Expert questions Florida's election readiness

When it comes to election preparations, Mary Wilson has seen it all. The national president of the League of Women Voters is traveling extensively this fall to check on states' readiness for a huge turnout, and some of what she sees in Florida worries her. She singled out Pinellas County for having too few early voting sites (three for more than 625,000 registered voters, as of last month; Hillsborough has 13 for 661,000 voters).

Told that Clark's lack of enthusiasm for early voting has been widely reported, Wilson said: "That was reported to me by another supervisor of elections ... That's a very unfortunate situation, to not take advantage of early voting. ... Early voting is big. Voters enjoy it. It's easy." She predicted long lines throughout Pinellas on Election Day as a result, with the turnout predicted at 80 to 85 percent. (The alternative Clark has created are secure regional dropoff sites for absentee ballots).

Wilson met this week with election supervisors or local league officials in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Tampa and Jacksonville, and she held a lengthy news conference with the Capital Press Corps Friday.

She said Duval County appears to suffer from a lack of pollworker training and she said some counties in Florida show a "discrepancy" between the locations of early voting sites and where the majority of minority voters live, but she declined to identify those counties. "That has a discouraging effect on minority voters," Wilson said.

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Comments

you can be SURE the R's are all prepared to exclude any person of color and any person with an accent as they have done in years past!!

fear and intimidation...the repiglican watchwords...all in the name of "voter fraud prevention" which in itself is a FRAUD!!

[LYING SACK OF SH!+]

The Republicans will declare themselves the winner no matter what.

You don't believe me.
They have already done it with declaring McCain the winner of a debate that hasn't even happened yet.

The picture shows a smiling John McCain with the ad declaring "McCain Wins Debate". It's in the Wall Street Journal.

See it Here...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/images/26Sep_Friday_WSJ.JPG

Too bad Obama is too much of a coward to face McCain in Townhall discussions. He simply can't handle any "unscripted" moments!

she said some counties in Florida show a "discrepancy" between the locations of early voting sites and where the majority of minority voters live,

So, she thinks the whole point of early voting is to make it easier for minorities to vote? NO, it is to make it easier for ALL voters - watch out Mary, your bias is showing!

were the situation not so critical, id find a lot of humor in the latest whines coming from the walkingfecalpile from crawford.

he sounds almost in tears as he pleads with congress to get his worthless butt out of this mess.

THE WORST PRESIDENT EVER!!

no wonder all of his
"awl bidnesses" failed miserably.

absolutely NO VISION NO LEADERSHIP

lying whining pleading drinking drugging

pure GARBAGE!!

EXCUSE ME, 1.08,

but making it easy for all to vote clearly means ALL, not just white folks

are YOU THAT STUPID and BIGOTED????

Right 1:12, I said ALL voters - the sites should be where they are convenient to ALL. She's the one who said because they aren't convenient to one group (her preferred group) something is wrong. Unless you agree with her that the sites should favor one group over another, then we agree and you can stop yelling and using your mean words.

[Inside the SOE]

Sadly… and I do mean sadly… Florida will once AGAIN be front and center on November 4th… and once AGAIN… we will be the laughing stock of American Democracy… and once AGAIN… every incumbent will win… and once AGAIN we will all be scratching our heads and wondering what the hell happened… and once AGAIN the “experts” will be dispersed throughout the State to assure the voters that “nothing went wrong, computer can’t be hacked, and it wouldn’t have mattered anyway”… and once AGAIN America will be f-cked!

if the polling places arent convenient to minorities, then they arent convenient to all

WHAT DONT YOU UNDERSTAND ABOUT THAT?

ALL!!

NICE AND EASILY ACCESIBLE FOR WHITE FOLKS...TEN MILES OUT OF TOWN ON A DIRT TROAD FOR OTHERS?

its a simple obsevation...some places are not as conveniet as others....period!

WHAT A JACKASS!!

Oh PLEASE. Will you people PLEEEASE get over the 2000 election! Sorry, Al GORE couldn't pull off stealing the election. Its over, he didn't win. Go away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[joe]

Just walk from greenwood to the courthouse. How hard is that?

[ReallyRankled]

Just a quick point and I'll go away. Anyone notice that it's the DEMOCRATS - led by Nancy Pelosi - pushing Bush's bailout plan? Dems could pass it alone, but they want to make sure a few Republicans are on board too so they'll have someone to blame later. $700 BILLION in debt, thanks to the Democrats. That's where your 401K money's going, folks. Call your senator today.

Geez 1:12/1:36 get a grip. Im saying they should not be uniquely convenient to any one group - white, black, yellow or beat red with anger like you. For example, have it in the county courthouse, city hall, the library or whatever but NOT uniquely convenient to one group - that's what election day polling places are for.

Anyone notice OBAMA hasn't signed onto this supposed "deal"

[One Smart Gal]

Ok, so maybe the numbers don’t quite add up, I still love the idea!!

The Great American Solution!

Hi Pals,

I'm against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG.

Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in
a We Deserve It Dividend.

To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,000
bon a fide U.S. Citizens 18+.

Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman
and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up..

So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals $425,000.00.

My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a
We Deserve It Dividend.

Of course, it would NOT be tax free.
So let's assume a tax rate of 30%.

Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes.
That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.

But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket.
A husband and wife has $595,000.00.

What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?
Pay off your mortgage? ¬ Housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans? ¬ What a great boost to new grads
Put away money for college? ¬ It’ll be there
Save in a bank? ¬ Create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
Buy a new car? ¬ Create jobs
Invest in the market? ¬ Capital drives growth
Pay for your parent's medical insurance? ¬ Health care improves
Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean ¬ or else?

Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks
who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company
that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces.

If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really do it...instead of trickling out
a puny $1000.00 ( "vote buy" ) economic incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President.

If we're going to do an $85 billion bailout, let's bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!

As for AIG ¬ liquidate it.
Sell off its parts.
Let American General go back to being American General.
Sell off the real estate.
Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up.

Here's my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn't.

Sure it's a crazy idea that can "never work."

But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!

How do you spell Economic Boom?

I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion
We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC.

And remember, The Birk plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because $25.5 Billion is returned
instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.

Ahhh...I feel so much better getting that off my chest.

Kindest personal regards, Ed

Ed Leadbetter...., A Creative Guy & Citizen of the Republic

PS: Feel free to pass this along to your pals as it's either good for a laugh
or a tear or a very sobering thought on how to best use $85 Billion

this idea deserves to be passed around.

and if we had $700 million to distribute...

[Larry]

Wow, now there's an idea... Giving tax money back to citizens instead of propping up a company that failed miserably...

I'd love being debt free - totally...

[Edison Carter]

$85 billion divided by 200 million is $425, not $425,000.

Our "puny" $1000 (which many did not get, but I'll go with the 200 million number), was a $200 billion bail out of the taxpayer...that went RIGHT BACK TO WALLSTREET!!!

Florida is ready. the voting machines are already rigged to change dem. votes to repub. and the paper shredders will take care of any mail in Dem ballots. Florida is REALLY ready.

our vote won't count. it never does.

[Mac Daddy]

One Smart Gal,I love you

[Merlin]

The headline is misleading, you say expert. Where and who is the expert?