Sunrise officials fear Election Day disaster

By Susannah Bryan | SunSentinel.com

9:31 PM EDT, October 28, 2008

SUNRISE - Deputy Mayor Roger Wishner requested an absentee ballot for the Nov. 4 presidential election almost two weeks ago.

As of Tuesday, he was still waiting, and worrying about whether it would arrive in time.

Wishner noted the long waits endured by early voters and said he doubted seniors would be able to stand for hours waiting to vote on Nov. 4.

"It is going to be a disaster on Election Day," he said.

At his urging, the Sunrise commission agreed Tuesday night to send an emergency resolution to Gov. Charlie Crist, Secretary of State Kurt Browning and Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes expressing concern over potential problems.

"I don't want another Jay Leno story about [Broward County] not counting the ballots," Commissioner Sheila Alu said.

The measure passed 4-0, with Mayor Steven Feren absent.

Sunrise sent a similar resolution to Snipes in August expressing dismay over delayed results in the primary election on Aug. 26.

Feren, who is running for Broward circuit judge, then joined Wishner and Alu in complaining that voters were kept waiting on results in an election with a lowly 10 percent turnout.

A much higher turnout is expected in November.

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@SunSentinel.com or 954-385-7929.