Subject: Re: Florida Overvote data
From: Rick Hasen
Date: 8/11/2003, 6:23 PM
To: FredWooch@aol.com
CC: election-law@majordomo.lls.edu

>From Lowenstein and Hasen, Election Law Cases and Materials 71-72 (2d ed. 2001):

"[On November 16, 2000,] evidence surfaced that in heavily African-American and Democratic Duval County, more than 26,000 ballots were invalidated, the vast majority of which were 'overvotes,' that is, ballots recording more than one for for President. The most likely reason for these overvotes was instructions by Democratic Party activists to many first-time voters to be sure to punch a hold on every page; the Duval County ballot listed presidential candidates over two pages. It also appears that the sample ballot officially published in the newspaper confirmed that voters should cast a vote on every page."

Rick

FredWooch@aol.com wrote:
I am looking for information regarding the overvote data from the Florida presidential election.  I seem to remember that there was one county in which the ballot was designed so that the presidential candidates carried over to a second page in the ballot, and that many voters apparently voted for a set of candidates on each page, leading to a large number of voters being disqualified for overvoting.

Can anyone lead me to where I might find any old news articles on this or reports on this overvote problem?  I would like to be able to make sure I am separating fact from urban legend.


Fredric D. Woocher
Strumwasser & Woocher LLP
(310) 576-1233
fwoocher@strumwooch.com

-- 
Rick Hasen
Professor of Law and William M. Rains Fellow
Loyola Law School
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