New York Daily News: Fraud fears in elex flap

BY RUSS BUETTNER
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

They are four respected professionals - a doctor, a prosecutor, a journalist and a consultant - who were each counted twice in the 2000 presidential election.

All four are registered to vote in both the city and Florida, a few of the 46,000 people whom the Daily News recently found signed up to vote in both states, according to a database match.

But three who talked to The News insisted they only voted here and were unaware their Florida registration remained intact. Circumstantial evidence supports the contention.

They suspect either a sloppy vote tally in Florida or, far worse, that someone committed a fraud in their names.

'Maybe it's just my ignorance, but itseems to me a crime has been committed in my name, possibly, and no one seems to care but me,' said Dr. Lester Bussey, after asking Florida authorities to investigate.

The 2000 election in Florida, which George Bush won by 537 votes, was one of the most controversial in the nation's history. The Sunshine State, in this year's election, is again poised to play a pivotal role.

Voting more than once is a federal offense punishable by up to a year in prison and a $10,000 fine. But it's a crime the voting system does nothing to prevent.

Since The News revealed the snowbird-voting scandal in August, the U.S. Justice Department has begun looking into the matter, and Florida and city officials have traded databases to duplicate The News' research.

Unlike earlier examples of apparent double voting uncovered by The News, these four never maintained homes in both places. They each moved from Florida to the city in recent years.

Holly Haeseler, an assistant district attorney in Queens, shows up as having voted on Nov. 7, 2000, in both Manhattan and in Clearwater, Fla., where she grew up.

Haeseler, 30, said she was certain that she had voted only in New York for that election.

"I wasn't aware that I was still registered there," she said. "I've been here for almost five years."

After talking to The News, she asked Florida authorities to investigate.

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