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Here’s What You Need to Know About the Florida Early Voting ‘Election Meltdown’ Over the Weekend

Nov. 5, 2012 9:27am Liz Klimas

Florida Early Voting Results in Long Lines and Lawsuits

Voters wait in North Miami, Florida. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Early voting has seen its fair share of issues thus far where some voters using electronic voting machines have experienced calibration issues that change votes for GOP candidate Mitt Romney to Democratic candidate Barack Obama. Now early voting out of Florida has resulted in the election’s first lawsuits due to “inadequate polling facilities,” which had voters waiting for hours to cast ballots.

Florida’s early voting program was the main focus in the campaign’s final weekend, and memories of the state’s disputed 2000 presidential vote between Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush are still fresh.

According to the Associated Press, with early polling facilities closing Saturday afternoon, about 4.3 million of Florida’s 11.9 million registered voters have already made their selections. Some of those Orange, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward Counties waited for upwards of four hours (one reported a nine hour wait), leading Democrats to sue for extended early voting hours. The Atlantic Wire noted that these latter three counties alone comprise 32 percent of the state’s Democrats.

University of Florida political science professor told the Huffington Post, the situation in Florida over the wekend was “an election meltdown that is eerily similar to 2000, minus the hanging chads.”

South Floridians stand in line during the last day of early voting in Miami. (Photo: AP/Alan Diaz)

Here’s how the “meltdown” played out at each county:

Orange County: The Winter Park library polling location in the county was shut down for several hours when a suspicious package – a cooler – was found outside. It was later detonated by a local bomb squad. Given that the county is in the state’s Interstate 4 corridor, which is described by the Associated Press as a populous “swing” region that can be a decision-maker in close elections, a judge ruled to extend voting hours Sunday.
Miami-Dade County: A location was shut down Saturday due to concern that limited personnel and one printer wouldn’t be able to handle the large turnout, Deputy Supervisor Christina White said. Nearly 200 voters still in line, banged on the front doors and according to separate article in the Huffington Post, the group chanted “Let us vote! Let us vote!” until the doors reopened an hour later. To remedy the problem, the Miami-Dade elections office reopened to accept absentee ballots Sunday. Here’s a video from a Miami voter of the line:

Here’s another video showing upset voters, including one who said “This is not Cuba. This is not China. We cannot allow this to happen.”:

Palm Beach County: The Palm Beach Post reported that although the county experienced long lines, the process seemed to go smoothly. Still Susan Bucher, supervisor of elections in Palm Beach County, said she decided to open and accept absentee ballots Sunday because “we are allowed to do so.” In this video, David Lutrin, who is running for District 85 Florida House of Representatives, said fewer early voting days and the governor’s refusal to extend hours are “deliberate attempts of the Republican legislature and the governor to make it harder to vote and keep people away from the polls”:

Broward County: Voters were only allowed to pick up absentee ballots Sunday if they made an appointment in advance.

Early voting has been central to the Obama campaign’s efforts to win Florida and other swing states. More Democrats than Republicans tend to vote early, and a sizable advantage among early voters in Florida in 2008 helped Obama defeat Republican rival John McCain by 3 points, 51 percent-48 percent.

Gov. Rick Scott, though, refused to extend early voting hours after the issues experienced in some precincts over the weekend. The Palm Beach Post reported Secretary of State Ken Detzner saying supervisors can run elections in their counties as they see fit. Many of them skirted the governor’s refusal by encouraging voters to pick up absentee ballots. But University of Kentucky School of Law professor Josh Douglas foresees a problem.

“This is a hook for a post-election challenge,” said Douglas, according to the Palm Beach Post. “All 67 counties aren’t offering voters the same opportunities. You can’t have a handful of counties doing their own thing without any state authorization.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Beth Fouhy reported from Washington. Associated Press Writers Curt Anderson in Miami, Ann Sanner in Columbus, Ohio, and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wis., contributed to this report.

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Comments (59)

Rowgue
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 11:12am
It’s EARLY voting you f****** morons. You haven’t been disenfranchised yet because the election hasn’t even actually happened yet. Early voting is a courtesy extended to allow people more flexibility in being able to get out and vote. A questionably legal one to boot.

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- BIGWUN
  Posted on November 5, 2012 at 11:29am
  Yer right, Rowgue but what is happening nationwide will be widespread Damnocrap complaints so they can sue in each state they lose. What else is an idiot who is also a thief to do?
  
  Report this comment
- Wurlitzer28
  Posted on November 5, 2012 at 1:23pm
  Without early voting how on earth are all the human debris in the commie democrat party suppose to get from one polling place to another and another and another sometimes in other states?
  
  Like most things the progressive commies propose their stated intentions are NEVER their real intentions.
  
  Early voting only helps the Acorn types, you know the “Representation without Respiration”.
  
  Why do the dead always vote democrat?
  
  Report this comment
- robot501
  Posted on November 5, 2012 at 5:25pm
  Wurlitzer has it right, early voting allows you to vote early and often! Bet the buses wear the tires off this year. Hope someone has thought to watch the bus companies that contract with the demo-rats.
  
  Report this comment
jeffile
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 11:08am
I hope we can still rely on the Supreme Court to prevent a coup as happened in two Bush elections.

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EdgeOfSanity
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 10:28am
Seems like the longer early voting stretches it cuts down the time they have to update the rolls to log who has voted so the records on Tuesday will be ready.

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DZ-015
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 10:27am
The Florida fiasco in the 2000 election overshadowed the fact that the New Mexico election actually was stolen. Bush won the preliminary results by less than 200 votes. Then a poll worker suddenly remembered that she had forgotten some votes in her car. She produced a stack of 500 votes, every one of which were for Gore. Despite the legitimate questions arising over this scenario, the votes counted, and Gore was declared the winner by 366 votes out of more than 570,000 cast. Bush declined to challenge the results and concentrated his efforts in Florida to prevent a repeat.

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Mapache
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 10:26am
The problem in Florida is an uneducated electorate. This year Florida has an extensive ballot with a number of amendments to the Florida constitution in addition to the Supreme Court, School Boards, State Representatives, House, Senate and Presidential elections. If a voter had not looked over a sample ballot which was mailed to registered voters or easily available through local papers, each voter could spend 20-30 minutes going through each item.

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- DOra Glasberg
  Posted on November 5, 2012 at 10:54am
  The problem is FL has a Republican thug and common criminal as a governor.
  
  Report this comment
- Deadbang
  Posted on November 5, 2012 at 12:29pm
  Hey Dora, Republican thug is kind of an oxy-moron wouldn’t you say. This crap happens every election in Florida with the same counties being the problem. There is no possible way the vote could be stolen from the Dems in these counties since there are probably only a handful voting Republican anyway. Here are some tips. Don’t wait till the last day if you can’t vote on the actual election day, send for absentee ballots as soon as they are available not three days before they are do. And I savrd the best for last, put asmuch effort into voting as you do playing 27 bingo cards at once and everything will be just fine.
  
  Report this comment
- rs9
  Posted on November 5, 2012 at 2:59pm
  Hey Dora the Whora
  isn’t the gov of florida a republican who supprots the illegal alien/ communist/ lying chicago thug O BOO BOO
  
  Report this comment
- jjoy
  Posted on November 5, 2012 at 8:16pm
  “The problem in Florida is an uneducated electorate.”
  
  Aw, com’on mapache…
  
  It’s not just Florida… The majority of the electorate of the entire U.S. is “uneducated” or obama would have never been elected in 2008…
  
  Report this comment
ReviveUSall
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 10:22am
Early voting usually lasts several weeks. If you wait until the last day of early voting, that is your choice, and if the line is long, too bad, plan ahead next time!

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- red_white_blue2
  Posted on November 5, 2012 at 3:47pm
  Amen! For God sakes-be invested in the process, put yourself out, make an effort, devote some time. Thank God George Washington didn’t ask; “How long is this going to take?”
  
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WakeUp
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 10:14am
All of these precincts are run by democrat election boards. Is that coincidental, or was there a plan to set the stage for a lawsuit?

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randy
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 10:12am
Early voting is a recipe for democratic FRAUD!

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- idarusskie
  Posted on November 5, 2012 at 9:04pm
  of course it is.
  
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republitarian
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 10:08am
“This is not Cuba. This is not China. We cannot allow this to happen.”:

This is not election day.

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purecolorartist
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 10:06am
Isn’t election day Nov 6th? Can’t they show up then like I’m going to do?

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- woodyee
  Posted on November 5, 2012 at 10:19am
  Their attention spans aren’t long enough…
  
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- Anonymous T. Irrelevant
  Posted on November 5, 2012 at 12:46pm
  That’s fifteen too many words to fit into their small minds. If you tried to squeeze those words in, other words like poo-poo, hitler, and gimme would be squeezed and pushed, but wouldn’t come out, because they are firmly entrenched in their brains. In other words, it would cause a headache.
  
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- drs1969
  Posted on November 6, 2012 at 12:24am
  They could, but they wouldn’t get to go to any other polls. That’s the problem.
  
  Report this comment
AxelPhantom
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 10:02am
IF the lines were really as long as 7 hours, then I have to agree that that is ridiculous, but two other points.

First, in 2008 when there was supposedly record turn out, what did the lines look like then? The other is how was the area redistricted? If they added many people to the district, why wasn’t that calculated in to the set up?

Pi$$ Poor,Planning is what it sounds like and who was in charge of it? My guess would be the Demorcatically controlled local government. But blame it on the governor, he is after all a Republican.

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acovenantinblood
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 10:01am
Calibration issues must be the new term for voter fraud.

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lillymckim
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 9:57am
Paid by Big Union to start a faux they wont let me vote war!

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BATluvs3
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 9:56am
The reason why 67 counties have 67 different ways for early voting is simple. Every county is different and what works well in Miami-Dade doesn’t necessarily work for Wakulla County. Every County had the same amount of hours to vote – the Democrats are whiners.

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- Unbelievable
  Posted on November 5, 2012 at 10:04am
  Yep….
  
  Personally I wish they wouldn’t have early voting.. Wish they’d go back to the days where you had to prove you were going to be out of town on election day to be able to cast an absentee ballot.
  
  People need to VOTE ON ELECTION DAY!!
  
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mcjj
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 9:54am
I know most of the comments are saying that these votes are for Obama… but I just don’t know about that. Remember Chick-fil-a? Who’s to say that these are not determined Romney voters? Its been shown that in early voting Romney is leading. We all know we would go through hell and high water (literally) to vote!

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- drs1969
  Posted on November 6, 2012 at 12:27am
  Romney voters are more likely to be busy with other things. They can’t hop on a bus and stand in line all day, like welfare recipients.
  
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goahead.makemyday
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 9:49am
To be honest I’m glad that South FL is having trouble voting, AND they’re doing illegal actions. This just drives more focus and watchfulness into voting fraud in the area. If the police are there keeping things civil there also won’t be any intimidation at those polls. I’m getting up earlier than usual tomorrow to make sure I get to vote and make it to work on time.

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sWampy
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 9:45am
We need to do like civilized nations, have 24 hours on a Saturday when workers can actually get the day off to vote, and stick their hand in permeant ink to make sure they don’t vote more than once. This crap of months and months to fraud is for the birds.

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biohazard23
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 9:44am
That’s funny, I voted 10 days ago with no problem and no waiting whatsoever. I got my ballot by mail, took my time reading the amendments. made my choices, then turned it in to my local Supervisor of Elections office. It’s not as though anyone made it difficult to get a ballot mailed to anybody who wanted one.

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338lapua
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 9:43am
This would be “The Dagger”.
Dems know they are losing and are creating court challenges.
The margin of loss must be ASTRONOMICAL for president in name only Obama.
No time to snooze! VOTE VOTE VOTE!!!!!!

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sWampy
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 9:42am
Early voting is just a tool the democrats use to cram through fraudulent votes, the republicans go along with it just to get voter id put in. I’d bet 40% plus of early votes are fraudulent, votes cast by democrats for dead people, people in nursing homes, felons, illegals, and people voting multiple times. The democrats are a well lubed vote frauding machine. I used to work for the state data warehouse, and the SOS would send lists of people who died, felons, and those the court had taken power of attorney from making it illegal for them to vote to the counties 4 times a year, and get lists back 4 times a year to see that they had been removed. The names would be removed, but almost 100% would reappear right be for the next election.

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- lillymckim
  Posted on November 5, 2012 at 9:51am
  The of Florida have had since Oct 27th and could have used absentee ballots to vote but waited to the last minute to cause a faux problem and were probably PAID to do so by the Big Union Thugs who are in town.
  Why is every county but Dade got their votes in early with no issues?
  
  Report this comment
RJJinGadsden
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 9:41am
I really do smell a set up on this one. That is a lot of Electoral votes to allow a judge to cast them during another post election court case.

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- biohazard23
  Posted on November 5, 2012 at 9:48am
  Notice how most of the problems are cropping up in S FL, the Land of the Hanging Chad? That area is full of illegals and northern liberal transplants who are clearly too confused to know how to do this voting thing properly. Want proof? They gave us Debbie Frizzy-headed Schultz.
  
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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on November 5, 2012 at 10:03am
  BIOHAZARD23, Good morning to you. Read your post above about voting. That was just far too much common sense for the libs to grasp.
  Yeah, I do recall of the northern transplants when I lived in Tampa back in the ’70s. Guess that it is a never ending problem down there. Sounds like those fleeing California will screw up Texas in another decade or so.
  
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- biohazard23
  Posted on November 5, 2012 at 10:26am
  Good morning, RJ! Are you still in FL, up the panhandle? Any problems with voting in your location? The Tampa Bay area has been hit with letters telling people they’re not eligible to vote due to citizenship issues. Nice try, folks!
  
  Anyhoo, I’m hoping it’s just the rational-minded conservatives who are leaving the Land of Fruits and Nuts for TX. They need to straighten out Houston, Dallas, Austin…
  
  Report this comment
kaydeebeau
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 9:36am
Oh give me a break – in the early days of our country, voters had to tavel all day to get to the polls (that is why election day is Tuesday so they could travel on Monday and still keep the Lord’s day) and they did it gladly without complaint.

We have a nation of wusses who can’t stand the tiniest inconvenience to their “Its all about me” mentality

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- drs1969
  Posted on November 6, 2012 at 12:32am
  Not wussies, crooks stealing elections.
  
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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 9:33am
The Democrats are blatantly determined to ensure they can use any and all means to steal the elections form Romney tomorrow. Watch for the legal suits to begin the instant the first polls close – backed by the unions, UN and all radical bands who will scream ‘race, race, race.”

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WithoutGuile
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 9:33am
One reason the press is fudging the poll numbers to make Obama appear to be close to fool the Obama bots into believing their vote is needed in this “close” election. If they saw the margins as they truly are they wouldn’t even leave their sofas.

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dylan
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 9:31am
The dims really, really NEED that ‘vote early and vote often’ business.

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