From the Eye of the Hurricane: The View from Palm Beach County

My wife, Alma, was one of the first to know there was something seriously wrong. For 10 years she has worked at a local polling station on election day. This was the first year they had a major problem—and she encountered it bright and early (they opened at 7 a.m.) with one of the many, many elderly people who vote there. Once she became aware of the misleading “butterfly” ballot, she and a colleague (both Democrats) were able to warn all those who signed in at their desks about the proper way to mark the ballots for President. The other poll workers—all Republicans—did not alert those who came their way. My wife came home late that night extremely upset, and exhausted. By the next morning, we were aware of the scope of the problem—across Palm Beach County nearly 20,000 discarded ballots and 3500 votes for Buchanan, who should have received very few.