Seminole County's elections chief, who let GOP workers repair rejected absentee ballot requests, says she lacks the stamina for 2004.
By Associated Press
Published November 7, 2003
SANFORD - Seminole County Elections Supervisor Sandra Goard, thrust into the national spotlight during the contested 2000 presidential election, said Thursday she is resigning before the end of her term.
Goard said her health and a desire to spend more time with her family figured into her decision.
She would not elaborate on her health but said she is taking medication.
"I am tired and do not feel I have the stamina to go through another major election year," said Goard, 59.
Her last day on the job, which she has held for 20 years, will be Jan. 5.
Her quiet resignation was a far cry from the scene outside her office in the fall of 2000, when protesters chanted, "Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Sandra Goard has got to go."
Goard became embroiled in the presidential ballot controversy when Longwood attorney Harry Jacobs unsuccessfully sued her office over her handling of absentee ballots. Goard allowed Florida Republican Party workers to modify absentee ballot requests in her office in the weeks leading up to the election.
The GOP workers added voter ID numbers to about 2,000 requests initially rejected by Goard's office. Jacobs, a Democrat, asked the courts to throw out the nearly 16,000 absentee ballots cast by Seminole County voters.
Had he succeeded, then-Vice President Al Gore would have defeated George W. Bush for the presidency.
