Judge Rejects Late GOP Suit Challenging Voter Rolls In Florida County
Republicans yesterday began laying "the groundwork for a possible legal challenge to the presidential election with an eleventh-hour lawsuit questioning the accuracy of the voting rolls in Broward County, the most heavily Democratic county in Florida," according to the Miami Herald . In an "emergency court hearing that ended at 8:30 tonight, Broward County Circuit Judge David Krathen ruled that the suit was groundless and he didn't want to 'micromanage the election.'" The suit "argued that inaccuracies in the county's voting rolls will raise the possibility of fraud and double voting." The GOP "also challenged Broward County's procedures for poll watchers, saying that they keep Republicans from adequately monitoring the polls for people who are registered more than once, or who are ineligible to vote because they are felons."
Early Voting In Florida Went Relatively Smoothly.
Despite fears that Florida would be the focus of voting difficulties, USA Today reports that if there was "a bright spot anywhere in this most contentious of elections, it may be the 15-day run-up to the big event – the 15 days of early voting that has gone relatively smoothly. More than 2 million of Florida's 10.3 million voters cast their ballots before the polls open today, and thousands of them were willing to stand in line to do so." In "many instances, lawyers working for both parties have been able to resolve. . .minor disputes that cropped up in early voting."
Poll Indicates Florida's Younger Cubans Less Supportive Of GOP.
The Washington Times reports on the importance of the Florida's large Cuban minority. In the Senate race between former state Education Commissioner Betty Castor and former HUD Secretary Mel Martinez, "the Cuban-born Mr. Martinez has a great deal of support from 800,000 fellow expatriates here, as well as the majority of Florida's burgeoning Hispanic population." But "for the first time in a presidential election, Florida's Cuban-American voters are split. The division is age-specific, said Miami-based pollster Sergio Bendixen." Bendixen said, "The last poll I did in September showed older Cubans voting for Bush four-to-one, but younger Cubans are supporting Kerry."
