Early Voting in Florida Brings Long Lines, Celebrities, Empowerment and Conflicts

Rev. Deborah Mero Roseanne Barr and Michael Moore in Dade County Waiting to vote James Henry

Inside, Mero reported, were lawyers for both the Democratic and Republican parties, waiting to challenge the legality of voters whose registration seemed questionable. And outside, Mero stood, one of the volunteer poll monitors who had been dispatched to battleground states to advocate for voter's rights and act as a witness to our country's electoral process.

At the end of the day, Mero reported, filmmaker Michael Moore appeared on the scene, focused on both energizing voters and recording on film any irregularities in the voting process. Later in the evening, Mero was present at St. Paul's AME Church for a "Let Justice Roll" worship service, where Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) introduced the Rev. James Forbes (Riverside Church, New York) who preached the sermon.

Today, Mero returned to the Library with a different assignment - to meet those who wanted to vote early and tell them that the early polling site had been closed by the Florida government. She reported, "Only two polling places in Miami Dade County are open today...so people are showing up, expecting to vote, and then have to be redirected. Our job is to let them know where they need to go, and then we hope they will be able to get to the sites that are open, and vote." Mero reported, "There have been some volunteers shuttling people to the new polling place...but then they have to wait three hours before they can get a ride back."

Mero reported that people were "showing up at a rate of more than one per minute, even though this polling station is closed." Tonight, Mero was scheduled to arrive at a Baptist Church for a three-hour training session to prepare for election day, when the rules are different. She said, "We need to report on Nov. 2 at 6 AM to our precincts."

Mero was impressed by the dedication of the people she met in the voting line. She said, "People here want to vote so badly that they are waiting for hour upon hour. When one woman knew the election protection people could help her, she said, 'I'm waiting for them to give me trouble...let them try.' We are ready," Mero said, "and want to defend the right of all people to vote in this critically important election."

In Tampa, thirty-two members of All Souls Church Unitarian (Washington, DC) are working to make sure that poor and minority voters get out and vote. The members are part of Election Protection, a coalition of 60 national organizations ranging from the League of Women Voters to the Native American Rights Fund, and are some of the 20,000 volunteer monitors who will be positioned outside precincts in 17 states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Texas.

Elsewhere in Tampa, Patrick Earle, another All Souls Church member from Washington D.C., was working to help farm workers vote. Earle, speaking in both Spanish and English, worked to assist voters and explain where they could vote early. Earle is a high school teacher who is volunteering with the Florida Consumer Action Network Foundation, which has about 1,000 people mobilizing minorities and infrequent voters in 333 targeted Florida precincts.

The early voting activity has not been without conflict, however. In another part of Florida, two members of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork in Water Mill, NY were involved in a police incident in Palm Beach.. Independent journalist James Henry, a resident of Sag Harbor, NY, was photographing the line of voters outside a polling place on public property of the County Elections Headquarters.  A witness to the event, the Rev. George Wilson of East Hampton, NY, stated that Mr. Henry "was tackled from behind, punched and handcuffed outside the Elections Supervisor's office.” Both men were trained polling observers who had volunteered their services to watch over the elections process as legal observers.

A county spokesmen later said the deputy was enforcing a newly enacted rule from Elections Supervisor Theresa LePore prohibiting reporters from interviewing or photographing voters lined up outside the polls. The line stretched to about 600 people when James Henry was charged with disorderly conduct for taking his photos. The arrest drew expressions of outrage from a leading Florida civil liberties expert — and even from one of LePore's fellow county election supervisors. Leon County Elections Supervisor Ion Sancho called restricting reporters and photographers on public sidewalks outside polling places "an outrage. I'm shocked. The First Amendment right to be there is absolute." At last report, Henry was still being held on a $500 bond.

Media Coverage:

• Regarding members of All Souls Church Unitarian, Washington, DC:
  11/1/04 - St. Petersburg Times - Volunteers to monitor democracy by Sherri Day
  11/1/04 - St. Petersburg Times - Democracy's foot soldiers by Adam C. Smith

• Regarding the arrest of Unitarian Universalist James S. Henry:
  11/1/04 - Miami Herald - Writer hit by police at poll by Jane Daugherty
  11/1/04 - news24.com - Journo held for taking pics
  11/1/04 - WESH.com - Journalist arrested after photographing voting lines
  11/1/04 - UPI (through the Washington Times) - Journalist tackled, arrested in Florida
  11/1/04 - WBOCTV16.com - Journalist arrested in Florida for photographing voters
  11/1/04 - Newsday.com - LI Journalist photographing voters arrested by Mitchell Freedman

-- Reported by Deborah Weiner; photographs by Deborah Mero

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