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Home My WebLink About11-08-1995 Canvassing Board Minutes MINUTES OF THE CITY OF OCOEE CANVASSING BOARD MEETING HELD NOVEMBER 8, 1995 .~ CALL TO ORDER - Mayor Vandergrift The Canvassing Board was called to order at 12:10 p.m. by Mayor Vandergrift in the Ocoee Commission Chambers Conference Room. The roll was called and a quorum declared present. PRESENT: Mayor Vandergrift and Commissioner Glass. Also present were City Manager Shapiro, City Attorney Rosenthal, City Clerk Grafton, Deputy City Clerk Green, Commissioner Gleason and Mrs. Gleason, and Sentinel Reporter Jim Stratton. ABSENT: Commissioner Johnson. .~ COUNTING OF ABSENTEE BALLOTS City Clerk Grafton reported that thirty two (32) absentee ballots had been requested from the Supervisor of Elections' office for this election. (See attached list which was read into the record). Twenty five (25) absentee ballots had been returned to the Supervisor of Elections' office and one (1) had been returned to the City Clerk's office making a total of twenty six (26) absentee votes to be considered. She reported that in District 2 of the eight (8) absentee ballots requested, six (6) had been returned, and that the Supervisor of Elections' office had questioned two (2) of the signatures: Mary A. Hill's signature did not match the signature on file and Mr. R.E. Wetherington's signature was unusual and had been placed on line 1 instead of the space provided. Upon comparing the signatures with the photocopy of the file signatures provided by the Supervisor of Elections, consensus was reached that Mrs. Hill's signature should be accepted as valid, but Mr. Wetherington's should be rejected as invalid, leaving five (5) absentee ballots accepted as valid by the Canvassing Board to be counted for District 2. In District 4 there were twenty four (24) absentee ballots requested and twenty (20) had been returned. The ballot submitted by J. T. Hogan had no voter signature on the outside and was rejected for that reason, leaving nineteen (19) valid ballots for District 4. None of the remaining signatures in the District 4 absentee ballots had been rejected by the Supervisor of Elections office and they were accepted as valid by the Canvassing Board. City Clerk Grafton read the list of ballots accepted as valid which follows: District #2: Frank R. Fuller, Mary P. Hill, William E. M. McCallister, Jr., Beatrice B. Miller, Tanya C. Miller, John P. Richardson, and Mary E. Wetherington. District #4: Eric Barnett, Daniel B. Butler, Frederick Godwin, Katherine Hayes, William P, Hayes, June Kleier, Robert E. Kleier, Joseph P. Lenkowski, A. Marshall, Virginia H. Marshall, Marcus Mininger, Betty T. Peeples, Lloyd C. Peeples, Angela M. Saul, David C. Williams, Linda J. Williams, Robert Douglas Wilson, Margaret H. Zurakowski, and Paul Zurakowski. ........ The ballots were divided into districts, opened by the Board and separated from the identifying envelopes. The envelopes were put away and the ballots were then stirred and removed from the secrecy envelopes. Mayor Vandergrift read the votes from the ballots while Commissioner Ocoee City Commission Canvassing Board November 8, 1995 '-" Glass, City Clerk Grafton and several others marked separate tally sheets. At the end of the reading the tally sheets showed the following distribution of absentee votes: District #2: Scott Anderson Robert "Papa" Duquette Mike McEvers Robert W. (Bob) Williams o 1 3 1 2. votes cast District #4 Jim Gleason Richard T. Roderick 15 ...4 19 votes cast CERTIFICATION OF ELECTION RETURNS. The tapes from the voting machine were compared and found to be alike, both showing that the machine was closed at 7:11 p.m. and totals were printed, that 751 votes had been cast, with 750 valid ballots and 1 ballot undervoted in District #4. The totals were then read into the record. The table below shows the results of the election to be certified by the Canvassing Board. MACHINE INVALID ....... OFFICE VOTE ABSENTEE ABSENTEE TOTAL COMMISSION SEAT #2: Scott Anderson 98 0 98 Robert "Papa" Duquette 51 1 52 Mike McEvers 19 3 22 Robert W. (Bob) Williams 94 1 95 SUBTOTALS 262 Outstacks 0 5 267 actual 1 TOTALS 262 5 1 268 attempted "-" 2 .. Ocoee City Commission Canvassing Board November 8, 1995 '-' OFFICE MACHINE VOTE INVALID ABSENTEE ABSENTEE TOTAL COMMISSION SEAT #4: Jim Gleason 374 15 389 Richard T. Roderick 114 4 118 SUBTOTALS UNDERVOTE 488 -1 19 507 actual 1 TOTALS 489 19 1 509 attempted "-' District #2 District #4 GRAND TOTALS 262 489 751 5 19 24 1 1 ~ 268 509 777 City Clerk Grafton read a letter from Candidate Mike McEvers challenging the count of the machine vote and requesting a recount, as he believed that the voting machine may have been out of calibration from being transported to the election site. He stated that more people than indicated by the count had stated to him that they had voted for him. City Attorney Rosenthal read the statutory criteria in terms of whether or not the Board should order a recount, i.e., "if the returns from any precinct are missing, if there are any omissions on the returns from any precinct, or if there is an obvious error on any such returns. Also, if one-half of one percent, or less, of the votes are cast, in terms of the difference between the candidates, which would not be the case here. If a protest is filed by a candidate or a qualified voter prior to the time of adjournment of the Board, the protest must allege an error in the returns. Upon receipt of the protest, when the electronic equipment is used, which is the case here, precinct records and election returns may be examined. This is discretionary. If there is a clerical error, such error shall be corrected by the Board. If there is a discrepancy which could affect the outcome of an election, the Board may recount the ballots on the automatic tabulating equipment. The issue is whether the Board feels any information has been presented which would fall into any of those categories authorizing a recount." Mayor Vandergrift asked about the testing process for the record. City Clerk Grafton stated that she had been present at the testing at the Supervisor '-" 3 Ocoee City Commission Canvassing Board November 8, 1995 '-"' of Elections' warehouse and the machine used in this election had tested accurately. She stated further that it was the custom to hold the testing at that site and then transport the machines by truck to the polls and she had not been advised that such transporting had ever caused a machine to malfunction. City Attorney Rosenthal pointed out that, should this Board decide to reject the protest, Mr. McEvers would have the right of appeal to the Circuit Court and such appeal would require an allegation of fraud. Commissioner Glass noted that Mr. McEver's protest did not contain any allegations of any specificity and there was nothing to indicate that anyone observed any tampering or jolting/jiggling of the machine. Commissioner Glass. seconded by Mavor Vandersrrift. moved to reiect the challenge. Motion carried 2-0. City Clerk Grafton read into the record the final tally as stated above. Commissioner Glass. seconded by Mayor Vandersrrift. moved to certify the election as official. Motion carried 2-0. ADMINISTRATION OF OATH TO COMMISSIONER DISTRICT 4. Commissioner Gleason was sworn in by City Clerk Grafton. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 12:35 p.m. Attest: APPROVED: City of Ocoee '-" . d '7i- /d' --) .-'V .,,) .~J1l/~~t.,,~ S. Scott Vandergrift, Maybr '-" 4 '-" '--' ~ OATH OF OFFICE I, James P. Gleason, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support, protect and defend the Constitution and Government of the United States of America and the State of Florida against all enemies, domestic or foreign, and that I will bear true faith, loyalty, and allegiance to the same, that I am entitled to hold office under the Constitution; that I will faithfully perform all duties of the office of Commissioner of the City of Ocoee, which I am about to enter, so help me God. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 8th day of November, 1995. CITY OF OCOEE 1995 ELECTION CERTIFICATE OF RESULTS NOVEMBER 8, 1995 OFFICE MACHINE VOTE ABSENTEE TOTAL COMMISSION SEAT #2: Scott Anderson 98 4Y Robert "Papa" Duquette 51 Mike McEvers 19 II Robert W. (Bob) Williams 94 9 C SUBTOTALS 262 c .2l0 Q iUt Outstacks 0 ABSENTEE INVALID BALLOTS TOTALS 262 c / .24 8 a-��` ,tt COMMISSION SEAT #4: Jim Gleason 374 J-kti ii rT UH" 3 $9 Richard T. Roderick 114 / /// / l SUBTOTALS 488 /9 '? .6tc .tuf WA/ UNDERVOTE l ABSENTEE INVALID BALLOTS—I: 4 TOTALS 489 / ' 10 a. te- %" til,c (/ <4(1-`t C CITY OF OCOEE 1995 ELECTION CERTIFICATE OF RESULTS NOVEMBER 8, 1995 OFFICE MACHINE VOTE ABSENTEE TOTAL COMMISSION SEAT #2: Scott Anderson 98 Robert "Papa" Duquette 51 52 Mike McEvers 19 Ii! 22 Robert W. (Bob) Williams 94 SUBTOTALS 262 ' Outstacks 0 ABSENTEE INVALID BALLOTS - 1 TOTALS 262 a 6 E COMMISSION SEAT #4: 1'Fu, 1 L Jim Gleason 3741141 3E9 Richard T. Roderick 114 1 115' SUBTOTALS 488 UNDERVOTE 1 ABSENTEE INVALID BALLOTS TOTALS 489 • CITY OF OCOEE 1995 ELECTION CERTIFICATE OF RESULTS • NOVEMBER 8, 1995 OFFICE MACHINE VOTE ABSENTEE TOTAL COMMISSION SEAT #2: Scott Anderson 98 Robert "Papa" Duquette 51 $ 7— Mike McEvers 19 Robert W. (Bob) Williams 94 SUBTOTALS 262 Outstacks 0 ABSENTEE INVALID BALLOTS TOTALS 262 / 4' 1' COMMISSION SEAT #4: Jim Gleason 374 7 Richard T. Roderick 114 / SUBTOTALS 488 UNDERVOTE 1 ABSENTEE INVALID BALLOTS TOTALS 489 l b