The Elections Department knows fraud is going on. There was plenty during the Raul Martinez campaign and there was even a Rundle-fumble investigation brought by the campaign that I know Elections knows about because I sent it to Lester Sola 12/30/2010. I read the close-out report, it was enough to make you puke that they couldn't get a case out of it. The people being investigated are now working for Julio Robaina's campaign. Yes, that's a fact.
The good news: The Elections Department can take action. Here are a few things they can do:
Hire a handwriting expert. They know which nursing homes are suspect. Have the expert do random checks on signatures from some of these homes. A handwriting expert is the single most important thing that elections can do to battle fraud.
Send someone to monitor the absentee ballots at a senior (ALF) facility. It is simple, elections know when they arrive at a nursing home/ALF. On the day they arrive, during the meal, let them tell everyone that they are here to help them with their ballots, if they need help, and then have the elections' staffer instruct the people on what to do with the ballots and answer questions. We must have seniors understand the sanctity of the process. They cannot continue to hand over their ballots (what they were doing in the Diaz-Balart/Raul Martinez investigation) to campaign workers TO HELP THEM FILL OUT and/or MAIL.
Start an education campaign at senior centers. How much could it cost to have some staff go out into the field and educate seniors partaking in lunch and breakfast programs during the off-voting times?
Send out a flyer with absentee ballots on how the ballots should be handled and that they have to be mailed by the voter - not picked up by others. Design the flyer in comic book style - pictures with captions.
Anyway, I can think of a lot more, but I fault the Elections Dept. with the fraud that is running rampant in absentee ballots because they are looking the other way in denial.
Julio Robaina got 4,414 more absentee votes than he got on election day. We all shake our heads and know there is something going on with that but like sheep we sit by and accept it.
Here is what you can do: GET A PROMISE FROM THE MAYORAL CANDIDATES THAT THEY WILL HAVE ELECTION CHIEF LESTER SOLA HIRE AT LEAST ONE OR MORE HANDWRITING EXPERTS to train checkers, look at questionable ballot envelopes and spot check absentee ballot signatures against the database (that we and the media need a court order to view). As a strong mayor, they can certainly tell Lester Sola what to do (that is legal under election law) but get the promise now, in front of other people or the media, so it will happen after they are elected. I will hammer on them but good if you get the promise.
I am including absentee ballot return information from the Elections Website as the comments were in conflict, some thinking you are allowed to pick up absentee ballots. Absentee ballots must be returned as follows:
1. IN PERSON - A voter who received an absentee ballot by mail may return his or her own ballot to the Miami-Dade Elections Department at 2700 NW 87th Avenue, Miami, FL 33172 or to the Elections Department’s Branch Office (located in the Lobby of the Stephen P. Clark Center, 111 NW 1st Street) no later than 7:00 pm on Election Day.
2. BY MAIL - An absentee ballot may be returned by delivery through the United States Postal Service.
3. BY VOTER'S DESIGNEE - (Limited to two ballots per election, only one of which may be from a voter who is not the spouse, parent, child, grandparent or sibling of the designee). An absentee ballot may be returned by the voter's designee at 2700 NW 87th Avenue, Miami, FL 33172 or to the Elections Department’s Branch Office (located in the Lobby of the Stephen P. Clark Center, 111 NW 1st Street), on the day prior to and the day of the election if the person designated by the voter is an immediate family member and only on the day of the election if the designee is not an immediate family member. Picture identification of the designee must be presented along with a written statement from the voter containing the following information:
a. Printed name of voter
b. Voter's daytime phone number
c. Voter's date of birth
d. Voter’s registration number (optional)
e. Name of person returning the absentee ballot
f. If the voter is a member of the designee’s immediate family, reason why the voter must have someone else return the absentee ballot
g. If the voter is not a member of the designee’s immediate family, the designee must also present a statement signed by a physician on that physician’s stationery that, due to a medical emergency involving the voter or voter’s dependent, the named voter is unable to vote at the polls and is unable to return an absentee ballot in person
h. Signature of voter
28 comments:
Absentee ballots go out next week, let the fun begin!
Somebody ought to call ACORN.
I do not think that the elections department even looks at the signatures on absentees. my half day reviewing absentees on behalf of the Flinn campaign showed many accepted bollots that should have been dissallowed.
I was there during the Gene Flinn absentee ballot review. Not a single signature was brought to the attention of the Elections Department as being fraudulent.
Flinn lost because he ran a lousy campaign. Get over it.
Sorry. The strong mayor CAN'T "tell Lester Sola what to do." The way in which absentee ballots are counted is governed by a uniform state election code. The US Supreme Court knocked down the Gore/Bush recount because of non-uniform standards. You really want to open that can of worms again?
I know that Robaina used his muscle at the nursing homes and ALF's and subsidized housing to make sure that people did not vote against the Seijas recall. You gotta take the good with the bad, la buena con mala.
Cody you moron, I was there too -- if you can't compare signatures to the database, you can't say it was fraudulent.
He can suggest a handwriting expert. He can fire him too.
No election code says you can be a dick on how you count ballots. If he did a better job on comparison of signatures we wouldn't see as much fraud.
I doubt what you say is true anonymous 2 above. As much as I hated Natacha...I cannot say that I am happy with your accusation that Robaina threw his long time ally under the bus at nursing homes. I think that says worse things about Robaina and makes me believe that he is an opportunist who would step on anyone to get to where he is going. Why would you think I would find that to be a positive thing about him? Do you not think loyalty is an important attribute for someone who has helped you (like Natacha has helped Robaina). I would expect him to remain neutral if he didn't want to support her.
Genuis:
Although you make a great point I think we are confusing two thing the campaign my hire a company or have volunteers picking up absentee ballots but I doubt either candidate approves or condones absentee ballot fraud. I think the ones who should be targeted are the "consulting" firm that hire themselves out exclusively for this purpose and lie and extort the elderly to get votes, win an election and then crown themselves absentee ballot kings/queesns, this people are the problem some regulations on them AND educating the absentee voter would be a step in the right direction.
I agree with every one of your suggestions to combat absentee voter fraud. You are right on target and those ideas should have been implemented long ago. But why on earth would you think the next mayor, Gimenez or Robaina, should even consider keeping Lester Sola employed?
Sola is just another incompetent crony that was appointed to his $200k job by George Burgess without competition. He needs to be among the first cronies to be shown the door by the new mayor.
Sola and every member of his executive staff were "appointed" to their plush Elections department jobs without any elections experience. Look at cronies like Chief Deputy Supervisor Tara Smith (Alina Hudak's former gopher), Deputy Supervisor Gary Hartfield, Deputy Supervisor John Mendez, and Deputy Supervisor Rosa Pastrana, all making well over $100,000 without prior elections experience and no competition for their jobs. The whole office is a rat's nest of patronage and cronyism that needs to be flushed by the new mayor.
The elections department can't tell people that their absentee ballots have to be mailed by the voter - not picked up by others. Florida law allows third parties to request, pick-up, and deliver ballots on behalf of voters. Too bad the legislature didn't focus on fixing the broken absentee ballot procedures when they were shortening the early voting period. Your other suggestions are excellent and long overdue.
The people voting and the people picking up have to fill out a form. You can't just walk up to a house and pick up a ballot. And As to another comment, when a campaign hires someone like Custin they know what they are going to get. The candidates know what is going on. You hold the John responsible not the prostitute.
Instead of picking my suggestions apart- we would be better served if you offered some of your own. An election supervisor can educate voters on the absentee ballot rules apparently no one on this blog has a clear idea.
Elections website says:
State law requires you to sign the voter certificate on the outside of your absentee ballot envelope. It is important that your signature on the voter certificate match the signature we have on record.
I FOUND BOTH OF THESE TO NOT BE THE CASE. I SAW HALF SIGNATURES, NO SIGNATURE, AND DIFFERENT LAST NAMES SIGNED.
HERE ARE THE RULES ON PICKING UP ABSENTEE BALLOTS:
BY VOTER'S DESIGNEE - (Limited to two ballots per election, only one of which may be from a voter who is not the spouse, parent, child, grandparent or sibling of the designee). An absentee ballot may be returned by the voter's designee at 2700 NW 87th Avenue, Miami, FL 33172 or to the Elections Department’s Branch Office (located in the Lobby of the Stephen P. Clark Center, 111 NW 1st Street), on the day prior to and the day of the election if the person designated by the voter is an immediate family member and only on the day of the election if the designee is not an immediate family member. Picture identification of the designee must be presented along with a written statement from the voter containing the following information:
a. Printed name of voter b. Voter's daytime phone number c. Voter's date of birth d. Voter’s registration number (optional) e. Name of person returning the absentee ballot f. If the voter is a member of the designee’s immediate family, reason why the voter must have someone else return
the absentee ballot g. If the voter is not a member of the designee’s immediate family, the designee must also present a statement signed by a physician on that physician’s stationery that, due to a medical emergency involving the voter or voter’s dependent, the named voter is unable to vote at the polls and is unable to return an absentee ballot in person
h. Signature of voter
Who is the knucklehead who said the Mayor can't tell Lester Sola what to do? Of course he can! Unlike the rest of Florida, the Elections Supervisor in Miami-Dade County is NOT an elected official. Sola is just another department director who is supervised by and serves at the pleasure of the Mayor.
The County Charter (section 2.02) expressly states: "The Mayor shall be responsible for the management of all administrative departments of the County government." It also provides: "The Mayor shall also have the right to suspend, reprimand, remove, or discharge any administrative department director, with or without cause."
So the new Mayor can certainly give Sola (or Sola's replacement) any lawful order he wants. The Mayor is the chief executive. He does not need any promises from a director. If a director refuses to follow a directive from the Mayor (his or her boss), I would expect that the director would be promptly dismissed for insubordination.
I would like to nominate Genius of Despair for appointment as the new Supervisor of Elections. Carlos Gimenez, are you listening?
Good Idea Ma...I would be the best Supervisor of Election on Absentee Ballots. I bet I could get 20% of them thrown out. And, I would be sure to follow up on investigating fraud (i.e., if I suspected a particular ALS I would follow up after the election) and I would educate every voter with my comic strip flyers. If there is one sane person living in an ALS who would listens they might tattle on what happens to all the senile and simpleton voters. We need more tattletales!!
Maybe Lester can hire me to be his absentee ballot czar. I would hire private investigators with my entire salary.
We need an elected supervisor of elections.
I think we should get Christopher Mazzella, our Inspector General to run. He would stop all the nonsense.
Thanks for providing us with yet another closeout memo from Joe Centorino where it is clear that laws were broken but he refuses to prosecute. There have been dozens of similar Centorino close-out memos over the years on a host of corruption cases.
Centorino is now one of two finalists for the Ethics Commission director job. The last thing we need at the Ethics Commission is another timid director who is unwilling to hold politicians responsible for their transgressions.
The close-out memo should have been a wake up call to Sola.
ALF"s have not business They have no business going there unless it is in a fair and balanced forum. Shame on the ALF's that get into this game, but I also think the families of these older folks should be speaking out too.
This is a far more complex issue than suggested on this blog. You're dealing with a myriad of schemes, some very legal and others that would prompt a call for United Nations observer teams. These absentee efforts can be coordinated among candidates whose districts overlap. Some of these operatives will engage in voter intimidation tactics and you'll hear allegations that some absentee chasers have inside information from Elections. Don't expect to find too many details on a campaign report as soft money can fund these operations. Until this is fixed you won't find good candidates to emerge from the general population because they just can't compete with the special interest money machine.
Genius, not sure if you caught this.
7. VERY IMPORTANT. In order for your absentee ballot to be counted,
you must sign your name on the line above (Voter’s Signature). An absentee
ballot will be considered illegal and not be counted if the signature on the
voter’s certificate does not match the signature on record. The signature on
file at the start of the canvass of the absentee ballots is the signature that will
be used to verify your signature on the voter’s certificate. If you need to
update your signature for this election, send your signature update on a voter
registration application to your supervisor of elections so that it is received
no later than the start of the canvassing of absentee ballots, which occurs no
earlier than the 15th day before election day.
It is from the new "elections law" that had quite a few draconian initiatives such as cutting the early voting days. Is this any good news?
They don't really check the signatures very well, and as I said even thought it said your vote couldn't be counted if not signed: They were counted. I saw an unsigned envelope. I saw a lot of bogus stuff.
If you are hired, you definitely won't be working for Sola. Sola will be ancient history in one month. The mayor has a right and the obligation to pick his own team.
Sola is arrogant. That is my chief complaint about him. Of the other stuff, I trust that you are saying the truth, G.o.D.
As far as electing this position, I am not sure that works for me. I guess there are plusses and minuses on that.
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