Final tally: It's McBride by 8,000 over Reno

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By Linda Kleindienst and Christy McKerney Sun-Sentinel with the Associated Press Posted September 12 2002, 5:37 AM EDT

Florida gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride had an 8,000-vote lead over Janet Reno in the Democratic primary early Thursday, but was holding off on declaring victory as the state sorted out a race that has brought back memories of the 2000 presidential election.

With all precincts reporting, McBride had 600,425 votes, or 44.5 percent, compared with the former attorney general's 592,434 votes, or 43.9 percent. Miami Sen. Daryl Jones had 156,165 votes, or 11.6 percent.

Although all precincts had reported results, Orange County was still reviewing some ballots that did not scan properly.

McBride's campaign wanted the state Division of Elections to make his victory official before he set his sights on Republican Gov. Jeb Bush. Meanwhile, Reno's campaign was mulling its options _ including a recount request or a lawsuit to overturn the results _ amid claims that thousands of voters were turned away at the polls.

A final margin within 0.5 percent of the total votes cast, or about 6,700 votes, would automatically trigger a recount. According to the unofficial results, the margin was 7,991 votes out of more than 1.3 million cast.

Both candidates were cautious Wednesday as the threat of lawsuits and recounts loomed.

“At this point, I don’t want to talk about it until I know what the circumstances are,” was all Reno would say.

“We'll see what happens,” McBride said. “I thought it was going to be close, but I thought it would have been settled by now. I just hope this gets straightened out.”

Tally continuing

Votes were counted into the night in Miami-Dade, Broward, Union and Orange counties. The counties have until noon today to report results to the state. Reno, angry that hundreds of voters were unable to cast a ballot, spent much of Wednesday sequestered at her Miami Lakes headquarters with advisers and attorneys contemplating legal action to contest the election outcome should she lose. When seen in public, she looked grim-faced and declined to comment.

“Nobody wants to see a long drawn-out process,” said Mo Elleithee, Reno’s campaign manager. “But we also want to make sure that we don’t get into a situation that would result in an illegitimate nominee.”

Alan Greer, Reno’s legal counsel, said the ultimate decision on whether to go to court would be Reno’s alone. Reno is also considering the possibility of asking for another primary election. “You can suggest things to her, you can’t tell her what to do,” he said. “Janet’s decision controls.”

But by late in the day the campaign had hired a Tallahassee attorney and staffers were beginning to gather affidavits from voters who were unable to cast a ballot on Tuesday because the polls were late in opening or closed early despite Gov. Jeb Bush’s order they remain open late.

Jones said he also received complaints from a handful of voters who said their party registration had been changed — from Democrat to Republican — without their knowledge and they were unable to vote in the primary.

“There’s no question that hundreds and probably thousands of people were turned away that we know of,” said Joe Geller, the head of Miami-Dade’s Democratic Party and a key Reno supporter.

“Everybody wants to know the facts.”

Dario Moreno, head of a political think tank in Miami, agreed that the voters should have concerns about the outcome of Tuesday’s vote.

“This is series of major mistakes and, as a political scientist, I don't know if you can count this in any sense of the word as a fair election,” he said. As Democrats continued to wonder who would be their nominee, some turned their sights on Bush, saying he is partly to blame for Tuesday’s fiasco.

“This could not have turned out worse for Jeb Bush,” said Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. “It reminds everybody of how Al Gore was robbed in the last presidential election. This is the governor’s responsibility.”

Bush blames counties

But, in Miami late Wednesday, Bush put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the counties — primarily the supervisors of elections in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

“Let's be clear about this: 65 counties got it right. Wasn't perfect, but they got it right,” Bush said. “I don't know exactly what powers I have to do this, but I guarantee you that in November, the election will run much more smoothly than the supervisors of election allowed to occur [Tuesday].''

State Democratic leaders, however, said the governor shouldn’t be blaming the counties when he has been bragging about the state’s election reforms being a national model.

The day after Tuesday’s Democratic primary election should have been reserved for celebration or at least relief that the campaign was over. But weary volunteers and trusted campaign staffers from both camps were back at work early Wednesday, analyzing poll results, fielding questions from the media and waiting for a final count.

McBride aides said he would hold off on any pronouncements until he learns the final vote tally from state election officials today.

“There are still enough votes out that no one will be comfortable tonight saying who the winner is,” said Alan Stonecipher, McBride’s chief spokesman. “We’re not going to have anything even semi-official from the state until tomorrow. In a race this tight, Bill wants it to be official.”

McBride split his day between the Marriott Westshore in downtown Tampa, where many of his supporters hung on to hear updates on how the ballot count was going, and his nearby home. At mid-afternoon he left the hotel to go home and get a change of clothing.

“I figure, whatever happens, I ought to have a clean shirt on,” he said.

Jones said that no matter who comes out the winner, Reno and McBride should team up to take on Bush in the November general election.

He also softened his stance on being second on the Democratic ticket in November. He said if Reno asked, “I might think about it,” but he added, “I don't think Reno would consider me because we're from the same county. She'd be better off asking McBride.”

Even if he ends up ahead when counting ends, McBride may find himself in a similar position to George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election. Bush, the governor's brother, wasn't declared the winner until more than seven weeks after the election ended because Al Gore challenged his 537-vote victory in Florida. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually halted a statewide recount ordered by the state Supreme Court, thus giving Bush the presidency.

-- Anonymous, September 12, 2002

Answers

September 12, 2002

Reno refuses to concede in Florida primary By Steve Miller THE WASHINGTON TIMES

MIAMI — Janet Reno refused last night to concede in Florida's Democratic gubernatorial primary, despite trailing Tampa lawyer Bill McBride by 11,000 votes with 99 percent of the state's precincts reporting. Top Stories

Miss Reno instead huddled with a legal team, while her campaign spoke of potential legal action. Last night, the Reno campaign said it has found discrepancies in Tuesday's election.

"We are looking for all the votes to be counted, and it looks like this may not have been the case," said Mo Elleithee, campaign manager for the Reno campaign. "There were far too many people denied their right to vote. We will not make any decisions, though, until all the votes have been counted."

The McBride campaign, on the verge of coming back from a 30- point polling deficit to overtake the Clinton administration attorney general, said it will wait for either a 100 percent vote count or a Reno concession.

"Miss Reno has assured the people of Florida that she will support the Democratic nominee, and that is what we expect she will do," said McBride campaign spokesman Alan Stonecipher.

Late last night, Mr. McBride had 599,465 votes, or 45 percent, and Miss Reno had 588,177 votes, or 44 percent. The winner will challenge Republican Gov. Jeb Bush in November.

Voting troubles plagued Miami-Dade and Broward counties Tuesday, both counties that are key to a Reno victory. Late-opening polling sites, technical troubles, and no-show poll workers caused confusion and a manual vote count.

The laborious vote counting recalled Election 2000, when the presidential election was drawn out for 36 days because of voting irregularities that centered on Democratic-heavy South Florida.

A rental truck carrying several voting machines pulled up behind the downtown county administration building in Fort Lauderdale around 12:30 p.m. Officials said technical flaws made it necessary for workers to count votes from the hard drives of the computer-operated machines.

Other workers arrived later with blue canvas bags holding the computer cartridges from voting machines in precincts that were apparently not turned in the previous night.

Lawmakers yesterday pronounced it another flawed major election that appeared to mock the $32 million in funding they added.

"This is so embarrassing," said state Rep. Eleanor Sobel, a Democrat from Broward County. "We are taking baby steps when we should be taking giant steps."

Democratic state Sen. Steve Geller yesterday cautioned that if the Reno campaign challenges the primary result, it "would hand the election to Jeb Bush."

"I don't believe that there is even a legal remedy here and this is not a case, as in 2000, where a few hundred votes separate the candidates."

He said his brother, Joe, was part of Miss Reno's legal team and is conferring with them about potential litigation. The two brothers share a law practice, but Steve Geller is a McBride supporter.

Secretary of State Jim Smith said in a midday press conference that the state legislature had allocated $6 million for voter education and poll-worker training and in "about 60 counties" those goals were accomplished.

But in a handful of counties, the performance was "not acceptable. It is simply a matter of getting their act together."

Mr. Smith said several polls closed early despite Mr. Bush's emergency order that closing times be extended statewide by two hours to 9 p.m.

"There was one story I heard in Miami-Dade of a worker closing down because he had to go to his Lion's Club meeting," said Mr. Smith, who took over his office in July from Katherine Harris, who resigned to run for Congress.

He stopped short of asking at least two elections supervisors — David Leahy in Miami-Dade and Miriam Oliphant in Broward — for their resignations, but said, "It is unacceptable that people cannot get themselves organized."

Democratic state Sen. Ron Klein blamed elections supervisors in the counties as well as at the state level.

"I would scream the word 'incompetence,'" Mr. Klein said. "There is incompetence at the office of the supervisors, and incompetence at the secretary of state's office, which has oversight. But we're also talking about [election supervisors] who have to run elections two days a year. There is no excuse for this."

Miss Oliphant yesterday said she would request a citizens' review board be assembled concerning her performance.



-- Anonymous, September 12, 2002


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