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America Votes 2002: Florida Hopes to Avoid Snags That Marred Primary

Aired November 05, 2002 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We have extensive coverage from reporters all across the country, starting with Gary Tuchman in suburban Atlanta, where the new electronic voting machines are being put to the test across the state. Bob Franken was in St. Paul, Minnesota with the latest on what could be a pivotal Senate race. John Zarrella in Miami for a look at Florida voting and a high-profile governors race, and Kathleen Koch representing the women in Bethesda, Maryland, where people are going to the polls in the aftermath of the sniper attacks. We're going to go ahead and start with Gary Tuchman, who is at a polling station in Dunwoody, Georgia.
Gary, good morning, once again.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning to you.

There are 159 counties in the state of Georgia. Every one of those counties is now using touchscreen voting, the first state in the country to use it, every county, every precinct, and so far, the secretary of state's office says everything is going smoothly in the state so far.

Eight of the machines right here. You can see a lot of voters, very crowded, this polling place, and we want to give you a demo of how this works. This is the machine being used, 22,000 of them. You get a voter access card, you stick it in the slot right here to start it going, and it then downloads the ballot. Now you will not see the actual ballot in the state of Georgia here, this is a sample ballot, but you will recognize some of the names.

We're going to vote for a famous leader. In this case, we'll pick Betsy Ross, because I like her flag. Famous Georgians, we will pick Burt Reynolds, Hollywood actor, but from Georgia. Famous athletes, let's go with Jackie Robinson. Then we go next. We press the "next" button, it brings us to Constitutional amendments and referendums. Should presidential Election Day be a national holiday, we'll say yes. Are you planning on taking a two-week vacation this year? We'll say no. We want more. And shall bonds be used to maintain parks? We'll say yes. Now we'll push next at the end of all the issues at the end of all the issues on this particular ballot, but we'll go here, we can review our choices.

Do you want to change any of them? Let's say in this case, we do want to change, so I push the "famous leaders" one. You can not overvote. That was the big problem in this state, and of course in Florida, that was the most famous issue. You can overvote. I can't press John Adams or Jimmy Carter, or Martin Luther King Jr or George Washington get a vote, but if I want to vote again, I press Betsy Ross again, and I get rid of Betsy Ross.

And then -- this is the most interesting thing I think on this video screen -- I can press write-in, and when I press write-in, I get a typewriter, and I can push a, b, e space l-i-n-c-o-l-n, and I have voted for Abe Lincoln. I would record my write-in vote. I press next, press next here, and then I get to the final summary once again. I am very happy with all my selections. I press cast ballot, and out comes the card. The votes are not on this card. This card will go to another voter. The votes are in this machine, and I have now voted for Abe Lincoln as a famous leader.

So how do the voters here think about all this? What do they think? Let's talk to one voter who's standing right next to me right now who just finished voting here. This is Byrne (ph). , thanks for talking with us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

TUCHMAN: So have you ever voted with a video screen before?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

TUCHMAN: This is used in other states, but in the entire state, like Georgia. What did you think?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How was the experience for you?

TUCHMAN: Great.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was it hard?

TUCHMAN: No, easier than what you've done. Have you dealt with the chads in the past?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TUCHMAN: And how did this compare to that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's much easier, probably more efficient.

TUCHMAN: What was it like for you? Was it like using a microwave oven?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, it didn't have a popcorn button.

TUCHMAN: No, there's no popcorn button here, but I think in the next issue of these machines, they will have a popcorn button, so you can vote and get popcorn afterwards. Will that make it better?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think so.

TUCHMAN: But all in all, you liked the experience.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right, I'm happy to be part of an historical occasion. I think this is great for Georgia. TUCHMAN: Was there anything about it confused you whatsoever?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

TUCHMAN: So you're an advocate.

Byrne (ph), thanks for talking us. Thanks for being a good citizen.

TUCHMAN: Thanks.

They've had one minor problem here. One of the machines, the second one from the top of your screen went blank when a guy was voting. He started voting again, went blank again. As it turns out, the plug wasn't in the wall all the way.

Daryn and Leon, back to you.

All right, Gary Tuchman, in Dunwoody, Georgia, thank you. Leon, what else do you have?

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: I like the Jackie Robinson vote, but Gary's in trouble if they see he passed over Chipper Jones. They're voting different ways in different states, and in Minnesota, they're using it the old-fashioned very low-tech way up there, and that race is getting a lot of attention, because the turnout is expected to be huge. Let's check in now with our Bob Franken, who's standing by there in St. Paul this morning -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they have to revert to low tech, because supplemental ballots, which contain the name of Walter Mondale, were only issued at the last minute, because of the death just over a week ago of Paul Wellstone. So each of those is going to have to be written and hand counted, as opposed to the very sophisticated system that Minnesota has. And they have to tally the results of that one before they can tally anything else.

And that means that Minnesota, which normally gets things done in a hurry, is going to probably have an extremely late night before results are known. Combine that with the fact that there seems to be according to election officials an extremely large turnout the state, and you can see something that's going to go into the wee hours. That's even before we get to any legal challenges that might come up over absentee ballots.

Having said all that, there is still the tradition of voting, and both the candidates who are in the spotlight fulfilled that tradition this morning. Walter Mondale, who is of course the former vice president, 74-year-old, hasn't run for an office since 1984. He capped off his five-day campaign by appearing at the headquarters, or rather at a polling place in Minneapolis and casting his vote, which, of course, is a vote that's going to be for himself.

As far as Norm Coleman is concerned -- we have a lot of trucks going by here. As far as the Republican Norm Coleman is concerned, he has just finished voting, and get ready, because there's a headline here, he came out and told reporters -- and I quote -- "I voted for me." And they're going to need every vote they can get here. It's an extremely close election, too close to call.

TUCHMAN: It's going to be a long night there in Minnesota.

Bob Franken, standing by there live as you see in St. Paul, Minnesota.

KAGAN: Now we move on to Florida, where the president's brother is hoping for a second term as governor. Also election officials are hoping to avoid some of the problems that marred the September primary in the 2000 presidential election.

Our John Zarrella is in Miami, live there this morning.

Good morning.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Well, fingers crossed on how things go today, but first, you know, Jeb Bush running for re-election as governor. If he wins, he will be the first Republican governor in Florida. There have only been three in modern times. Jeb is the third. But he would be the first Republican governor to win re-election. So that would certainly be historic. Jeb Bush went to the polls this morning, 9:30 this morning down in Coral Gables, Florida, which is his precinct here in Miami. This is where he calls home, and cast his ballot. I'm sure he voted for me, too, not me, but himself, and of course, his challenger, Bill McBride, who in the latest polls trails anywhere from 8-15 points, has really tailed off in the last couple weeks, voting in his town of Phona Dasasa (ph), and that's just north of Tampa, Florida. And I hope I pronounced that right. I think I did.

Now, we could tell you, Daryn, that voting here, at least in this particular precinct in Miami, has been considerably light. Now there's a lady behind me in her car, and what they're going to do right here is actually curbside voting. She can't get out of the car, so they're going to bring a ballot out to her, and she's going to curbside vote, which is unique. But this particular precinct here was one that in the September primary completely melted down. They had terrible problems here, got the machines online, those I-Votetronic machines that Gary Tuchman was talking about, electronic touchscreen machines, they got them online, they went down, they didn't get them back up again, until 4:30 in the afternoon, so this was really ground zero in Miami-Dae County for some of the problems.

But the election workers were on hand early this morning, the machines were booted up last night, got them going, they've got some 3,000 Metro-Dade County workers dispersed across the county, who have been trained. Poll workers got extensive training between the September 10th primary and now, and things are working very, very smoothly here.

And in Broward County, where we thought there might be terrible, terrible problems, Daryn, that's just not happening today. We thought that with an 11 page ballot, there might be serious problems there. It's not materializing at this point -- Daryn.

KAGAN: John, you have to explain to me more how this curbside voting works.

ZARRELLA: I don't know, and It's a first for me. I'm waiting to see.

KAGAN: Can you go ask her.

ZARRELLA: I'll let you know when we find out. It will be interesting, but yes she's waiting for them to bring a ballot out to her. I guess it has to be a paper ballot out. I don't think they're going to wheel one of those I-Votetronic machines out on an extension cord. But we'll let you know how that goes.

KAGAN: All right, well, take some pictures of that, as well. That'll be interesting to see. Another first in Florida, at least for us.

John Zarrella in Miami, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Marred Primary>


Aired November 5, 2002 - 11:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We have extensive coverage from reporters all across the country, starting with Gary Tuchman in suburban Atlanta, where the new electronic voting machines are being put to the test across the state. Bob Franken was in St. Paul, Minnesota with the latest on what could be a pivotal Senate race. John Zarrella in Miami for a look at Florida voting and a high-profile governors race, and Kathleen Koch representing the women in Bethesda, Maryland, where people are going to the polls in the aftermath of the sniper attacks. We're going to go ahead and start with Gary Tuchman, who is at a polling station in Dunwoody, Georgia.
Gary, good morning, once again.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning to you.

There are 159 counties in the state of Georgia. Every one of those counties is now using touchscreen voting, the first state in the country to use it, every county, every precinct, and so far, the secretary of state's office says everything is going smoothly in the state so far.

Eight of the machines right here. You can see a lot of voters, very crowded, this polling place, and we want to give you a demo of how this works. This is the machine being used, 22,000 of them. You get a voter access card, you stick it in the slot right here to start it going, and it then downloads the ballot. Now you will not see the actual ballot in the state of Georgia here, this is a sample ballot, but you will recognize some of the names.

We're going to vote for a famous leader. In this case, we'll pick Betsy Ross, because I like her flag. Famous Georgians, we will pick Burt Reynolds, Hollywood actor, but from Georgia. Famous athletes, let's go with Jackie Robinson. Then we go next. We press the "next" button, it brings us to Constitutional amendments and referendums. Should presidential Election Day be a national holiday, we'll say yes. Are you planning on taking a two-week vacation this year? We'll say no. We want more. And shall bonds be used to maintain parks? We'll say yes. Now we'll push next at the end of all the issues at the end of all the issues on this particular ballot, but we'll go here, we can review our choices.

Do you want to change any of them? Let's say in this case, we do want to change, so I push the "famous leaders" one. You can not overvote. That was the big problem in this state, and of course in Florida, that was the most famous issue. You can overvote. I can't press John Adams or Jimmy Carter, or Martin Luther King Jr or George Washington get a vote, but if I want to vote again, I press Betsy Ross again, and I get rid of Betsy Ross.

And then -- this is the most interesting thing I think on this video screen -- I can press write-in, and when I press write-in, I get a typewriter, and I can push a, b, e space l-i-n-c-o-l-n, and I have voted for Abe Lincoln. I would record my write-in vote. I press next, press next here, and then I get to the final summary once again. I am very happy with all my selections. I press cast ballot, and out comes the card. The votes are not on this card. This card will go to another voter. The votes are in this machine, and I have now voted for Abe Lincoln as a famous leader.

So how do the voters here think about all this? What do they think? Let's talk to one voter who's standing right next to me right now who just finished voting here. This is Byrne (ph). , thanks for talking with us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

TUCHMAN: So have you ever voted with a video screen before?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

TUCHMAN: This is used in other states, but in the entire state, like Georgia. What did you think?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How was the experience for you?

TUCHMAN: Great.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was it hard?

TUCHMAN: No, easier than what you've done. Have you dealt with the chads in the past?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TUCHMAN: And how did this compare to that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's much easier, probably more efficient.

TUCHMAN: What was it like for you? Was it like using a microwave oven?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, it didn't have a popcorn button.

TUCHMAN: No, there's no popcorn button here, but I think in the next issue of these machines, they will have a popcorn button, so you can vote and get popcorn afterwards. Will that make it better?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think so.

TUCHMAN: But all in all, you liked the experience.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right, I'm happy to be part of an historical occasion. I think this is great for Georgia. TUCHMAN: Was there anything about it confused you whatsoever?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

TUCHMAN: So you're an advocate.

Byrne (ph), thanks for talking us. Thanks for being a good citizen.

TUCHMAN: Thanks.

They've had one minor problem here. One of the machines, the second one from the top of your screen went blank when a guy was voting. He started voting again, went blank again. As it turns out, the plug wasn't in the wall all the way.

Daryn and Leon, back to you.

All right, Gary Tuchman, in Dunwoody, Georgia, thank you. Leon, what else do you have?

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: I like the Jackie Robinson vote, but Gary's in trouble if they see he passed over Chipper Jones. They're voting different ways in different states, and in Minnesota, they're using it the old-fashioned very low-tech way up there, and that race is getting a lot of attention, because the turnout is expected to be huge. Let's check in now with our Bob Franken, who's standing by there in St. Paul this morning -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they have to revert to low tech, because supplemental ballots, which contain the name of Walter Mondale, were only issued at the last minute, because of the death just over a week ago of Paul Wellstone. So each of those is going to have to be written and hand counted, as opposed to the very sophisticated system that Minnesota has. And they have to tally the results of that one before they can tally anything else.

And that means that Minnesota, which normally gets things done in a hurry, is going to probably have an extremely late night before results are known. Combine that with the fact that there seems to be according to election officials an extremely large turnout the state, and you can see something that's going to go into the wee hours. That's even before we get to any legal challenges that might come up over absentee ballots.

Having said all that, there is still the tradition of voting, and both the candidates who are in the spotlight fulfilled that tradition this morning. Walter Mondale, who is of course the former vice president, 74-year-old, hasn't run for an office since 1984. He capped off his five-day campaign by appearing at the headquarters, or rather at a polling place in Minneapolis and casting his vote, which, of course, is a vote that's going to be for himself.

As far as Norm Coleman is concerned -- we have a lot of trucks going by here. As far as the Republican Norm Coleman is concerned, he has just finished voting, and get ready, because there's a headline here, he came out and told reporters -- and I quote -- "I voted for me." And they're going to need every vote they can get here. It's an extremely close election, too close to call.

TUCHMAN: It's going to be a long night there in Minnesota.

Bob Franken, standing by there live as you see in St. Paul, Minnesota.

KAGAN: Now we move on to Florida, where the president's brother is hoping for a second term as governor. Also election officials are hoping to avoid some of the problems that marred the September primary in the 2000 presidential election.

Our John Zarrella is in Miami, live there this morning.

Good morning.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Well, fingers crossed on how things go today, but first, you know, Jeb Bush running for re-election as governor. If he wins, he will be the first Republican governor in Florida. There have only been three in modern times. Jeb is the third. But he would be the first Republican governor to win re-election. So that would certainly be historic. Jeb Bush went to the polls this morning, 9:30 this morning down in Coral Gables, Florida, which is his precinct here in Miami. This is where he calls home, and cast his ballot. I'm sure he voted for me, too, not me, but himself, and of course, his challenger, Bill McBride, who in the latest polls trails anywhere from 8-15 points, has really tailed off in the last couple weeks, voting in his town of Phona Dasasa (ph), and that's just north of Tampa, Florida. And I hope I pronounced that right. I think I did.

Now, we could tell you, Daryn, that voting here, at least in this particular precinct in Miami, has been considerably light. Now there's a lady behind me in her car, and what they're going to do right here is actually curbside voting. She can't get out of the car, so they're going to bring a ballot out to her, and she's going to curbside vote, which is unique. But this particular precinct here was one that in the September primary completely melted down. They had terrible problems here, got the machines online, those I-Votetronic machines that Gary Tuchman was talking about, electronic touchscreen machines, they got them online, they went down, they didn't get them back up again, until 4:30 in the afternoon, so this was really ground zero in Miami-Dae County for some of the problems.

But the election workers were on hand early this morning, the machines were booted up last night, got them going, they've got some 3,000 Metro-Dade County workers dispersed across the county, who have been trained. Poll workers got extensive training between the September 10th primary and now, and things are working very, very smoothly here.

And in Broward County, where we thought there might be terrible, terrible problems, Daryn, that's just not happening today. We thought that with an 11 page ballot, there might be serious problems there. It's not materializing at this point -- Daryn.

KAGAN: John, you have to explain to me more how this curbside voting works.

ZARRELLA: I don't know, and It's a first for me. I'm waiting to see.

KAGAN: Can you go ask her.

ZARRELLA: I'll let you know when we find out. It will be interesting, but yes she's waiting for them to bring a ballot out to her. I guess it has to be a paper ballot out. I don't think they're going to wheel one of those I-Votetronic machines out on an extension cord. But we'll let you know how that goes.

KAGAN: All right, well, take some pictures of that, as well. That'll be interesting to see. Another first in Florida, at least for us.

John Zarrella in Miami, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Marred Primary>