Manu
11-11-2002, 09:15 PM
TALLAHASSEE, Florida (AP) -- Gov. Jeb Bush's victory last week was aided by a record turnout at early voting stations and from absentee ballots in the mail, including about 380,000 Republican voters.
Under new laws allowing anyone to request an absentee ballot or vote early in the two weeks before Election Day, the GOP sent thousands of absentee ballot request forms to members and watched ballot returns. The changes in the law were put into place following the problem-plagued 2000 election.
Volunteers followed up with personal visits, telephone calls and recorded messages from former first lady Barbara Bush, the governor's mother.
Through November 4, about 650,000 absentee ballots had been returned in Florida. GOP spokesman Towson Fraser said 380,000 of them were from Republicans.
"We stepped it up this time," Fraser said. "We've done it for a long time, but it's not easy or cheap. It takes a lot of mailings, phone calls, door-to-door visits. If you do it halfway, it doesn't work."
Bush received 56 percent of the vote in his defeat of Democratic challenger Bill McBride, who got 43 percent of the vote.
Officials with the state Democratic Party said they didn't have the money for a massive absentee outreach. Chairman Bob Poe said each absentee ballot costs $2 to $3 and many elderly and minority voters distrust the notion of voting by mail.
"We view absentees a little different," Poe said. "We try to convert infrequent voters to voters, particularly those who vote in presidential races but not gubernatorial races, rather than voters who would go to the polls anyway."
State election officials said the success of early voting could lead to an expansion of its use.
Secretary of State Jim Smith said he will ask the Legislature next spring to change state law to allow early voting at satellite voting stations, instead of just election supervisors' offices.
"Early voting was well received by the public," Smith said last week.
One of 10 Florida voters chose early voting, either by mail or at an election supervisor's office. The pre-election turnout caused long lines from Lee to Broward counties.
"We voted as many people by absentee this year as we did two years ago in the presidential election," said Seminole County elections supervisor Sandra Gourd, who had nearly 16,000 absentee voters. "It tells me that we're going to have bigger interest and more participation."
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Under new laws allowing anyone to request an absentee ballot or vote early in the two weeks before Election Day, the GOP sent thousands of absentee ballot request forms to members and watched ballot returns. The changes in the law were put into place following the problem-plagued 2000 election.
Volunteers followed up with personal visits, telephone calls and recorded messages from former first lady Barbara Bush, the governor's mother.
Through November 4, about 650,000 absentee ballots had been returned in Florida. GOP spokesman Towson Fraser said 380,000 of them were from Republicans.
"We stepped it up this time," Fraser said. "We've done it for a long time, but it's not easy or cheap. It takes a lot of mailings, phone calls, door-to-door visits. If you do it halfway, it doesn't work."
Bush received 56 percent of the vote in his defeat of Democratic challenger Bill McBride, who got 43 percent of the vote.
Officials with the state Democratic Party said they didn't have the money for a massive absentee outreach. Chairman Bob Poe said each absentee ballot costs $2 to $3 and many elderly and minority voters distrust the notion of voting by mail.
"We view absentees a little different," Poe said. "We try to convert infrequent voters to voters, particularly those who vote in presidential races but not gubernatorial races, rather than voters who would go to the polls anyway."
State election officials said the success of early voting could lead to an expansion of its use.
Secretary of State Jim Smith said he will ask the Legislature next spring to change state law to allow early voting at satellite voting stations, instead of just election supervisors' offices.
"Early voting was well received by the public," Smith said last week.
One of 10 Florida voters chose early voting, either by mail or at an election supervisor's office. The pre-election turnout caused long lines from Lee to Broward counties.
"We voted as many people by absentee this year as we did two years ago in the presidential election," said Seminole County elections supervisor Sandra Gourd, who had nearly 16,000 absentee voters. "It tells me that we're going to have bigger interest and more participation."
www.cnn.com