Voting Problems Rare
November 7th, 2006 by Mike VasilindaHear it here: vasilinda-story.mp3
Common Cause Florida has fielded hundreds of calls from voters having problems today. Most complaints were minor, and the state says there will be no embarrassing repeat of the 2000 election debacle.
All but a handful of the state’s 68 hundred and 35 precincts opened on time.
NAT SOT “We’re open. Know which direction you’re going?
Secretary of State Sue Cobb says there were few if any problems. “We have seen no major issues and we’ve had no calls from supervisors saying ‘oh, we’ve got a problem’.”
Rain soaked much of the state, dampening what was already predicted to be a low turnout. Four years ago, the governor’s race brought out 55 percent of those registered. This year turnout could be as low as 35 or 40 percent.
By mid afternoon, Ben Wilcox of Common Cause Florida says his group had registered hundreds of complaints from voters. “Problems, you know, filling out paper ballot to polls not being open to poorly trained poll workers… the whole gamut.” says Wilcox.
But most voters, like Lela Buttery, had no trouble at all.
“It went pretty well. I just filled it out and put the ballot in the slot.”
“First time voter?” “No. Its my third time voting. I feel pretty good, like I did my civic duty.” says Buttery.
Buttery is one of 10 point four million Floridians registered to vote in this election. If you had trouble voting today, you can report it to the Common Cause hotline. Their toll-free number is 1-866-MY-VOTE1 (1-866-698-6831
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