46,000 Voters Registered Both In Fla., NYC
By RUSS BUETTNER New York Daily News
Published: Aug 25, 2004
NEW YORK - With debate over the 2000 election still raging, thousands of people illegally register in both New York City and Florida.
Some 46,000 New Yorkers are registered to vote in both New York City and Florida, a shocking finding that exposes both states to potential abuses that could alter the outcome of elections, a New York Daily News investigation shows.
Registering in two places is illegal in both states, but the snowbird scandal goes undetected because election officials don't check rolls across state lines.
Officials in both states acknowledge that voting in multiple states is something of a perfect crime, one officials don't have the means to catch.
Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood, the state's top election official, indicated she was troubled by the newspaper's findings but is leaving it up to local election supervisors to resolve any issues raised.
``I am very concerned,'' Hood said. ``It is against the law to be registered in two states, and any type of action that needs to be taken because people are breaking the law must be taken.''
The newspaper's investigation also found:
* Of the 46,000 registered in both states, 68 percent are Democrats, 12 percent are Republicans and 16 percent did not claim a party.
* Nearly 1,700 of those registered in both states requested that absentee ballots be mailed to their home in the other state, but that did not raise red flags with officials in either place.
Efforts to prevent people from registering and voting in more than one state rely mostly on the honor system.
``There's no extensive investigation normally on a voter registration form,'' said Steven Richman, general counsel for the New York Board of Elections. ``We accept it at its face value.''
Eliminating the potential to vote in multiple states would require creating a national voter registration system with federally assigned voter ID numbers, said Allan Lichtman, a history professor at American University in Washington and a voting rights expert.
``I don't think the country is ready for that,'' Lichtman said.
The Daily News contacted more than a dozen people registered in both places, some of whom have voted twice in the same election.
Norman Seigel has voted twice in seven elections since 1988, including four presidential races, records show.
Registered as a Republican at his home in Queens and in Pinellas Park, Siegel has usually filed an absentee ballot in one or both places.
Reached at his Florida home, Siegel interrupted a reporter who was telling him that thousands of people are registered to vote in both states.
``That's illegal,'' Siegel interjected. ``You have to pick one place as your residence and vote there.''
Told that the records show he maintains registrations in both places, Siegel said he had not voted in Florida, then said he had not voted in New York.
Told that records show he has voted in both places, Siegel cut off the conversation. ``I have to go,'' he said.
Edwin Peterson, 66, a registered Democrat in Palm Coast and Queens, attributed his dual vote in the 2000 election to his distrust of the party running the Sunshine State.
``That was a situation where Florida is so messed up with the Republicans, you don't know if your vote is even going to be counted,'' Peterson said. ``It's been like that forever.''
Tribune Reporter Garrett Therolf contributed to this report.
