Florida ballot chief warns on 'observers' - October 26, 2004

By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Florida elections chief Dawn Roberts has warned the state's 67 election supervisors to be on the alert for observers at polling places who might use strong-arm tactics or otherwise harass or improperly assist potential voters in the Nov. 2 presidential election.

'You have the right and obligation to set reasonable time, place and manner restrictions with respect to 'observers' in and around the voting site,' Mrs. Roberts, the state's elections division director, wrote in a memo circulated Friday.

Both Republicans and Democrats have accused each other of voter harassment and have issued strong warnings nationwide - particularly in the hotly contested race in Florida - against voter intimidation. Each side is training poll watchers on how to spot improper behavior by poll clerks, malfunctioning voting machines, and whether the polls are opening and closing on time.

An unprecedented number of Republican and Democratic poll watchers are expected at voting precincts throughout Florida, whose 25 Electoral College votes ultimately decided the 2000 presidential election after a Supreme Court ruling. Florida law allows each party and candidate to post an observer at each polling place. All observers must be registered voters.

On Sunday, former Vice President Al Gore told black voters in Jacksonville, Fla., who still might be angry over his narrow 2000 defeat not to let their concern 'turn into angry acts or angry words,' and instead to channel their anger 'into energy at the polls.'

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