31 Oct 2008, Posted by Chris Kaufman in Culture, Politics, 0 Comments
Dead People Voting in Florida
1,636 registered voters in Florida are dead. If you don’t think 1,636 voters is a lot, consider that Bush won Florida (and subsequently the presidency) in 2000 by less than 200 votes. That’s the graduating class of a small town high school. If you sit down and make a list, you can probably think of 200 people you know. Imagine if a group as small as your list of friends and family could shift an entire presidential election, because it did. No matter what your political persuasion, realize how powerful just a few votes can be in a nation of 300 million people. Think about that if you don’t plan on making it out to the polls this Tuesday.
From WFTV:
Dead People Voting Throughout Florida
Thursday, October 30, 2008 – updated: 3:41 pm EDT October 30, 2008
“That is scary,” said Jim Branch.
Branch’s mother Marjorie died in 2004 but someone voted for her in 2006. Branch had tried to get his mother removed from the voter rolls.
“It was much easier for me calling Social Security and taking her off not getting any more checks here, than it was that (voter registration),” he sid.
County records show James Santiago voted in the 2006 general election. He too, was dead. His wife, Joann, sees this as an open invitation for voter fraud.
“I think it leaves it open to sign his name, during an election, especially an important one like this year,” said Joann.
Channel Nine discovered 1,636 registered voters in Central Florida are dead.
“This is what makes Supervisors of Elections lose sleep at night,” said Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall.
McFall said it used to be easy to clear out voter rolls.
“We had two people who did nothing but cut obituary notices out of the papers,” she said. “That’s how we found out someone died.”
But 2002’s Help America Vote act, which made it easier to register to vote, also made it more difficult to remove voters from the rolls. But Orange County Election Supervisor Bill Cowles doesn’t worry.
“I think the mechanisms are in place. There’s enough checks and balances in place,” he said.
However, 90 days before the election, voter rolls can’t be changed and if the state doesn’t tell elections offices a voter has died, that voter can be on the rolls for years.
“The minute I said he was deceased, they should’ve made note, they should’ve done whatever they had to do, the people sitting behind that table, they should have done something,” said Joann Santiago
Elections supervisors say they are pushing the state to allow them to accept death certificates from families as reasonable evidence to remove dead voters from the rolls.
