During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, there were numerous problems with the election process in Florida, including but not limited to missing/uncounted votes, machine malfunction, machine shortage, turnout reaching above 100 percent, and abnormal statistical discrepancies such as 77 percent Democratic precincts voting 77 percent Republican, and the vote count having an abnormally low correlation with exit polling. Florida was also the center of much controversy in the 2000 U.S. presidential election, including a state-mandated "scrub list" that prevented legitimate voters from voting.

Below is a county map of Florida. The blue counties represent counties that voted Democratic in the 2004 presidential election, the darker shades representing higher population density. The three dark blue counties in the lower right, from top to bottom, are Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade. On the right of the map is a chart comparing the final exit poll in Florida with the vote count.

Voting machines

Optical scanners, unusual voting pattern

Although nearly three-quarters of registered voters in Holmes County are Democrats, Bush wiped out Kerry, 6,410 to 1,810. This same phenomena happened in many other counties that used optical scanning machines. [1] [2]

While it’s extraordinary for a candidate to get a vote total that exceeds his party’s registration in any voting jurisdiction – because of non-voters – Bush racked up more votes than registered Republicans in 47 out of 67 counties in Florida. In 15 of those counties, his vote total more than doubled the number of registered Republicans and in four counties, Bush more than tripled the number. [3]

Absentee voting

• Florida - 58,000 absentee postal vote forms went astray and were not delivered to voters. No real explanation has been given. [4]

Overvotes

In many counties, more votes were registered than there were voters in the county. This totals at least 268,169 overvotes in Florida. [5] In all cases, the overvotes are heavily in George W. Bush's favor.

Source: Florida Department of State - Election Results Source: Florida's First Set of Unofficial Returns Source: An independent statistical analysis of the election

By county

Palm Beach

Broward County

Machines counting backwards - Early Thursday, as Broward County elections officials wrapped up after a long day of canvassing votes, something unusual caught their eye. Tallies should go up as more votes are counted. That's simple math. But in some races, the numbers had gone . . . down. Officials found the software used in Broward can handle only 32,000 votes per precinct. After that, the system starts counting backward. Why a voting system would be designed to count backward was a mystery to Broward County Mayor Ilene Lieberman. She was on the phone late Wednesday with Omaha-based Elections Systems and Software.[6]

Miami-Dade

Total definite miscount

The vote count in Florida puts Bush leading Kerry by 377,509 votes.

There were at least 268,169 false votes.

There were at least 58,000 missing votes.

See also