A paper method of counting ballot petitions

Three weeks before the Feb. 1 deadline for certifying all signatures on ballot initiative petitions, Secretary of State Kurt Browning told political groups that he's changing the system of recording the accuracy of the signature petition totals.

The change from computerized system to paper faxes or PDFs is being made, Browning said, because he questioned the accuracy of some of the numbers received to date (he cited Lee and Volusia counties as examples in a conference call with the groups).

"I want to have a high level of confidence in certifyign ballot placement for initiative signatures," Browning told reporters in a second conference call. Political groups greatly rely on those numbers to determine whether they hit the magic number of 611,009, but Browning emphasized that he's not obligated to post them on his web site.

The change affects only those six initiatives that have received state Supreme Court approval of their proposed ballot language to move forward in the signature gathering process. The two efforts that appear most close to making the November ballot are Hometown Democracy, to limit local land use decision-making, and the Marriage Protection Act to prohibit same sex marriage in Florida.

As of next Monday, Browning said, the Division of Elections web site will no longer reflect daily signature totals.

Comments

[Michael R. Caputo]

Floridians for Smarter Growth is also working to place our amendment on the 2008 ballot. We have collected just as many signatures as Hometown Democracy - perhaps more.

The difference between our growth management amendment and theirs: with us, you'll vote maybe two or three times annually. Under Hometown, you'll vote two or three HUNDRED times a year.

Hometown Democracy founder Lesley Blackner today called Florida election officials "incompetent," highlighting previous electoral crises.

The obvious question: why does she demand that Floridians throw hundreds of complex planning decisions every year into such an "incompetent" system?

Contrary to Hometown Democracy's blame game, the thousands of business and community leaders behind Floridians for Smarter Growth remain confident in Florida's electoral system.

Hometown Democracy is bad for hometowns, and worse for democracy. Stay tuned: the closer you look, the worse it gets.

MC

[Jill]

The Floridians for Smarter Growth petition is a knee-jerk reaction to Florida Hometown Democracy. Your initiative is a faintly veiled attempt to confuse voters and lure signatures away from the original petition.

Floridians for Smarter Growth are backed by the Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Home Builders Association - the same people who have been controlling growth in this state for decades - and they would like to keep it that way.
If the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment passes maybe there will be a reduction in the number of land use changes that get rubber stamped by local politicians even when their meeting halls are jammed with residents asking them not to do it.
We need the Florida Hometown Democracy Ammendment to pass. Local comprehensive land use plans are supposed to be maps guiding future growth, not just fill-in-the-blank blueprints for developers.

then, jill, vote out those in the local government who allow fill in the blank blueprints, because, you know, we live in what's known as a representative democracy - civics 101

[Jill]

We have been voting them out but once new candidates hit office campaign promises seem to fly out the window and we are back to the status quo.

Comprehensive plans and future land uses that are supposed to identify where growth will occur according to logical planning principles are approved by commissions one minute and changed the next.

Civics 101 also teaches us that our laws are not cast in stone and can be amended.

If the legislature is not prepared to rewrite our growth management laws to limit the number of changes to comprehensive plans and require super-majority votes, then it's time for concerned citizens to do it for them.

so, jill, you want the very same people who screw up my order at the drive-thru window to be voting on land-use and local planning. riiiiiight. again, this is why the founders gave us representative democracy.

[Jill]

You would rather trust your vote to someone like Tony Masilotti, I guess.

[Jill]

Just in case you don't know who he is...

The United States Attorney's Office
Southern District of Florida
Press Release
FORMER CHAIRMAN OF PALM BEACH COUNTY COMMISSION CHARGED IN FRAUD CONSPIRACY
October 30, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office (“FBI”), and Brian J. Wimpling, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division (“IRS”), announced that defendant, Anthony R. Masilotti, 50, of Wellington, Florida, has been charged in a criminal Information with fraud conspiracy, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371. The Information also seeks forfeiture of millions of dollars in assets derived from the fraud conspiracy. Masilotti faces a maximum period of five years’ incarceration and a $250,000 fine, in addition to the criminal forfeitures.

The Information details Masilotti’s misuse of his elected position as a Commissioner on the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners (“BCC”) to personally enrich himself, his family, and his secret business partners in a series of land deals in Palm Beach, Martin and Brevard Counties, and through his financial relationship with a developer. The Information alleges that, among other things, Masilotti advocated and voted on these matters without disclosing to the BCC and the public his secret financial interest in the transactions, which ultimately netted him millions of dollars.

The Information describes Masilotti’s alleged participation in one land deal in Martin County, known as Nine Gems, in which Masilotti had a secret ownership interest. According to the Information, the Nine Gems deal involved the sale of tract of land to the South Florida Water Management District (“SFWMD”), a state agency whose mission is to help protect and manage the region’s water supply. In this transaction, Masilotti allegedly misused his official position to advocate and publicly endorse the SFWMD’s purchase of the Nine Gems parcel without disclosing his ownership interest in the property to Martin County officials, the SFWMD, the BCC or the public. To hide his ownership interest in the Nine Gems property, Masilotti created a trust in the name of another to purchase the property. After a complicated series of transactions, Masilotti profited $1.7 million from the Nine Gems sale to the SFWMD. He then used the proceeds of the sale to purchase thirteen (13) separate certificates of deposit for $100,000 each, in the names of various family members, to further conceal his interest.

[Chris W]

Mr. Caputo, you say you've collected as many petitions as Hometown Democracy and maybe more. But as of the last time I checked (back in December) your phony petition only showed enough valid signatures to get a State Supreme Court review. Are you telling me that you held back more than 600,000 petitions until two weeks before the primary, just to dump them on the local election supervisors?

Let's be clear here. We (the public at large) hate developers, real estate companies, and land-use lawyers. We *really* hate them. The reason you guys are scurrying around, cheating and lying and gaming the system every way you can, is that you know if we get the chance to do it we're going to shut most of you down and not feel bad for doing it.