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Letter to Oliphant Regarding Potential Long Lines at Certain Precincts
November 5, 2002
Via Facsimile
Miriam Oliphant, Supervisor of Elections
Joseph Cotter, Deputy Supervisor
Broward County Supervisor of Elections
Broward Governmental Center
115 S. Andrews Avenue, Room 102
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
Re: Potential Long Lines at Certain Precincts
Dear Ms. Oliphant and Mr. Cotter,
We are writing on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida regarding concerns about the potential for long lines at the polling places. In light of the length of the ballot in Broward County, the anticipated large voter turn out, the small number of voting machines purchased by the County in relation to the number of registered voters, and the inevitable fact that some machines may malfunction, we anticipate that there may be extraordinarily long lines at some Broward County precincts ? particularly in the post-working hours rush from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. We are concerned that the lines may be so long as to discourage or prevent eligible voters from casting a ballot.
We write to request that you take this opportunity to plan in advance to take two steps to alleviate long lines in certain precincts, should such lines develop, and thereby insure that every eligible voter who wishes to cast a ballot will have the opportunity to do so. First, we understand that there are between 250 and 550 "backup" voting machines which were designed to replace malfunctioning machines but some of which could be delivered to precincts experiencing extraordinarily long lines, and we request that you make arrangements to do so. Second, we request that you authorize precinct clerks to utilize backup or substitute paper ballots in precincts with extraordinarily long lines. While we do not take issue with the Division of Elections' October 31, 2002 interpretation of the provisional ballot statute to prohibit use of paper provisional ballots as provisional ballots in such a crisis, absolutely nothing prohibits the Supervisor of Elections from exercising her discretion to use the existing paper ballots which are on hand as regular backup or substitute ballots. We recognize that this may require your office arranging for delivery of secure ballot boxes to those precincts in which use of paper backup or substitute ballots is authorized, and therefore urge you to make such arrangements in advance.
Finally, because we anticipate the longest lines to occur near the 7:00 p.m. poll-closing time, we request that you make every effort to insure that the Broward Poll Manual, state law, and the Settlement Agreement in NAACP v. Smith are followed so that all voters in line at 7:00 p.m. are afforded an opportunity to vote, even if that may require polling places to be open well after 7:00 p.m.
Thank you for your consideration of these requests and attention to these concerns. We share your commitment to affording all eligible voters an adequate opportunity to cast a ballot, and would be happy to discuss these issues further with you or your legal representative(s) should you believe it useful.
Very truly yours,
JoNel Newman, Esq.
Special ACLU Counsel
Howard Simon
Executive Director
