Florida Teacher Finds Provisional Ballot Box at Broward County School
So far no one has confirmed the contents of the box.
Lakeisha Sorey at Miramar Elementary School in Broward County found a provisional ballot box inside a closet.
Sorey did not touch it in order to avoid tampering. She phoned state Rep. Shevrin Jones (D) and the Broward Supervisor of Elections Office.
The woman at the office told Sorey the box probably contained blank ballots, but Sorey mentioned the box is locked.
In Broward County, Miramar Elementary School teacher Lakeisha Sorey came across a box labeled “Provisional ballots” left behind at the school from Election Day & she’s concerned it might have votes. She didn’t look in the box because she didn’t want to tamper with it pic.twitter.com/x8WOa8tfKz
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) November 8, 2018
Sorey: “I wasn’t touching it. I don’t want anybody to say I tampered with anything. But I want to make sure that if there are votes in there that they’re counted”
“It makes me question everything that’s going on—just the fact that I want every1’s vote 2B counted”
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) November 8, 2018
Sorey said she spotted the box before leaving school about 4 p.m. She spoke to her principal who advised her not to touch it. She also spoke later to a state rep who referred her to me
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) November 8, 2018
For those folks unfamiliar with a provisional ballot, it’s cast by a voter whose eligibility is in doubt. The ballot is placed in a sealed envelop & unsealed by the canvassing board. A voter by 5 pm today was supposed to have proved his eligibility to have his vote count
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) November 8, 2018
A few folks are asking about the teacher noticing the box: it was in the old cafeteria of the school, and it apparently blended in with other stuff and she just happened to see it at the end of the day
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) November 8, 2018
We do not know exactly what was in the box. A spokesman from the elections office said the box has supplies and not ballots. But again, why is it locked?
Even if it does contain provisional ballots, it may not make much of a difference. These ballots go to those who have questionable eligibility to vote like no ID or may be at the wrong polling place. From The Tampa Bay Times:
When a voter’s eligibility is in question — if they don’t have ID or aren’t clearly at the right polling place — they have a chance to fill out a provisional ballot and prove their eligibility later. Most are eventually denied, because they don’t follow up.
Provisionals typically make up a tiny fraction of the overall votes cast. In the 2016 general election, voters cast 9.6 million ballots. Provisional ballots made up about one-ninth of one percent — 10,998.
In the last midterm, there were 6 million votes, and again, about one-ninth of one percent were provisional. That meant 7,199 provisional ballots counted.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
We do not know exactly what was in the box.
Well, we know what’s not in the box—valid votes. Mystery votes of unknown origin are as useless as birth certificates from anywhere but the official Bureau of Vital Statistics (or whatever office handles them in a particular area).
And how many other closets have yet to be searched for ballot boxes and when does the search start/ end.
If the teacher who found the box is an NEA member, I’m betting all the ballots inside are coincidentally for Democrats.
If it contains provisional ballots they are all in sealed envelopes with the alleged voter’s details on the outside. It should be easy to check with these people whether they cast these ballots, when, and under what circumstances. They could even be asked to open the envelope, check that the ballot inside is how they voted, and reseal it.
Also, the box is sealed. It should be a trivial matter to find the seal number in the logs, and ask the person who logged it for the circumstances.