TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

More Florida Counties Give Unverified Voters Leeway

ADVERTISEMENT

Published: October 23, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - Other counties are joining Pinellas in letting voters who fail Florida's "no match, no vote" test to confirm their identities at the polls and cast regular ballots on Election Day.

For weeks, Pinellas County Elections Supervisor Deborah Clark has remained at odds with Secretary of State Kurt Browning over unverified voters.

Clark wants to allow voters who remain unverified on Election Day because of government error to validate their registration at the polls, then cast regular ballots.

Browning wants last-minute verifications done at elections supervisors' offices only; otherwise, those voters would have to cast provisional ballots - which count only if the voter reconciles the problem by 5 p.m. Nov. 6.

Browning has been pleading for "uniformity" among the counties but lacks authority to require it.

Wednesday, some elections supervisors said they are taking Clark's approach.

Elizabeth Townsend, community relations coordinator at Hernando County's elections office, said poll workers will coordinate with the central office by phone to allow unverified voters who prove who they are at the polls on Election Day to cast regular ballots. Hernando has 42 unverified voters.

Polk supervisor Lori Edwards said she has not decided, but is leaning in the same direction. The county has 60 unverified voters. Edwards voiced concerns about the state's decision not to implement the law until Sept. 8.

A federal judge and U.S. Department of Justice approved the procedures that Browning has urged, spokeswoman Jennifer Davis said. She added that supervisors who do things their own way "open themselves up to legal challenges" after the election.

"If a person has gone out of their way to register to vote, we need to make sure they can vote and use a regular ballot instead of a provisional one," said Ann McFall, Volusia County's supervisor, who is taking Clark's approach.

"I can't imagine them having to go to my office on Election Day, which could be as far as 40 miles."

At last tally on Oct. 10, the state had returned 13,339 unverified applications to the counties for reconciliation.

Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382.

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT