(AZ) 27,878 Provisional Votes thrown out.

[Wilms]

Counties inconsistent in provisional-vote rules

By Tom Beal
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
29 January 2005

About 5 percent of Arizona's voters - 101,536 of them, to be exact - had some trouble voting in the 2004 election, and 27,878 of them had their "provisional" votes thrown out.

The No. 1 reason for ballot rejection is that voters went to the wrong polling place.

-snip-

The numbers are still being tabulated, but reports from 39 states, not including Arizona, show so far that 66 percent of all provisional ballots were counted, said Kay Stimson, communications director for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the agency created by Congress to monitor the act.

-snip-

Forcing the state to count those federal votes is the aim of a lawsuit filed after the 2004 election by the League of United Latin American Citizens, which claimed, among other reasons, that the law was not uniformly applied in Arizona.

-snip/more-

<http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=4738>

[garybeck]

1. here's the direct link to the article

http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/dailystar/59054.php

thanks for posting

[skids]

2. Kerry versus Bush in the counties mentioned in the article.

FYI:

           Kerry             Bush
Gila:       8314            12313         
Pinal:     27252            37006
Pima:     193128           171109
Maricopa: 504849           679455

[Democracy Died]

3. Nice to see Pima overwhemingly Democratic

As it should be. I planted the seeds of Democracy living in Tucson in '01-02.

:)

[loudsue]

4. Holy Shit!!! Did you read this statement from the article????

From the Daily Star article:

"Tyne said federal law requires that anyone who shows up to vote must be given a provisional ballot, "but it doesn't say they can vote." He said Friday that he couldn't comment further because "we haven't received any complaints from candidates or voters. Should we receive a complaint on this issue, we will take action."

This guy thinks like a republican. Hmmm.... let me guess....

This is OUTRAGEOUS!!! If the federal law says that anyone that shows up to vote must be given a provisional ballot.... where does he get off thinking that it doesn't mean they can VOTE with that ballot, and that the ballot shouldn't COUNT??? What kind of frikkin' game does he think he's playing??

Does he think these ballots are supposed to be souvenirs?

Why can't they lock these people up and throw away the key???

:argh::nuke::argh::nuke::argh::nuke:


:kick::kick::kick:

[Wilms]

5. Maricopa & Pima

From Berniew1

Maricopa:

<http://www.flcv.com/maricodt.html>

Pima:

<http://www.flcv.com/pimadt.html>

[ISUGRADIA]

6. I worked in an Iowa election office and many provisional

ballots did not qualify to be counted. Most people had not bothered to register to votebefore the deadline maing them in eligible. And if a person is in the wrong precinct he could very well be voting for the wrong state rep or senator or other offices he is not qualified to vote for. Some responcibility has to come down on the voter.

[Igel]

7. So, did they check to see if those people whose addresses indicated

they were in the wrong precinct were actually registered?

Is it just that they were in the wrong precinct, but were otherwise qualified to vote (ignoring for now that they'd have voted for some offices they shouldn't have)? Or were they in the wrong precinct, and that was enough to kick them out of the running?

[ISUGRADIA]

11. Actually there were hardly any that were from people who were

in the wrong precinct that were otherwise qualified to vote. That is precinct officials told the person the correct precinct to vote at and the person went there.

. It was more of the case a person had moved from another county and wanted to vote at the precinct the currently lived in. If the person had not registered in the new county by the deadline the vote did not count even though they were registered in another Iowa County.

If a person in Iowa has moved, they can update the registraion as long as the person moved in the same county.

The main thing is under Iowa law for the vote to count the person must be voting in the precinct they currently live in. I currently live in MN and have seen how well same day reg works, Iowa should adopt it.

[Igel]

12. Tx.

I'm surprised they checked, but it's nice to know.

Iowa sounds a lot like New York as far as the election laws go.

[qwghlmian]

8. What he means, I am sure, is that not every

provisional ballot is guaranteed to be counted. For example, if you're not registered, and you come down to the poll and are given a provisional ballot, your vote will still not be counted.

[TR Fan]

9. If these numbers are accurate...

this is an effective rate of less than 1.5%. By nationwide standards, this is not particularly high.

[Wilms]

10. A rate anywhere near 1.5% seems unacceptable.

Lots of races are won on less of a margin.

[Igel]

13. In NY they're called

affadavit ballots. (It predates HAVA.)

People come in, say they're registered and are in the right precinct, and fill the thing out.

Some people aren't registered. They shouldn't vote. Or we should ignore the law and let anybody that comes in vote; but that's for the state elected legislature to decide. In any event, the provisional ballot is just that: provisional.

Some people aren't in the right precinct. They don't get to vote, either.

Some people are just missing from the poll book; humans are involved in assembling it, mistakes happen. Or they've changed names, or addresses within the precinct. Their vote counts.