FW: GOP flier questions new voting equipment

["Pete Klammer" <pklammer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

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-----Original Message-----
From: Lillie Coney [mailto:coney@xxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2004 10:25 AM
To: Election Protection:; Voting Issues:; CBC Staff:
Subject: GOP flier questions new voting equipment

>
>http://www.sptimes.com/2004/07/29/State/GOP_flier_questions_n.shtml
>
>GOP flier questions new voting equipment
>
>As Gov. Bush defends touch screen machines, his party urges using
>absentee ballots to "Make sure your vote counts."
>By STEVE BOUSQUET, Times Staff Writer
>Published July 29, 2004
>
>
>BOSTON - While Gov. Jeb Bush reassures Floridians that touch screen
>voting machines are reliable, the Republican Party is sending the
>opposite message to some voters.
>
>The GOP urged some Miami voters to use absentee ballots because touch
>screens lack a paper trail and cannot "verify your vote."
>
>That's the same argument Democrats have made but which Bush, his
>elections director and Republican legislators have repeatedly rejected.
>
>"The liberal Democrats have already begun their attacks and the new
>electronic voting machines do not have a paper ballot to verify your
>vote in case of a recount," says a glossy mailer, paid for by the
>Republican Party of Florida and prominently featuring two pictures of
>President Bush. "Make sure your vote counts. Order your absentee ballot
>today."
>
>The GOP tactic is the reverse of what Bush and state elections experts
>have said as they have repeatedly opposed Democratic moves, in the
>Legislature and courts, to require a paper trail on the machines.
>
>A coalition of liberal and civil rights groups have filed a lawsuit
>seeking to force state elections officials to create a system for manual
>recounts of touch screen results.
>
>Miami-Dade is one of 15 counties that switched from punch-card ballots
>to touch screens after the 2000 recount. But absentee ballots are filled
>out on paper and tallied on optical scan machines because the ballot is
>sent through the mail.
>
>The Republican flier is part of a hard-fought GOP primary for a state
>House seat in Miami where absentee ballots could make a difference.
>
>The mailing surfaced at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday and
>stirred outrage by Florida delegates and elected officials.
>
>"I've seen that advertisement. It's appalling," said Democratic U.S.
>Sen. Bill Nelson. "It is an acknowledgement that there are excessive
>error rates with touch screens even by the party in power."
>
>"That is awful. That is disgusting. Despicable," said state Sen. Ron
>Klein, D-Delray Beach. "Why use dirty tricks to scare people?"
>
>"It's unbelievable," said state Sen. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston.
>"They're the ones who won't certify a machine to attach a paper trail."
>
>A Bush spokeswoman said the governor had not see the flier beforehand
>and did not approve of the criticism of the touch screen machines.
>
>"The governor certainly does not support that message," said Bush
>spokeswoman Jill Bratina. "People need to have confidence in these
>machines."
>
>The Republican Party of Florida paid to send the mailing to voters in a
>House primary in Miami-Dade County, where Rep. Juan-Carlos Zapata,
>R-Miami, is fighting to win a second term against challenger Frank
>Artiles in District 119.
>
>The party supports Zapata in the Aug. 31 primary.
>
>The full-color mailer says, "Support our Republican Party" and "every
>vote counts" and shows a smiling President Bush giving a thumbs-up. A
>tear-off absentee ballot request form, to be mailed to the Republican
>Party of Florida's Miami office, shows the president and Zapata side by
>side.
>
>Republican Party spokesman Joseph Agostini initially denied that the
>brochure was the work of the GOP. But after he was shown the flier, he
>backtracked. He confirmed it was a GOP flier mailed in response to an
>Artiles flier that used the president's face without permission.
>
>Zapata did not return a call seeking comment.
>
>"It's an astonishing level of hypocrisy," said Sharon Lettman-Pacheco of
>the liberal People for the American Way Foundation, which sued the state
>seeking to force manual recounts for touch screen machines. "Which one
>is it: Do the machines work, or do they know something that we don't?"
>
>But even as Democrats criticized the message, they realized that
>Republicans were making the point they have been making for months.
>
>While not an official party position, some Democrats are urging voters
>to use absentee ballots instead of the touch screen machines.
>
>Steve Henley, a Democratic candidate for Hillsborough County supervisor
>of elections, makes the point on the campaign trail. "By voting
>absentee, you make sure your vote gets counted," Henley said. "And in
>the event there is a close election, they have a physical copy of your
>vote."
>
>- Times staff writers Alisa Ulferts and Tamara Lush and researchers
>Kitty Bennett and Deirdre Morrow contributed to this report.
>
>http://www.tampabay.com/C Copyright 2003 St. Petersburg Times.
>
>All rights reserved