By Brad Friedman on 8/4/2006, 8:36am PT  

Blogged hastily by Brad from the road...(I think I'm in Cedar Rapids, Iowa...though not actually running for anything)...

From an article in today's Daytona Beach News-Journal...

Secure ballots fuel races
...
Verifiable elections also tops the list of issues on the Web site of Titusville Democrat Clint Curtis, who is challenging Oviedo Republican incumbent Tom Feeney for U.S. Congress. Feeney's Web site also touts paper ballot legislation he advanced last year.

Another voting issue making rounds is "sleepovers."

The practice of having precinct clerks store machines just before Election Day is used in Volusia and Flagler counties so the machines can be distributed to polling places in the wee hours before polls open at 7 a.m. The machines are sealed to make sure they're not tampered with, and supervisors say it's safer to have them at a sworn elections worker's home than at a polling place.

The practice is particularly common in large counties where polling places are far from elections offices, said Sterling Ivey, a spokesman for the Florida Department of State.

John Chagnon, a Democrat from St. Augustine who is challenging Winter Park Republican John Mica for his Congressional seat, raised the "sleepovers" issue in a letter to the state Division of Elections last week.

"A lot of people just don't know about this," he said. "When they find out about this, they get upset."

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