Florida's Hood: County a success
By Jane Musgrave
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/news/epaper/2004/10/27/c1a_absentee_1027.html

Hood's cheery optimism wasn't shared by party officials or those worried that they won't get their ballots soon enough to mail them back to arrive before Tuesday's 7 p.m. deadline. They spoke darkly of election office phones that constantly ring busy, questions that go unanswered, sample ballots that haven't arrived and fears of election meltdown. And a few voters said some of the pages of their absentee ballots were missing.

Lillian Katz, who splits her time between New Jersey and Palm Beach County, didn't receive the absentee ballot she ordered on Sept. 13. She put her reaction bluntly: "I feel I'm sacrificing my vote for someone's crookedness."

LePore said she received one report of a blank page on a ballot. She attributed that to a printing problem. She said there have been "sporadic" reports of people receiving incomplete ballots, but the problem is not widespread.

"They're human," she said of those who stuff the envelopes. "That's not an excuse. We're trying to better monitor the assembly line."

She said she can't explain why people say they haven't received ballots they ordered weeks ago. "We take them to the post office and then it's out of my hands."