I Live In Sarasota County... The County That "Lost" All Those Votes In 2006 AND

[ChiciB1]

I have a few questions. First, the woman who is currently Supervisor of Elections is up for re-election. I called earlier this AM because I was concerned about "absentee ballots" and the clerk who answered said that the SOE has them in a vault and the SOE is the only one who has the combination!! I thought that was odd, especially because she is running this time and I told the clerk the same thing. I reminded her about ALL the voting problems we've had under KATHY DENT'S rule and I didn't TRUST that. I wanted to talk to Kathy Dent herself. I was told it wasn't possible, but Dent DID call back. She then said SHE DIDN'T have the combination, which frankly I think is a LIE and I told her I wasn't sure she was giving me the complete truth.

Anyway, we went back and forth about several things and she stated that very probably we weren't going to agree on very much, and I said I knew that because I was actively working on her opponent's campaign. I also told her my FEAR about ANOTHER screwed up election and IF it happened again, there will be a very large group of people ready to fight back! And THIS IS TRUE! Barry Sullivan IS currently ahead 45-40 and she knows this too.

I called the National Our Vote number and voiced my concern and several other people I know did the same. I WAS told that there would be no way to confirm whether she had the combination, but I asked them to let her know that others are calling about her ability to hold a fair election. I am also calling the Obama campaign number to tell them about this.

This is a very RED county, Katherine "Cruella" Harris was the representative here after being Secretary of State in 2000. Obama is UP in the polls here, and for the VERY FIRST time we have 22 Democrats running in the county! I have lived here 30 years and the Repukes have "owned" this place forever. I don't trust this lady one bit, but is there anything else OUR GROUP can do to make her understand how serious we are?? There has been too many funny things happen since 2000 and I'm afraid I'll come unglued if crap happens again!!

Any suggestions???

[Crazy Dave]

1. I believe Obama already has a legal team in that county

Contact his campaign staff and see if they can assist

[ChiciB1]

2. Oh, He Has SEVERAL... I'm Part Of Team 11 & We Have Been Working

very hard. But MOST of the kids heading up the teams are from other states. Few of them even KNEW about the elections problems until we informed them. I guess we'll just have to keep on top of them. They're focus is canvassing and getting out the vote... all well and good, but if fraud is committed, none of it will help!

We are trying to keep them interested and they REALLY should contact SOE Dent, but I don't think they will. We just had a Unity Bridge March last Sunday and the local paper gave it very little attention. There were about 7 to 8 thousand people who came out to walk across Ringling Bridge, and the paper covered in N. Sarasota County, but NOTHING in the Tribune in South County! I KNOW they don't like seeing so much unity happening with Democrats and they just think we'll go away. But I guess I'll contact the local Democratic Headquarters.

And to get THAT MANY people out for a march in THIS county is beyond PHENOMENAL!! And barely a word! Even Tampa's paper had it on the front page and they endorsed McCain!

[Turborama]

3. Voters Unite has a Sarasota County Story at the top of their "Election Problems Log"

Sarasota County. Election Supervisor omitted the State Senate District 23 race between Republican Nancy Detert and Democrat Morgan Bentley from absentee ballots sent out to voters. Neither campaign was informed by Dent's office and are still wondering how extensive the problem is. Detert said she had noticed her race was not included in the sample ballot she received and that a supporter had called her complaining about the omission. Dent's office is sending out letters to the affected voters, along with a complete ballot.

http://www.votersunite.org/electionproblems.asp

Also, I think you'll find this documentary very interesting, if you haven't caught it already...

People & Power: Protecting Democracy

In Florida not only have the election processes broken down but also the computerised voting machines and vote counting systems have failed and miscounted or lost votes.

In 2006, Sarasota County’s election suffered 18,412 lost votes, votes that were apparently cast, but never recorded by voting machines.

Florida Fair Elections is a grassroots group founded by Susan Pynchon. Susan and her colleagues investigated Sarasota’s lost votes, obtaining more than 10,000 election records.

Neither she, nor the Government Accountability Office in Washington DC who also researched a report, found where the votes went.

Now Susan Pynchon is running for the office of Supervisor of Elections as an election reform candidate and set out to observe, monitor and film the vote counting process in her county.

http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/peopleandpower/2008/10/2008101612835509851.html

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DEQfEQ-lG4

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFhDxkOHrfI


PS I hope Susan Pynchon gets in, having her in place would be a great antidote to all the problems.

[emlev]

4. Get Sarasota County candidates to sign the Standing For Voters pledge

Go to StandingForVoters.org and check it out. If you ask the candidates directly, many will probably be happy to sign. When they sign, they get an emblem to put on their websites and they can publicize that they took the pledge. It's a way for candidates to say, "We're watching you and we WILL take action if necessary."

The website explains how to approach candidates, has info about election challenges, etc.

Organize people to observe all parts of the elections process. Various election integrity organizations have information about monitoring on their websites. One thing to monitor is the internal hotline at the elections office, where pollworkers call in if there are problems. Another important monitoring piece is the process of deciding which provisional ballots will be counted. That in particular is something much more likely to be done fairly if people are watching.

Thanks for stepping up! Sarasota needs you!

[ChiciB1]

5. Thank You... Meant To Get Back To You Last Night... Circumstances

prevented from doing so!! I will be talking with Barry Sullivan again! And Morgan and some of the local campaigns here! I'm simply LIVID at this ONCE AGAIN!!

[emlev]

6. Anyone who's not LIVID is not paying attention! n/t