Ghosts of 2000: Voting chaos in Palm Beach County

Welcome to Palm Beach County in 2008.

With less than eight weeks before the November general election, Palm Beach County leaders--and Florida elections officials--are still trying to sort out what happened during a local election Aug. 26.

The problems remind some of the chaos during the Bush-Gore recount in 2000, albeit without the hanging chads, butterfly ballots and high stakes.

A judicial race sparked the latest mess. William Abramson was leading incumbent Circuit Judge Richard Wennet by 17 votes after an initial count of 102,523 ballots. That triggered a re-count, which turned up some 3,500 fewer ballots and put Wennet ahead by 60 votes. Election officials don't know if the ballots are missing or never existed.

"An accurate count is the lifeblood of our truly democratic process," said Mark Siegel of the Democratic Executive Committee of Palm Beach County. "A complete mystery is worse than tampering."

Now Abramson is suing to be declared the winner and Wennet is calling on Gov. Charlie Crist to authorize a special election on the Nov. 4 general election ballot.

Holding a special election on any other day this year would cost Palm Beach County $1.6 million.

Crist spokesman Sterling Ivey said the governor is reluctant to order a new election, at least for now, because it's not clear whether he has the authority.

Normally, Florida's governor can call a special election if a judge resigns or dies and a vacancy must be filled. In this instance, Ivey said, Crist would prefer Abramson's suit to be heard in court.