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Florida Gambling Opponents Want Recount

TALLAHASSEE, Florida – As reported by the Orlando Sentinel: "Opponents of slot machines at South Florida pari-mutuels have filed a lawsuit seeking an official recount of about 78,000 absentee ballots cast in Broward County on Amendment 4 in the Nov. 2 election.

"The votes in question were counted late on election night after a glitch was discovered in the computers tallying absentees. About 94 percent of the new votes on Amendment 4 turned out to be 'yes' and 6 percent 'no' -- an outcome No Casinos officials claim is a 'statistical anomaly' that calls the count into question.

"…Amendment 4 won by a 119,080-vote margin out of 7.14 million cast -- just enough to prevent it from undergoing an automatic statewide recount. Johnson, who immediately asked Broward elections officials to keep the 78,861 late-counted absentees separate from other ballots, is hoping a review may knock off enough 'yes' votes to mandate a statewide recount. A recount is automatically triggered if the margin of victory is less than one-half of 1 percent.

"No Casinos and Heather Veleanu, a Broward resident and managing director of the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, filed the suit against the Broward County Canvassing Board and Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes.

"…Amendment 4 gives Broward and Miami-Dade voters the opportunity to decide if they want slots alongside betting windows at seven local dog and horse tracks and jai-alai frontons. It also provides that any tax revenue raised from the machines go directly to public schools across the state although the pari-mutuels involved would make billions and local governments would benefit from taxes…"

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