TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Papers With Hillsborough Voter Info Found On I-4

Photo from Bryan Farrow

The documents found today on I-4 appear to be survey results but remain unclaimed. The elections office says the information in the documents is public record.

ADVERTISEMENT

By CHRISTIAN M. WADE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 3, 2008

Updated: 11/03/2008 11:39 am

TAMPA - Hundreds of thousands of pages of what appear to be voter survey documents were found strewn along a section of Interstate 4 early this morning.

The documents were discovered along a quarter-mile stretch of the highway near I-275 and contained names, addresses, phone numbers and party affiliations of Hillsborough County voters. Several empty cardboard boxes were found nearby.

The papers also listed voters' registration numbers, precincts where they are registered to vote and a check box next to each voter's name indicating their preference of Barack Obama or John McCain in the presidential election and whether they needed a ride on Election Day.

A spokeswoman for Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson said the documents are likely survey forms, but they didn't belong to the elections office.

"They're not our papers," spokeswoman Mia McCormick said. "Sometimes candidates request this information for campaign surveys. But we don't know whose they are."

She said the information in the documents is public record.

Florida Department of Transportation workers discovered the documents at about 4 a.m. after they were seen on a video blowing around the highway.

Kris Carson, a spokeswoman for the department, said the workers collected nine full bags of papers and have been holding the documents until the department is contacted by elections officials.

"At this point, we're planning to destroy them," Carson said.

So far, no one from either major political party had claimed the documents.

"It's obviously very embarrassing," said Michael Steinberg, chairman of the Hillsborough County Democratic Party's executive committee. "I'm sure that it wasn't intentional."

Stay with TBO.com for further developments.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT