© 2000 >XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN NOV 19, 2000 19:31:42 ET XXXXX

RELEASED: DEMOCRAT MEMO ON HOW TO DISQUALIFY MILITARY VOTES

**World Exclusive**

The DRUDGE REPORT has obtained -- and is now releasing worldwide -- a memo circulated to Democrats throughout Florida detailing how to disqualify overseas military ballots!

MORE

It's been talked about. It's been flashed on TV. But now only the DRUDGE REPORT can bring you the full text.

Mark Herron, a Tallahassee lawyer helping shepherd Democratic presidential election lawsuits through the local courts, sent the five-page letter to Democratic attorneys across Florida giving them tips on how to lodge protests against the ballots which heavily favored Republican George W. Bush.

Bush comfortably won Florida's overseas absentee vote by 1,380 votes to Vice-President Al Gore's 750 but, after vigorous challenges by Gore canvassers, 1,527 of the postal ballots, many of them from soldiers and sailors on active service, were rejected using Herron's bluprint.

Gen Norman Schwarzkopf led Republican condemnation of a five-page guide which advised Democratic tellers how to raise objections to the postal votes.

He said: "It is a very sad day in our country when the men and women of the armed forces are serving abroad and facing danger of a daily basis . . . and are denied the right to vote for the president of the United States who will be their commander in chief."

The 5-page memo as obtained by the DRUDGE REPORT:

Date: November 15, 2000
To: FDP Lawyer
From: Mark Herron
Subject: Overseas Absentee Ballot Review and Protest

State and Federal law provides for the counting of "absentee qualified electors overseas" ballots for 10 days after the day of the election or until November 17, 2000. Sections 101.62(7)(a), Florida Statutes defines as "absentee qualified elector overseas" to mean members of the Armed Forces while in the service, members of the merchant marine of the United States and other citizens of the United States, who are permanent residents of the states and are temporarily residing outside of the territories of the United States and the Districts of Columbia. These "absent qualified electors overseas" must also be qualified and registered as provided by law.

You are being asked to review these overseas absentee ballots to make a determination whether acceptance by the supervisor of elections and/or the county canvassing board is legal under Florida law. A challenge to these ballots must be made prior to the time that the ballot is removed from the mailing envelope. The specific statutory requirement for processing the canvass of an absentee ballot including of overseas absentee ballot, are set forth in Section 101.62(2) (c)2. Florida Statutes:

If any elector or candidate present believes that an absentee ballot is illegal due to a defect apparent on the voter's certificate, he or she may at anytime before the ballot is removed from the envelope, file with the canvassing board a protest against the canvcass of the ballot specifying the precinct, the ballot, and the reason he or she believes the ballot to be illegal. A cahllenge based upon a defect in the voterÕs certificate may not be accepted after the ballot has been removed from the mailing envelope.

The form of the voter's certificates on the absentee ballot is set forth in section 101.64(1), Florida Statutes. By statutory provisions, only overseas absentee ballots mailed with an APO, PPO, or foreign postmark shall be considered a ballot. See Section 101.62(7)(c). Florida Statutes.

In reviewing these ballots you should focus on the following:

1. Request for overseas ballots: Determine that the voter affirmatively requested an overseas ballot, and that the signature on the request for an overseas ballot matches the signature of the elector on the registration books to determine that the elector who requested the overseas ballot is the elector registered. See Section 101.62(4)(a), Florida Statutes.

2. The voter's signature: The ballot envelope must be signed by the voter. The signature of the elector as the voter's certificate should be compared with the signature of the elector of the signature on the registration books to determine that the elector who voted by ballot is the elector registered. See Section 101.68(c)x, Florida Statutes.

3. The ballot is properly witnessed: The absentee ballot envelope must be witnessed by a notary or an attesting witness over the age of eighteen years. You may note that these requirements vary from the statutory language from the Section 101.68(2)(c)1, Florida Statutes. Certain statutory requirements in that section were not proclaimed by the Justice Department pursuant to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, Sec. DE 98-13.

4. The ballot is postmarked: With respect to absentee ballots mailed by absolute qualified electors overseas only those ballots mailed with an APO, PPO, or foreign postmark shall be considered valid. See Section101.62(7)(c), Florida Statutes. This statutory provision varies from rule 15-2.013(7), Florida Administrative Code, which provides overseas absentee ballots may be accepted if "postmarked or signed and dated no later than the date of the federal election."

5. The elector has not already voted (duplicate ballot). In some instances, an absent qualified elector overseas may have received two absentee ballots and previously submitted another ballot. No elector is entitled to vote twice. (Please insert appropriate Fl. xxx.)

To assist your review, we have attached the following:

1. A review Federal Postal regulations relating to FPO's and PPO's.

2. A protest form to be completed with respect to each absentee ballot challenged.

3. Overseas Ballot Summary of Definitions.

---

Revised
Overseas Ballot Summary of Definitions

There are 3 different types of overseas ballots that are valid for return at the counties provided they are postmarked on or before November 7th.

1. Federal Write-In ballot

Must be an overseas voter and must be eligible to vote and be registered under State law.

Must have affirmatively requested an absentee ballot in writing and completely filled out request (including signature)

Must comply with State laws applying to regular absentee ballots (such as registration requirements, notification requirements, etc.)

Ballot contains only Federal races, and is considered to be a "backup" system if the regular state absentee ballot fails to arrive.

The intent of the voter in casting the ballot should govern. In other words, minor variations in spelling candidate or party names should be disregarded in ballot counting so long as the intention of the voter can be ascertained.

Must be postmarked as an APO, FPO, or MPO in a foreign country or at a foreign post office.

2. Florida Advance Ballot

Sent out in advance of a regular General Election ballot with state and Federal candidates listed.

Must be an overseas voter and must be eligible to vote and be registered under State law.

Must comply with State laws applying to regular absentee ballots (such as registration requirements, notarization requirements, etc.)

Must have affirmatively requested an absentee ballot in writing and completely filled out request (including signature)

Sent prior to the second (or October) primary elections to all permanent overseas registered voters.

Must comply with all State laws regarding signatures, witness requirements, etc.

Must be postmarked at the APO, FPO or MPO in a foreign country or at a foreign post office.

3. Regular Overseas Ballot

Sent after the second (or October) primary elections to all permanent overseas registered voters and voters requesting an overseas ballot from the county.

Must be an overseas voter and must be eligible to vote and be registered under State law.

Must comply with State laws applying to regular absentee ballots (such as registration requirements, notarization requirements, etc.)

Must have affirmatively requested an absentee ballot in writing and completely filled out request (including signature)

Full ballot with all candidates listed.

Likely would take precedence over any advance or federal ballot also returned.

Must comply with all State laws regarding signatures, witness requirements, etc.

Ballot is designed by the county.

Must be postmarked at an APO, FPO, or MPO in a foreign country or at a foreign post office.

Below are the definitions for points of origin and postmark that are valid for military overseas ballots:

1. APO (Army Post Office) -- A branch of the designated USPS civilian post office, which falls under the jurisdiction of the postmaster of either New York City or San Francisco, that serves either Army or Airforce personnel.

2. FPO (Fleet Post Office) -- A branch of the designated USPS civilian post office, which falls under the jurisdiction of the postmaster of either New York City or San Francisco, that serves Coast Guard, Navy, or Marine Corps personnel.

3. MPO (Military Post Office) -- A branch of a U.S. civil post office, operated by the Army, Navy, Airforce, or Marine Corps to serve military personnel overseas or aboard ships.

4. Military Post Office Cancellation -- A postmark that contains the post office name, state, ZIP Cope, and month, day, and year that the mail xxx was cancelled.

---

Protest of Overseas Absentee Ballot

As provided in Section 101.68(2)(c)(2), Florida Statutes. I, as an elector in __________ County, Florida, hereby protest against the canvass of the overseas absentee ballot described below:

County: ____________________________________________________

Precinct: __________________________________________________

The Ballot: ________________________________________________

Name of Voter: _____________________________________________

Address of Voter: __________________________________________

Reason for rejection: ______________________________________

___ Lack of voter signature

___ Lack of affirmative request for absentee ballot

___ Request for absentee ballot not fully filled out

___ Signature on absentee ballot request does not match signature on registration card or on ballot

___ Voter signature on envelope does not match signature on registration card

___ Inadequate witness certification

___ Late postmark (indicate date of actual postmark)

___ Domestic postmark (including Puerto Rico, Guam, etc.)

___ No postmark

___ Voter had previously voted in this election

___ Other

__________________________________

Signature of Person Filing Protest

__________________________________

Print Name

11/15/00

-----------------------------------------------------------
Filed By Matt Drudge
Reports are moved when circumstances warrant
http://www.drudgereport.com for updates
(c)DRUDGE REPORT 2000
Not for reproduction without permission of the author


-- Uncle Bob (unclb0b@aol.com), November 19, 2000

Answers

If a ballot is illegal, then it shouldn't be included, even if it's from the military. That's the law. If you don't like the law, change it, but don't blame others for following it.

-- More trumped up charges (get@real.com), November 20, 2000.

Just ignore Uncle Bob, he's a hysterical rightwing mudslinger that scrapes up crap from the Sludge report and tries to pass it off as having some kind of earth-shattering conspiratorial significance.

The statutes are all specified in this memo, and the law is being followed. That's more than we'll ever be able to say for Republicans.

-- Bob's washing machine (stuck on @ "spin". cycle), November 20, 2000.

This'll all be over in about 28 more days (Dec. 18th).

-- (raven@never.more), November 20, 2000.

A law was signed in Florida that DISQUALIFIED military absentee votes that did not bear a postmark.

Who signed the law?

Florida secretary of state Katherine Harris.

If you're going to blame anyone, blame the little Bush functionary -- the citris heiress, not the people in the precincts abiding by her law.

-- Dumb Unc (right@wing.hysteria), November 20, 2000.

Gee everyone...you'd think I wrote this stuff. I just thought it was interesting. I thought I would share it with you. Don't read it if you don't want to. Tell the guy with the gun to your head making you read it to back off. Please show me where I indicated that I believe this stuff, endorse it, sware by it, and cram my opinions down your throats. Can't do it? Didn't think so. The only thing worse than an anonymous loser is an anonymous loser with a keyboard.

-- Uncle Bob (unclb0b@aol.com), November 20, 2000.

GOP considering lawsuit over thrown-out overseas ballots

-- (also@see.this), November 20, 2000.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNews/ELECTION_PROBLEMS2_A BSENTEE001118.html

How About Ballots Without Postmarks?

Inconsistencies in the way the different counties could handle questionable ballots could spur a constitutional challenge, says Baran.

Duval County, for example, has 100 overseas absentee ballots without a postmark, so they will be rejected because Florida law requires these ballots have a postmark, says Richard Carlberg, assistant elections supervisor.

But in Bay County, which has 83 pending overseas ballots, election supervisor Melanie Williams-Boyd says she has one ballot without a postmark, but which her office stamped on Nov. 8 when it came in. Williams-Boyd says she believes that this vote should count because “it is impossible for the voter to have voted after the election because of the time it took for the mail to arrive from overseas.” It will be up to the canvassing board to decide.

Although Duval also stamps its ballots, Duval's Carlberg says it “hurts” to “throw out” the 100 ballots without postmarks.

Handwritten Dates Problematic, Too

Florida constitutional expert Timothy McLendon, from the Center for Governmental Responsibility at the University of Florida, raises another potential problem with dating ballots: The law allows elections officials to accept ballots postmarked after the election, as long as the voter has manually written Nov. 7 -- or an earlier date -- on the envelope.

McLendon says this dating option, which is acceptable under Florida law, leaves open the possibility of fraud at either end of the process: The voter may have put a pre- Nov. 7 date on after the election. Someone could have put the date on while it was being mailed. Finally, someone in the elections' office could have written a date.

“It is unlikely there would be too many cases of this kind of situation, but it could happen,” McLendon says. “Every vote counts.”

Other problems with overseas ballots identified by an ABCNEWS survey include 20 in Lee County that have questionable or missing witness signatures (Florida law requires the voter to sign and have a witness sign and also write in an address); and 50 in Okaloosa County lacking a postmark.

-- Some of (the@legal.issues), November 20, 2000.

The Sore / Looserman Campaign from hell is CURRENTLY COUNTING ILLEGAL VOTES. You Socialists couldn't find your asses in the dark if all five fingers were flashlights.

-eat chad-

-- Will Continue (farming@home.com), November 20, 2000.

Will:

Still cannot discuss something intelligently, huh? Vitriolic insults do nothing to press your point.

If Bush were in Gore's position in Florida, and the military traditionally voted Democratic, do you really think for a second he would not be challenging every overseas ballot he could?

Enough of the bullshit already. Republicans by NO means hold a superior moral ground in this election, or any other election-or any other political situation, for that matter.

Will, they are coming to get your gun-better duck.

-- FutureShock (gray@matter.think), November 20, 2000.

Unc: >> Gee everyone...you'd think I wrote this stuff. I just thought it was interesting. <<

Well, Unc, when you put the subject line in all caps, it sort of seems like you're in a muck sweat over something. A little more so than merely 'interested'.

-- Brian McLaughlin (brianm@ims.com), November 20, 2000.

FS....who's *they*? *They* don't like guns. *They* are afraid of them. *We* have the guns Blue-boy. But better than that, *we* have the law on our side. Hehehe

-gotta speck of chad between your teeth-

-- Will Continue (farming@home.com), November 20, 2000.

Hard to believe Will Continue is a female. "She" seems to have more testosterone and aggressiveness than a dozen average men combined. Must be some kind of she-man transexual hermaphrodite freak of nature, or perhaps the result of cross-breeding humans with farm animals.

-- (willy-wilma@daughter.of.a.donkey), November 20, 2000.

Blue-boy

What does this mean? Is it a Civil War reference? Does WC purport to have personal information on FS of an intimate nature?

willy-wilma: that was a cowardly attack from the shadows. Go buy yourself a set of gonads (no offense, Tarzan). It may be an apt description of WC, I grant you that much...

Rich

-- Bingo1 (howe9@shentel.net), November 20, 2000.

Bingo,

"She" called Gore a girly-boy, so I was just putting things into their proper perspective.

-- (Will@is.a.manly-girl), November 20, 2000.

But....Gore IS a girly-boy. Wyoming folk don't eat chad. Keep attacking my gender willy wimp. As a matter of fact, bring it on up North. We just luuuuv dimples.

:)

-- Will Continue (farming@home.com), November 20, 2000.

OK, so you don't have use for gonads on your person. My mistake. Couldn't tell your gender due to the low-light levels in here. Or is "low-life levels" more accurate?

Dragging myself outta the mud...

-- Bingo1 (howe9@shentel.net), November 20, 2000.

Brian McLaughlin

Ever heard of copy and paste? Would you feel more comfortablee if I edited everything to suit you?

-- Uncle Bob (unclb0b@aol.com), November 20, 2000.

>> Ever heard of copy and paste? <<

Oh, I see. You were just a tool.

-- Brian McLaughlin (brianm@ims.com), November 20, 2000.

Surely the most hypocritical few posts of the entire election debate on this forum were uttered near the top of this thread.

"More trumped up charges", "Bob's washing machine", and "Dumb Unc", (most likely all the same person) all referred to the fact that the LAW is being followed in the rejection of the overseas military ballots. Would that be the same LAW that says the results need to be certified on November 14th?

The hypocrisy in that line of thought is sickening. As numerous forum members are fond of saying,

"YOU CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS"!

-- J (Y2J@home.comm), November 20, 2000.

Brian:

I'd be embarrassed if I argued like that.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), November 20, 2000.

>> I'd be embarrassed if I argued like that. <<

I'm past embarrassment. I even argue with my mouth full.

-- Brian McLaughlin (brianm@ims.com), November 20, 2000.

Gee Brian, that begs the question Full of what?

-- Uncle Bob (unclb0b@aol.com), November 20, 2000.

off now.

-- (clean@up.crew), November 20, 2000.

Just the fact alone, that someone wrote a 5 page memo on how to disqualify OUR military personnel's ballots is disgraceful! It should be TREASON.

This is why I dont normally do politics. These people are seriously lacking ethics and morals.

-- cin (cin@cin.cin), November 20, 2000.

All kinds of dirty tricks are being used by the Republicans to boost Bush's votes, such as processing ballots after the election had closed and sending them in without postmarks required by law, some people sending in more than one absentee ballot, etc. etc. Now they are trying to use the sympathy of the people for the "poor soldiers" who didn't follow the rules. The Democrats are just trying to protect the integrity of the process by preventing fraudulent ballots from being counted, according to THE LAW.

-- (laws.are.made@to.be.followed), November 20, 2000.

You poor fucking idiot.

-- I (h@ve.spoken), November 20, 2000.

Oooops! I accidently posted that while I was talking to myself in the mirror. Sorry. :(

-- I (h@ve.spoken), November 20, 2000.

No one is asking the obvious question, which is: How does mail that isn't postmarked get delivered in the first place? It's against federal law for mail to be delivered without some sort of postmark. Think about this, people: how often do you get mail that doesn't have some sort of postmark?

Filling out paperwork properly and signing your name to it is a fact of life in the military. It's as basic as keeping your shoes shined and your uniform clean and neat. I find it highly dubious that active members of the military would screw this up. I also find it highly insulting that certain politicians want to paint these rejected ballots as screw ups on the part of service members. Since many of these ballots weren't requested and/or aren't signed and/or do not bear a postmark, exactly how do they know they come from service members?

-- Tarzan the Ape Man (tarzan@swingingthroughthejunglewithtoua.net), November 21, 2000.

"Gee everyone...you'd think I wrote this stuff."

>No. But you did post it.

"I just thought it was interesting. I thought I would share it with you."

>You "shared" five pages with us that you felt needed to have caps in the subject line. It seems apparent that you have strong feelings about the matter.

"Don't read it if you don't want to."

>Don't post it if you don't want others reading and responding to it.

"Tell the guy with the gun to your head making you read it to back off."

>You posted it, we can respond. If you don't like it, then don't post.

"Please show me where I indicated that I believe this stuff, endorse it, sware by it, and cram my opinions down your throats."

You posted this without comment. By definition, you are allowing us to draw our own conclusions and post them. If we draw the wrong conclusion, or simply one you don't like, that's hardly our collective fault. It's yours, since you weren't clear.

"Can't do it? Didn't think so."

>Just did the next best thing. Imagine that.

"The only thing worse than an anonymous loser is an anonymous loser with a keyboard."

>And the only thing worse than an anonymous loser with a keyboard is a paranoid anonymous loser with a keyboard.

-- Sal Monella (too.much@lawschool.org), November 21, 2000.

Experts agree that submitting lots of bogus absentee ballots are the way to rig an election. All of these unpostmarked ballots, supposedly from "military personnel", have me suspicious.

Of course, I realize that Republicans would never stoop this low.

-- Dickhead Nixon (not@a.crook), November 21, 2000.