The latest from Mayor Pam Triolo from Facebook...Seen after 5 p.m. today

Yesterday I spent over 5 hours at the Supervisor of Elections office to observe the canvassing board's review of the provisional ballots and other anomalies. I had been alerted by residents on both sides of our 2020 issue that there were numerous problems at the polls. In several precincts machines went down, the Ipad systems failed, and the power even went out. During these times voters were allegedly told to either come back or fill out a provisional ballot. 

Ironically during the process I found out that many of voters provisional ballots could and would NOT be counted due to Polling Clerk errors. If you filled out a provisional ballot and the clerk didn't fill out the form correctly after you left, that vote would not be counted. There were several examples of that happening and the City's legal staff contested each decision to NOT count your votes. I asked Supervisor Susan Bucher if that process was policy or a law and she told me to consult my legal council. If you want to know if your provisional vote was counted, you have until 5pm today to call 656-6200 and ask. It is not their responsibility to let you know that their staff mistake may make your vote not count. It's important to note that Provisional Ballots are sealed in envelopes so you can not see how a person voted. This post is about my concern for the voting process not the results and to make sure that every vote counts and is counted!

Some other incidents that caused concern happened during the course of my 5 hour visit. At one point, the Supervisor came into the room and revealed that it appeared at least one of 2 precincts that shared a polling location may not have voted as the "cartridges" appeared to not have been read. As an aside she said "not from Lake Worth". When she returned she stated that they indeed "were from Lake Worth" and she was going to run them again to be sure. When she returned again, she said that they apparently were read already as the results in ALL races did not change. How did all of that happen???! it was not very reassuring of our political process. 

During the course of all of these things, the Canvassing Board left the room and congregated outside together while we sat inside. As this board is subject to the same Sunshine Laws as we as electeds are, these actions were a bit dismissive of the process as well. We will be having meeting with the city attorneys soon to discuss these events.

As for the election itself, whenever asked by reporters how I thought the bond would do when it came to a vote I answered "probably 50-50." I had no idea how right I'd be! As it stands 25 votes solidified the against bonds result. The Supervisor of Elections is expected to finalize the election at 1:30 tomorrow afternoon. But as for me there really are no winners, no matter what side of the issue you are on, if anyone was disenfranchised from having their vote count.

And then this:

Just in...The Supervisor of Elections has a section on her website where folks can input their names to see if their provisional ballot was counted. If nothing shows up then make the call 656-6200 before 5pm

Click here for the link.

Editor: Please try calling tomorrow!