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Election errors lead to changes

Pinellas' Deborah Clark announces improvements in the wake of three errors connected to Nov. 2.

By MICHAEL SANDLER
Published December 7, 2004

LARGO - Plagued by more embarrassing mistakes, Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark is punishing staff members, amending internal control procedures and vowing to provide more employee training.

Clark said Monday she is adding new checks and balances that could have prevented three errors that occurred within days of the Nov. 2 election. She also said disciplinary measures are pending for six employees. None serves in supervisory roles, and Clark declined to name the employees.

"I am accountable for everything that happens in this office," Clark said during a news conference Monday at her office. "It's my responsibility to have people on staff who will do a good job, people I can trust to complete the job. That's exactly what I'm going to do."

Two employees will face pre-disciplinary hearings with the county's personnel board, which could result in suspensions, demotions or termination, said Lori Hudson, a spokeswoman for Clark. The others will receive oral or written warnings.

In November, Clark's staff lost track of 280 ballots that were not counted until it was too late. Last week the St. Petersburg Times reported that Clark's office reported the wrong results to state officials in two referendum questions.

The three mistakes are the latest in a series of gaffes made since Clark took over the office four years ago.

But Clark, a Republican, does not intend to follow the advice of the Pinellas County Republican Party chairman, who suggested Friday that an independent group review her internal control procedures.

"At this point in time, I feel we have a handle on the situation," Clark said. "We worked through the weekend. We addressed every issue that came up."

Paul Bedinghaus, chairman of the local Republican Party, said it was just a suggestion.

"If it were me, I would call on an independent agency because it would help give the report some credibility," Bedinghaus said. "However, I have full confidence in Debbie and her staff. If she asks us to have faith in her ability to take corrective action, I think we should do that."

Clark said new policies include:

- Requiring that three senior officials - a canvassing board member, a deputy elections supervisor and Clark's information technology administrator - proofread the final election results before they are signed by the canvassing board and sent to Tallahassee.

- Requiring a security team to re-inspect ballot bags after they are opened and emptied.

- Requiring that the information technology administrator verify that results posted on the state's Web site match the final election results signed by the canvassing board. If they do not, the board and state division of elections must be notified immediately.

- Establishing a log recording when absentee ballots are received and transferred, with a signature of the supervisor, and marking "BALLOT BOX" in bold letters on the steel box used to transfer those ballots.

The amended election security procedures manual will be forwarded to the state's division of elections.

Clark said that over the next month she also will review job responsibilities with all employees and focus on retraining staff.

Two of the recent errors were made by a staff member who mistakenly reported "no" votes as "yes" votes for a statewide constitutional amendment legalizing slot machines in South Florida and a Pinellas charter amendment giving the county administrator authority to hire and fire employees without board confirmation.

Though both amendments failed in Pinellas, the staff member recorded them as passing.

Clark's staff knew two days after election day of a discrepancy in the statewide slot machine initiative, but failed to fully investigate for two weeks. By then, it was too late to make changes.

Neither mistake affected the ultimate outcome. The gambling, which failed in Pinellas by more than 17,000 votes, passed statewide by more than 119,000 votes. The voters' decision stands in the local amendment because the state does not record the official results.

Clark faced criticism last week from County Chairwoman Susan Latvala, a member of the canvassing board who was not informed of the misreported results in the state and local amendments.

But Judge Patrick Caddell, the chairman of the canvassing board, said a member of Clark's staff mentioned the errors to him.

Caddell and Latvala both defended Clark on Monday, saying changes since the 2000 election have made the election process more complicated and prone to error.

"You can't have too many checks and balances," Caddell said. "But as much as I would love to slough this off on Deb and the staff, I did look at (the election results) and I did not catch it."

- Michael Sandler can be reached at 445-4162 or sandler@sptimes.com

2000 - 1,400 ballots not counted, 900 ballots counted twice

2001 - Six absentee ballots misplaced for Tarpons Springs election

2002 - Voters in Lealman receive wrong ballots

2004 - 280 ballots misplaced until it was too late to count them

2004 - Staff incorrectly reports results for two referendum questions

[Last modified December 7, 2004, 00:47:11]