Republicans About To Steal Katherine Harris's Old District?
Update: The Florida Democratic Party needs naother $4,075 $2,475 to fight this. You can contribute to the effort here.
There are some very worrying things happening in some districts. Florida-13 is probably the worst one of those (emphasis mine):
Update: The Florida Democratic Party needs another$4,075 $2,475 to fight this. You can contribute to the effort here.
There are some very worrying things happening in some districts. Florida-13 is probably the worst one of those (emphasis mine):
A review of Sarasota County voting results shows that in almost every precinct a high percentage of voters didn't cast ballots in the hotly contested 13th Congressional District, a trend that likely affected the outcome of the race.
Democrat Christine Jennings lost to Republican Vern Buchanan by 368 votes, making it the second closest congressional race in the country.
More than 18,000 voters who showed up at the polls voted in other races but not the Buchanan-Jennings race.
That means nearly 13 percent of voters did not vote for either candidate -- a massive undercount compared with other counties, including Manatee, which reported a 2 percent undervote.
If the missing votes had broken for Jennings by the same percentage as the counted votes in Sarasota County, the Democrat would have won the race by about 600 votes instead of losing by 368, according to a Herald-Tribune review. Even if the undervote had been 8 percent -- more than three times what it was in Manatee -- Jennings would have won by one vote.
While some have speculated that people simply chose not to vote in the District 13 race, many voters say the unusual undervote was caused by badly designed touch-screen ballots, which they say hid the race or made it hard to verify if they had cast their vote.
More than 120 Sarasota County voters contacted the Herald-Tribune to report such problems, almost all regarding the Jennings-Buchanan race.
At a press conference Wednesday, Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent said she did not know specifically what caused the undervote.
"I do not know what to attribute it completely to. It's not a mechanical issue; it would be voters overlooking the race. We did not have any equipment failure," Dent said. "I'm not a mind reader. I can only give you conjecture."
But prior to the election, Dent had sent notices to her poll workers to warn voters that the District 13 race was easy to miss as they scrolled through their touch-screens to vote.(...)
"I'm not sure there's even a problem," said Jenny Nash, a spokeswoman for the Florida Secretary of State, who oversees elections. She said the office had not received a single complaint or contact about the race.
Nash repeated Dent's suggestion that voters may have intentionally decided not to vote in the congressional race.
"It could be a protest vote. There's a lot of different reasons people undervote," she said. "Certainly undervoting is the voter's prerogative."
Nash said no state investigation is planned.
No investigation planned, huh? What a surprise. Perhaps fittingly, this is the district that Katherine Harris vacated. Christine Jennings must not concede this race. It seems pretty clear that more people went to the polls or their absentee ballots ready to vote for Jennings. She should be Representative-Elect Jennings now. She has posted the following statement on her website:
Democrat Christine Jennings lost to Republican Vern Buchanan by 368 votes, making it the second closest congressional race in the country.
More than 18,000 voters who showed up at the polls voted in other races but not the Buchanan-Jennings race.
That means nearly 13 percent of voters did not vote for either candidate -- a massive undercount compared with other counties, including Manatee, which reported a 2 percent undervote.
If the missing votes had broken for Jennings by the same percentage as the counted votes in Sarasota County, the Democrat would have won the race by about 600 votes instead of losing by 368, according to a Herald-Tribune review. Even if the undervote had been 8 percent -- more than three times what it was in Manatee -- Jennings would have won by one vote.
While some have speculated that people simply chose not to vote in the District 13 race, many voters say the unusual undervote was caused by badly designed touch-screen ballots, which they say hid the race or made it hard to verify if they had cast their vote.
More than 120 Sarasota County voters contacted the Herald-Tribune to report such problems, almost all regarding the Jennings-Buchanan race.
At a press conference Wednesday, Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent said she did not know specifically what caused the undervote.
"I do not know what to attribute it completely to. It's not a mechanical issue; it would be voters overlooking the race. We did not have any equipment failure," Dent said. "I'm not a mind reader. I can only give you conjecture."
But prior to the election, Dent had sent notices to her poll workers to warn voters that the District 13 race was easy to miss as they scrolled through their touch-screens to vote.(...)
"I'm not sure there's even a problem," said Jenny Nash, a spokeswoman for the Florida Secretary of State, who oversees elections. She said the office had not received a single complaint or contact about the race.
Nash repeated Dent's suggestion that voters may have intentionally decided not to vote in the congressional race.
"It could be a protest vote. There's a lot of different reasons people undervote," she said. "Certainly undervoting is the voter's prerogative."
Nash said no state investigation is planned.
Dear Friends,
It is overwhelming to think of how many of you have spent your free time making phone calls, knocking on doors, and stuffing envelopes. Thank you for your support. I couldn't have gotten this far without you.
The Supervisor of Elections reported today that there were 18,382 undervotes in this Congressional race - that means more than 1 out of every 7 ballots cast did not record a vote for the 13th District Congressional race. This is a staggering number. Sarasota voters have been victimized by not having their vote count.
I hope my opponent agrees that the most important thing is to make sure every vote throughout the district is counted and counted accurately. This is about ensuring fair elections.
Concerned and frustrated voters have been calling us since the beginning of early voting. On Election Day, we received dozens of reports from voters who experienced a problem at the polls. Today, it is overwhelming, the number of emails and phone calls we have received. We continue to document the cases as they come in, and the phones are still ringing off the hook. We've had members of the media, people who trained pollworkers, and even pollworkers themselves contact us.
By law, there will be a mandatory recount. Our goal is to assure every voter that we will have a fair and accurate election process. We will not rest until every vote is counted.
Sincerely,
Christine Jennings
Any information and resources on how to fight for what appears to the imminent theft of Katherine Harris's congressional seat in Florida would be appreciated.It is overwhelming to think of how many of you have spent your free time making phone calls, knocking on doors, and stuffing envelopes. Thank you for your support. I couldn't have gotten this far without you.
The Supervisor of Elections reported today that there were 18,382 undervotes in this Congressional race - that means more than 1 out of every 7 ballots cast did not record a vote for the 13th District Congressional race. This is a staggering number. Sarasota voters have been victimized by not having their vote count.
I hope my opponent agrees that the most important thing is to make sure every vote throughout the district is counted and counted accurately. This is about ensuring fair elections.
Concerned and frustrated voters have been calling us since the beginning of early voting. On Election Day, we received dozens of reports from voters who experienced a problem at the polls. Today, it is overwhelming, the number of emails and phone calls we have received. We continue to document the cases as they come in, and the phones are still ringing off the hook. We've had members of the media, people who trained pollworkers, and even pollworkers themselves contact us.
By law, there will be a mandatory recount. Our goal is to assure every voter that we will have a fair and accurate election process. We will not rest until every vote is counted.
Sincerely,
Christine Jennings
Update: The Florida Democratic Party needs another
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