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Buddy Johnson's Night: Timeline Of Election Woes

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By JOHN W. ALLMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 6, 2008

7 p.m. – Polls close.

8:10 p.m. – Elections supervisor Buddy Johnson is at the University of South Florida, where larger-than-expected crowds slow voting to a crawl, keeping the precinct open late. Johnson tells a reporter that his office underestimated the turnout at USF.

8:45 p.m. – With other surrounding counties – Pasco, Pinellas and Polk – reporting close to 100 percent of the election results, only 42 of Hillsborough's 384 polling precincts are reported.

9 p.m. – In a confrontational exchange, Kathy Harris, Johnson's general counsel and chief of staff, tells reporters that there is no problem. "You think it's taking a long time?" she says. "We think we're doing very well." Harris blames the delay at USF on "a lot of students changing [their] address on election day."

9:38 p.m. – A spokeswoman for Johnson, Mia McCormick, says there is a problem with vote tabulation. The county is trying to upload both early voting and precincts results simultaneously, which is slowing the process considerably and threatening to crash the computer system. McCormick contradicts Harris and says it's common for large numbers of college students to change their address on Election Day.

10:30 p.m. – Harris tells reporters that election officials are trying to have a conference call with Premier Election Solution's technical staff to discuss the delay. Johnson still has not arrived at his office on Falkenburg Road.

10:43 p.m. – Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin White, a member of the canvassing board, says there is a transmission problem with about 150 optical scanner machines. The elections office can't receive vote data from the outstanding precincts. The machines are being brought to the Falkenburg Road office.

11:26 p.m. – Johnson arrives at his office and makes a brief statement. He refuses to answer any questions. He calls Tuesday "one of the most beautiful days in elections in Hillsborough County I have seen" and says that Premier is preparing a statement about the delay. He says that the county's partnership with Premier will continue.

11:40 p.m. – Johnson agrees to a closed-door, private interview with WTVT, Channel 13. His staff physically blocks other reporters from entering the office.

1:59 a.m. – A spokesman for Johnson says the supervisor is in a meeting. Johnson has not left his office for more than two hours.

2:31 a.m. – Johnson agrees to speak to reporters but says he's not up to answering many questions. He blames Premier for the delay and says the contractor is not being helpful in fixing the problem. When asked why the early votes weren't tabulated sooner, Johnson laughs, shakes his head and says, "I've got some other stuff I've got to do." He starts to leave the conference room. A photojournalist for Bay News 9 says Johnson is dodging the question. Johnson spins and angrily approaches the photojournalist. "You want to say that to my face?" he asks, raising his voice.

2:38 a.m. – Hillsborough County Commissioner Rose Ferlita, a member of the county canvassing board, says she is unimpressed with Johnson's handling of election problems. "He has to take some of the accountability," she says.

2:59 a.m. – Johnson returns to the media room. He asks to speak off the record but reporters refuse. Johnson says Premier will likely try to blame his office for the election issues. He accuses Premier of being less than truthful about the vote capacity its system can handle. In a strange back and forth, Johnson praises one of his employees, David Parks, for single-handedly trying to fix the computer error. "David knows those systems so well," he says. "[It's] beautiful to watch." When asked for Parks' job title, Johnson instead lists Parks' college degrees. Then he says Parks is a contractor. Then he says Parks is a full-time elections office employee, but he doesn't know for how long. Johnson continues to blame Premier. "This company, our vendor, our partner has not performed," he says. "I'm not going to take it on the chin."

3:20 a.m. – Johnson returns to the media room. He wants to clarify why he changed his position on Premier from supporting the contractor to condemning it. At first, he said, he was "Nice Guy Buddy." But when Premier tried to blame his office, Johnson said "the gloves were off." "I wish I had told you guys that six hours ago," he says and leaves.

3:27 a.m. – Hillsborough County Judge James Dominguez, chairman of the canvassing board, shuts down the supervisor's office for the night, saying that staff is tired and cannot fix the problems. Thirteen of 26 early voting machines remain uncounted, he says, and two precincts are outstanding because workers can't retrieve the data from the optical scanners. "For the sake of accuracy," Dominguez says, "I just think it would be best."

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