Fla. Dems Attack Election Day Notices

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Florida Democrats asked a state court Friday to block Election Day notices at polling places that would inform voters in Rep. Mark Foley's district that his GOP replacement on the ballot will receive his votes.

Foley had been a shoo-in for re-election before he resigned from Congress on Sept. 29 after being confronted with sexually explicit instant messages he wrote to male Congressional pages.

Foley's name is still on the ballot, though, and election supervisors want voters to know that votes for Foley will be given to state Rep. Joe Negron instead.

Democrats say that would be electioneering, which is illegal under state law.

"We think the issue is very simple. What they propose to do is electioneering, and the law says electioneering is not allowed within 100 feet of a polling place. Simple as that," said Democratic Party spokesman Mark Bubriski.

Jenny Nash, a spokeswoman for the Florida secretary of state, said electioneering includes any notice or advertisement that informs voters about a specific candidate but does not necessarily ask voters to cast their ballots for that candidate.

She called the Democratic Party's motion for an emergency injunction "a reach." Democrats filed the motion in state court in Tallahassee.

The notices also would let voters know that a vote for Tim Mahoney, Negron's Democratic challenger, will count for Mahoney and a vote for unaffiliated Emmie Ross will count for Ross.

"There is plenty of support in Florida election code for both the department and the supervisors to educate voters and to provide them with necessary information," Nash said. "We feel it's a commonsense approach that in order to avoid confusion at the polls, voters should be educated to any last-minute changes to the ballot."

Negron called the Democrats' request "a desperate attempt to try to confuse voters."

"I can't imagine why anyone would oppose voters knowing how their votes will count," he said. "But you know what, voters are a lot smarter than the experts give them credit for."

Registered Republicans in the district outnumber Democrats 202,500 to 170,369, according to the latest state figures. Foley had been seeking his seventh term in Congress.