Here's the link: http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-
online/stories/012505/met_17775554.shtml
Double voting being investigated
January 25, 2005
The 59 cases are from November's election
By DAVID DECAMP
The Times-Union
The FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office will investigate 59 cases of
double voting in Duval County from the Nov. 2 election, authorities
and elections officials announced Monday.
In 41 cases, people used early, absentee or standard ballots to vote
more than once, and the votes counted, according to the county
elections office. The other 18 cases involved provisional ballots,
which were thrown out during the canvassing board review because the
person had already voted.
"You all will recall that we promised fair, accessible, open,
accurate and legal elections," interim Supervisor of Elections Bill
Scheu said at a news conference. "Well, the sanctity of the ballot is
so important to those who cast their votes that we want to make sure
that nobody takes advantage of that to vote twice."
Scheu provided U.S. Attorney Paul Perez with precinct registers,
provisional ballot envelope certificates, early voting forms and
voting history documents, including voter signatures.
Under federal law, attempting to vote more than once is punishable by
up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Perez said these cases are the first his office, which represents the
Middle District of Florida, has taken in three or four years.
At least six provisional ballots were rejected for the Aug. 31
primary because the person was listed as already having voted,
according to a Times-Union review last fall of ballot documents.
But the elections office does not intend to broaden its review to
include any other elections, said Erin Moody, elections office
spokeswoman. Scheu, who was appointed in October, intends to focus on
the election he oversaw, Moody said. Scheu replaced John Stafford,
who resigned citing illness as critics ripped the office's management.
"I don't know that there's any more more emphasis on double voting
than on any other type of fraud or attack on the integrity of the
ballot box," Perez said. "It just so happens that in this instance,
the Supervisor of Elections Office, which conducted some post-
election analysis, found this to be a pattern or something that arose
frequently."
Perez and Scheu declined to release identities of the voters because
they are part of a criminal investigation. Scheu said the cases
involve Democrats and Republicans from across the community.
"Some may be victims, some may be perpetrators," Scheu said,
explaining someone might have used another person's name to vote more
than once.
No election results appear to be affected by the double voting in the
county, where 74 percent of registered voters -- a record 382,000
people -- turned out for the general election. Allegations of
potential fraud popped up through Election Day. Before and after, the
elections office and a city attorney began looking at potential
cases, Scheu said.
On Nov. 2, a handful of voters told the Times-Union they had voted
early but their prior vote was not indicated on the registers used in
precincts to identify early voters. Early voting ended the evening
before, but some registers were not updated until mid-morning, hours
after the polls opened, Moody said.
In his written statement, Scheu said more legislative action is
needed to prevent double voting and other voter fraud.
Perez said the case should take 60 to 90 days to investigate.