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November 18, 2000 

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — More than 1,000 overseas absentee ballots were thrown out Friday as Republicans complained of a coordinated challenge by Democrats, particularly against ballots from military personnel.

In some counties, half or nearly all of the ballots were rejected, many of them military ballots that apparently didn't have postmarks.

Orange County, for example, rejected 117 of its 147 overseas ballots.

``The party of the man who wants to be the next commander-in-chief is trying to throw out the votes of the men and women he will be commanding,'' charged Jim Post, a Republican lawyer in Duval County, where 107 ballots were rejected.

``We had a lot of ballots with no postmarks so we had to declare them invalid,'' said Dick Carlberg, assistant elections supervisor in Duval County.

A Republican official involved in the absentee ballot issue said Friday night the Bush campaign was considering civil action in a Leon County court to protest the discarding of hundreds of overseas ballots, many from military personnel.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the decision will be made after the ballots are counted and Bush lawyers can determine whether the problem was wide spread.

Earlier this week, Mark Herron, a Tallahassee lawyer helping shepherd Democratic presidential election lawsuits through the local courts, sent a five-page letter to Democratic attorneys throughout Florida giving them tips on how to lodge protests against overseas ballots.

Such protests must be lodged before the ballot is taken out of the envelope. The letter, given to The Associated Press by a Republican source, focused on protesting military ballots, which are assumed to be heavily in favor of Bush, and included a section on military postmarks.

Herron didn't return a telephone call for comment Friday.

Ed Gillespie, a Republican strategist working for Bush in Florida, said 110 of 113 write-in ballots, mostly from military forces, were invalidated by officials in Miami-Dade County. He said more than half were thrown out because they had no witness or witness address listed but ``the form doesn't indicate that a witness is necessary.''

With all but about a few counties reporting, Bush was leading Gore by more than 600 votes, including overseas totals and those already certified by the state, an AP survey showed.

Counties have until noon Saturday to report their results to Secretary of State Katherine Harris, who will not be able to certify the election until after the Florida Supreme Court meets Monday to hear arguments about ongoing hand recounts in South Florida.

But the latest battle was over the overseas ballots.

``There are more attorneys than there are ballots,'' said Bob Edwards, Chairman of the Republican Executive Committee for Walton County, where five votes were tossed out, including those of four people who had already voted absentee.

More than three-quarters of Orange County's 147 overseas absentee ballots were rejected by that county's canvassing board. Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles said he was shocked by that number but attributes the 117 rejections to voters failing to keep their records current.

However, Republicans handed out an affidavit from the chief postal clerk of the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy to counter Democratic challenges to envelopes without postmarks.

``It is not unusual for mail being sent by naval personnel, whether embarked on naval vessels or otherwise, not to have a postmark,'' said Edgardo Rodriguez.

In Hillsborough County, 74 of the 135 overseas ballots were rejected after Democrats raised concerns about postmark or signature problems. Alachua County rejected half of the 56 overseas ballots received. St. Lucie rejected 13 of 14 and Lake County, all five.

The overseas counting process was painstakingly slow in some counties, with canvassing board members taking several minutes to discuss whether to accept or reject each ballot.