bradford (22)
Brevard* (221) Sample Ballot
Broward (1032) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.essvote.com/HTML/fla/ivotronic/iVotronic_tour.html
Calhoun (15) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.votecalhoun.com/voter_howto.cfm
Charlotte (83) Sample Ballot
Citrus (41) Sample Ballot
Clay (64) Sample Ballot
Collier (96) Sample Ballot
Columbia (25) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://votecolumbia.com/index.php?id=53
DeSoto (15)
Dixie (11)
Duval* (285) Voting Equipment: http://www.duvalelections.com/content.aspx?id=67#5
Escambia (91) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.escambiavotes.com/votingsystem.php
Flagler (34) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.flaglerelections.com/howtovote.htm
Franklin (10) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://pointers.audiovideoweb.com/stcasx/ca25win25217/m100.wmv/play.asx;
Gadsden (27) Voting Equipment: http://gadsden.supervisorofelections.com/equipment.asp
Gilchrist (10)
Glades (No website) (13)
Gulf (16)
Hamilton (10) Voting Equipment: http://www.hamiltonvotes.com/system.html
Hardee (12) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.hardeecountyelections.com/voter_information.htm
Hendry (26) Sample Ballot
Hernando (56) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.hernandovotes.com/AccuVote.htm
Highlands (27)
Hillsborough (360) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.votehillsborough.org/content.aspx?id=27
Holmes (18) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.holmeselections.com/id3.html
Indian River (57) Sample Ballot
Jackson (28) Sample Ballot Voting Equipment: http://jacksoncountysoe.org/VotersGuideProof.pdf
Jefferson (15) Voting Equipment: http://www.jeffersonvotes.com/index.php?id=46
Lafayette (7) Voting Equipment: http://www.lafayettevotes.com/system.html
Lake (103) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://elections.lakecountyfl.gov/ivotronic_voting_demo.asp
Lee* (225) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://leeelections.com/votesyst.htm
Leon (116) Sample Ballot
Levy (20) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.votelevy.com/ways_to_cast_your_vote1.htm
Liberty (10) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://libertyelections.com/voter_howto.cfm
Madison (11)
Manatee* (136) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.votemanatee.com/accu-vote.asp
Marion (143) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.votemarion.com/content.aspx?id=20
Martin (50) Voting Equipment: http://www.martinvotes.com/content.aspx?id=149
Miami-Dade* (872) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.miamidade.gov/elections/video_pres.asp
Monroe (30) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.keys-elections.org/accuvote.aspx
Nassau (24) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.votenassau.com/content.aspx?id=36
Okaloosa* (52) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.govote-okaloosa.com/content.aspx?id=18
Okeechobee (18) Sample Ballot
Orange* (263) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.ocfelections.com/Voter%20Services/voting_equipment_used_in_orange_.htm
Osceola (93) Sample Ballot
Palm Beach (695) Voting Equipment: https://www.pbcelections.org/content.aspx?id=39
Pasco (172) Sample Ballot
Pinellas* (380) Sample Ballot
Polk (161) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.polkelections.com/content.asp?c=24
Putnam (55) Sample Ballot
Santa Rosa* (43) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.santarosa.fl.gov/elections/documents/howtoopticalvote.pdf
Sarasota (167) Sample Ballot
Seminole (126) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://semcoelections.org/en-us/how_do_i_vote/videos.php
St. Johns (68) Sample Ballot
St. Lucie (75) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.slcelections.com/vote_how.htm
Sumter (42) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.sumterelections.org/index.php?op=F&ss=128188
Suwannee (19) Sample Ballot
Taylor (14) Sample Ballot
Union (No website) (11)
Volusia (179) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://volusia.org/elections/votersguide3.htm
Wakulla (12)
Walton (32) Sample Ballot; Voting Equipment: http://www.votewaltoncounty.com/VotingSystemAndEquipment.htm
Washington (21) Sample Ballot

[flyarm]

1. Thank you Patsy..thats alot of work!! well done!! i got my absentee ballot

today in the mail!!

hi sweets!!

:hi: :applause: :applause: :woohoo: :woohoo:

fly

[Patsy Stone]

3. Hi, Mama Fly!

I can't wait to vote on paper in November!
:loveya:

It was only a pain because I had to do some things 67 times. :)

[flyarm]

2. oh and K&R!!!! eom

[Kurovski]

4. Yeehaw! Look at Patsy go!

K&R. :hi: Thank you much, Ma'am.

[Patsy Stone]

7. Anything for you

:loveya:

[Kurovski]

8. I wish I could get you two more RECOMMENDATIONS PLEASE!

:loveya:

[Patsy Stone]

10. Thanks for that

And I believe your wish has come true.

DU Rocks!

[EFerrari]

5. Woweeee! That's beautiful!

:woohoo:

[Patsy Stone]

6. Aw, shucks. Thanks.

:blush:

Now let's hope we don't need it. :)

[Laurab]

9. WOW K & R

Thank you for all that work! Glad to be the 5th rec.

[Patsy Stone]

11. Actually

I learned a lot, and had a good time trying to imagine what each of the Supervisors of Elections would be like. Thanks!

[Laurab]

13. Anytime! n/t

[Peace Patriot]

12. Thank you, Patsy! Fab work! But a paper ballot is only as good as the audit.

What is the general audit rule in Florida? Audit = automatic recount of a % of ballots to check for machine errors/fraud.

The best states do only 1%. CA does 1% generally. CA's Sec of State Debra Bowen just instituted rules that will require 10% in counts that are within 0.5%, and an escalated audit if the 1% audit turns up anomalies. The bad county election officials (former Diebold salesperson Deborah Seiler, now head of elections in San Diego - jeez! - and others) just sued Sec of State Bowen over this, but it looks like the judge is going to rule in Bowen's favor.

The upshot, though, is that 99% of the ballots will never be counted - 90% will go uncounted, even if unusual circumstances occur. That's not good enough. Kathy Dopp - stats expert - says 5% to 10% is needed to detect error/fraud. With a 1% audit, CA will never reach the point of triggering a higher audit, in some cases of error/fraud.

By comparison, Venezuela does a whopping 55% handcount, to check on machine fraud--and they have an "open source" code system (anyone may review the code by which the votes the are tabulated)--unlike CA, FLA and most of the U.S., which have a "trade secret" code system, with the code owned and controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations (Diebold had a CEO who was a Bush/Cheney campaign chair; ES&S--a spinoff of Diebold--has very close ties to far rightwing causes; Sequoia's salespeople are former Republican CA Sec of State Bill Jones, and his chief aide Alfie Charles, who jumped from their 'public service' right into the election theft industry.)

What is Florida doing for an audit?

[Patsy Stone]

14. At least 1%, but no more than 2%

101.591 Voting system audit. Page 57 Laws

(1) Immediately following the certification of each election, the county canvassing board or the local board responsible for certifying the election shall conduct a manual audit of the voting systems used in randomly selected precincts.

(2) The audit shall consist of a public manual tally of the votes cast in one randomly selected race that appears on the ballot. The tally sheet shall include election-day, absentee, early voting, provisional, and overseas ballots, in at least 1 percent but no more than 2 percent of the precincts chosen at random by the county canvassing board or the local board responsible for certifying the election. If 1 percent of the precincts is less than one entire precinct, the audit shall be conducted using at least one precinct chosen at random by the county canvassing board or the local board responsible for certifying the election. Such precincts shall be selected at a publicly noticed canvassing board meeting.

(3) The canvassing board shall post a notice of the audit, including the date, time, and place, in four conspicuous places in the county and on the home page of the county supervisor of elections website.

(4) The audit must be completed and the results made public no later than 11:59 p.m. on the 7th day following certification of the election by the county canvassing board or the local board responsible for certifying the election.

(5) Within 15 days after completion of the audit, the county canvassing board or the board responsible for certifying the election shall provide a report with the results of the audit to the Department of State in a standard format as prescribed by the department. The report shall contain, but is not limited to, the following items:

(a) The overall accuracy of audit.
(b) A description of any problems or discrepancies encountered.
(c) The likely cause of such problems or discrepancies.
(d)Recommended corrective action with respect to avoiding or mitigating such circumstances in future elections.

101.5911 Rulemaking authority for voting system audit procedures.—

Effective upon this act becoming a law, the Department of State shall adopt rules to implement the provisions of s. 101.591, as amended by s. 8, chapter 2007-30, Laws of Florida, which prescribe detailed audit procedures for each voting system, which shall be uniform to the extent practicable, along with the standard form for audit reports. History.—s. 9, ch. 2007-30.

101.595 Analysis and reports of voting problems.

(1) No later than December 15 of each general election year, the supervisor of elections in each county shall report to the Department of State the total number of overvotes and undervotes in the “President and Vice President” or “Governor and Lieutenant Governor” race that appears first on the ballot or, if neither appears, the first race appearing on the ballot pursuant to s. 101.151(2), along with the likely reasons for such overvotes and undervotes and other information as may be useful in evaluating the performance of the voting system and identifying problems with ballot design and instructions which may have contributed to voter confusion.

(2) The Department of State, upon receipt of such information, shall prepare a public report on the performance of each type of voting system. The report must contain, but is not limited to, the following information:

(a) An identification of problems with the ballot design or instructions which may have contributed to voter confusion;
(b)An identification of voting system design problems; and
(c) Recommendations for correcting any problems identified.

(3) The Department of State shall submit the report to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives by January 31 of each year following a general election. History.—s. 24, ch. 2001-40; s. 16, ch. 2002-17; s. 41, ch. 2005-277.

However, the testing rules (not the audit rules) are much more strict:

Section 101.5612 Page 55 Laws

(4)(a)1. For electronic or electromechanical voting systems configured to include electronic or electromechanical tabulation devices which are distributed to the precincts, all or a sample of the devices to be used in the election shall be publicly tested. If a sample is to be tested, the sample shall consist of a random selection of at least 5 percent of the devices for an optical scan system or 2 percent of the devices for a touchscreen system or 10 of the devices for either system, as applicable, whichever is greater. The test shall be conducted by processing a group of ballots, causing the device to output results for the ballots processed, and comparing the output of results to the results expected for the ballots processed. The group of ballots shall be produced so as to record a predetermined number of valid votes for each candidate and on each measure and to include for each office one or more ballots which have activated voting positions in excess of the number allowed by law in order to test the ability of the tabulating device to reject such votes.

Also, were not all Op-Scan yet. If you look in the OP, you'll see that ten counties, including Miami-Dade, are flying paperless one last time.

[Peace Patriot]

15. Miami-Dade? Oh God. Here we go again!

Why would they limit the audit to not more than 2%? That's weird. What if local election officials feel that something's very wrong, and want to check more? Why prohibit them?

Well, I KNOW why--cuz how can you steal elections for corporatists and warmongers if they start counting the votes? I'm speaking rhetorically, alas.

Thanks for the info.! I'm glad to hear there is SOME auditing, in some parts of the state.

[eomer]

22. Note this important limitation on the audit: "one randomly selected race".

So the presidential election will be audited in only a few Florida counties -- those few counties where it is the one race that happens to get randomly selected for audit out of the many races on the ballot.

[Melissa G]

16. Thanks Pats! You Rock!

:yourock:

[bleever]

17. You've set the bar pretty high, Patsy Stone.

That's a job very well done.

[Patsy Stone]

18. Thanks!

I'm thinking of changing my name: http://www1.putnam-fl.com/live/soe.asp

[bleever]

19. I wonder if she's related.

[Wilms]

21. That IS chill. n/t

:D

[flashl]

20. Great! K

sorry can not rec!

[EFerrari]

23. Kick

[Ellipsis]

24. kick

Thanks greatly for your effort!

[Helga Scow Stern]

25. Oh good, so the fix isn't really in for Giuliani?

I was getting worried, apparently he believes doesn't need to campaign, and the winner of Florida takes all:

Giuliani seeks to prove experts wrong
http://tinyurl.com/yoodlw

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

26. will the Supreme Court be called to decide if FL counts in Primary? n/t

[Patsy Stone]

27. I hope not.

And I can't wait to throw those DRE's into the bay.