Letter instructing counters to Toss Military Votes
The Real Law
State and Federal law provides for the counting of “absentee qualified electors overseas” ballots for 10 days after the day of the election or until November 17, 2000. Sections 101.62(7)(a), Florida Statutes defines as “absentee qualified elector overseas” to mean members of the Armed Forces while in the service, members of the merchant marine of the United States and other citizens of the United States, who are permanent residents of the states and are temporarily residing outside of the territories of the United States and the Districts of Columbia. These “absent qualified electors overseas” must also be qualified and registered as provided by law.
You are being asked to review these overseas absentee ballots to make a determination whether acceptance by the supervisor of elections and/or the county canvassing board is legal under Florida law. A challenge to these ballots must be made prior to the time that the ballot is removed from the mailing envelope. The specific statutory requirement for processing the canvass of an absentee ballot including of overseas absentee ballot, are set forth in Section 101.52(2) ©2.
Florida Statutes:
If any elector or candidate present believes that an absentee ballot is illegal due to a defect apparent on the voter’s certificate, he or she may at anytime before the ballot is removed from the envelope, file with the canvassing board a protest against the canvcass of the ballot specifying the precinct, the ballot, and the reason he or she believes the ballot to be illegal. A challenge based upon a defect in the voter's certificate may not be accepted after the ballot has been removed from the mailing envelope.
The form of the voter's certificates on the absentee ballot is set forth in section 101.64(1), Florida Statutes. By statutory provisions, only overseas absentee ballots mailed with an APO, PPO, or foreign postmark shall be considered a ballot. See Section 101.62(7)©. Florida Statutes.
In reviewing these ballots you should focus on the following:
1. Request for overseas ballots: Determine that the voter affirmatively requested an overseas ballot, and that the signature on the request for an overseas ballot matches the signature of the elector on the registration books to determine that the elector who requested the overseas ballot is the elector registered. See Section 101.62(4)(a), Florida Statutes.
2. The voter’s signature: The ballot envelope must be signed by the voter. The signature of the elector as the voter’s certificate should be compared with the signature of the elector of the signature on the registration books to determine that the elector who voted by ballot is the elector registered. See Section 101.68©x, Florida Statutes.
3. The ballot is properly witnessed: The absentee ballot envelope must be witnessed by a notary or an attesting witness over the age of eighteen years. You may note that these requirements vary from the statutory language from the Section 101.68(2)©1, Florida Statutes. Certain statutory requirements in that section were not proclaimed by the Justice Department pursuant to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, Sec. DE 98-13.
4. The ballot is postmarked: With respect to absentee ballots mailed by absolute qualified electors overseas only those ballots mailed with an APO, PPO, or foreign postmark shall be considered valid. See Section101.62(7)(c), Florida Statutes. This statutory provision varies from rule 15-2.013(7), Florida Administrative Code, which provides overseas absentee ballots may be accepted if "postmarked or signed and dated no later than the date of the federal election."
5. The elector has not already voted (duplicate ballot). In some instances, an absent qualified elector overseas may have received two absentee ballots and previously submitted another ballot. No elector is entitled to vote twice. (Please insert appropriate Fl. xxx.)
To assist your review, we have attached the following:
1. A review Federal Postal regulations relating to FPO's and PPO's.
2. A protest form to be completed with respect to each absentee ballot challenged.
3. Overseas Ballot Summary of Definitions.
Revised Overseas Ballot Summary of Definitions
There are 3 different types of overseas ballots that are valid for return at the counties provided they are postmarked on or before November 7th.
1. Federal Write-In ballot
2. Florida Advance Ballot
Sent out in advance of a regular General Election ballot with state and Federal candidates listed.
3. Regular Overseas Ballot
Below are the definitions for points of origin and postmark that are valid for military overseas ballots:
1. APO (Army Post Office) -- A branch of the designated USPS civilian post office, which falls under the jurisdiction of the postmaster of either New York City or San Francisco, that serves either Army or Air Force personnel.
2. FPO (Fleet Post Office) -- A branch of the designated USPS civilian post office, which falls under the jurisdiction of the postmaster of either New York City or San Francisco, that serves Coast Guard, Navy, or Marine Corps personnel.
3. MPO (Military Post Office) -- A branch of a U.S. civil post office, operated by the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps to serve military personnel overseas or aboard ships.
4. Military Post Office Cancellation -- A postmark that contains the post office name, state, ZIP Cope, and month, day, and year that the mail xxx was cancelled.
Protest of Overseas Absentee Ballot
As provided in Section 101.68(2)(c)(2), Florida Statutes. I, as an elector in __________ County, Florida, hereby protest against the canvass of the overseas absentee ballot described below:
County: ____________________________________________________
Precinct: __________________________________________________
The Ballot: ________________________________________________
Name of Voter: _____________________________________________
Address of Voter: __________________________________________
Reason for rejection: ______________________________________
___ Lack of voter signature
___ Lack of affirmative request for absentee ballot
___ Request for absentee ballot not fully filled out
___ Signature on absentee ballot request does not match signature on registration card or on ballot
___ Voter signature on envelope does not match signature on registration card
___ Inadequate witness certification
___ Late postmark (indicate date of actual postmark)
___ Domestic postmark (including Peurto Rico, Guam, etc.)
___ No postmark
___ Voter had previously voted in this election
___ Other
__________________________________
Signature of Person Filing Protest
__________________________________
Print Name
11/15/00
Regarding those military absentee ballots that were wrongly rejected in Florida, below is a partial summary of the applicable law:
Voting, even by military people, is a right. There is a federal law barring "conspiracy against rights":
18 USC 241 states that if anyone conspires "to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person . . . in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, . . . they shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both."
(18 USC 242), might apply better to government agencies: "Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, . . . shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both . . ."
Florida case law also states that a postmark on absentee ballots is not always necessary:
In Boardman v. Esteva, supra, 323 So. 2d 259, the issue was "whether the absentee voting law requires absolute strict compliance with all its provisions, or whether substantial compliance is sufficient to give validity to the ballot." Boardman, 323 So. 2d at 262. The case involved a contest of the October 3, 1972 election for a seat on the Second District Court of Appeal. The ballots challenged in that case included a number of ballots on which the voter's affidavit did not indicate the voter's reason for voting absentee, as well as ballots in which the absentee envelopes did not contain a postmark. After analyzing in detail the effect of technical irregularities in the absentee voting law on the integrity of the election, the court determined that, on the facts before it, the challenged irregularities did not warrant the invalidation of the absentee votes because the irregularities did not affect the integrity of the election. However, the Court emphasized that evidence of fraud, gross negligence, or intentional wrongdoing may well have produced a different result: "Notably existent in this dispute is the complete absence of any allegation of fraud, gross negligence or even the hint of intentional wrongdoing, either on the part of the voters or of the election officials." Id. at 263. The court held that trial courts must consider the following factors in determining whether to invalidate absentee ballots:
- (a) the presence or absence of fraud, gross negligence, or intentional wrongdoing;
- (b) whether there has been substantial compliance with the essential requirements of the absentee voting law; and
- (c) whether the irregularities complained of adversely affect the sanctity of the ballot and the integrity of the election.
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[Source: http://www.drudgereport.com/names.htm ]
REVEALED: NAMES OF AMERICANS IN MILITARY WHOSE VOTES DID NOT COUNT
**Exclusive**
The DRUDGE REPORT has obtained a list of soldiers, sailors and other military personnel who had their votes disqualified by teams of Democratic lawyers guided by a five-page memo in Florida's election fiasco.
Presented here is a partial list of the more than 40% of overseas and out-of-state ballots that were rejected on technicalities in Florida.
The votes of these Americans in the military did not count:
Carlson, Stacy Rae -- Oak Harbor, WA
Clement, Phillip Randall -- VS 38 UNIT 25474
Horsefield, Michael James -- Oak Harbor, WA
Karmey, Thomas C. -- USS George Washington
Kerlin, Matthew Douglas -- PSC 557
Livingstone, Laurence Lee -- HCS Squadron 11 DET 2 UNIT 25158
Padilla, Jacob Anthony -- USNS SPICA-T AFS 9
Barragan, Raul -- VP 10 Unit 60165
Monger, Paul O. -- VF 154 UNIT 25431
Muckenthaler, Paul Lawrence -- VQ-2 Box 445 UNIT 50082
Pederson, Gregory Paul -- Oak Harbor, WA
Moore, Edna A. -- PSC 80m Box 20206
Lim, Seunghye -- American Embassy Seoul - Korea
Ostrander, Bill L. Jr. -- SAES CMR 451Bpx 34
Barrow, Tom Lee II -- Virginia Beach, VA
Chartier, Dennis Wayne -- PSC 825 Box 488
Chartier, Ann M. -- PSC 825 Box 488
Buff, Ann Margaret -- Hagatna, GU
Clines, Christopher Allen -- USS La Salle AGF-3 S-2 DIV
Gerber, Adam, C. -- HQSVCHN (G-6) 3RD FSSG/UNIT 38406
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Filed By Matt Drudge
Reports are moved when circumstances warrant
http://www.drudgereport.com for updates
(c)DRUDGE REPORT 2000
Not for reproduction without permission of the author
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