McCain [Presumably] Benefitting From Floridian Poll Worker Ignorance

Well, this is pretty disgraceful.  Florida's balloting decorum has been healing for 7 long years since the dimpled chad debacle, but it's apparently still the rightful butt of electoral jokes.

In northern Coral Springs, near the Sawgrass Expressway and Coral Ridge Drive, David Nirenberg arrived to vote as an independent. Nevertheless, he said poll workers insisted he choose a party ballot.

“He said to me, ‘Are you Democrat or Republican?’ I said, ‘Neither, I am independent.’ He said, ‘Well, you have to pick one,”’ Nirenberg said.

In Florida, only those who declare a party are allowed to cast a vote in that party’s presidential primary.

Nirenberg said he tried to explain to the poll worker that he should not vote on a party ballot because of his “no party affiliation” status.

Nirenberg said a second poll worker was called over who agreed that independents should not use party ballots, but said they had received instructions to the contrary.

“He said, ‘Ya know, that is kind of funny, but it was what we were told.’ … I was shocked when they told me that.” Nirenberg said he went ahead and voted for John McCain.

Michelle Malkin picks out the relevant section of Florida's election laws that make this restriction pretty cut-and-dry.

If the poll worker's claim that he was instructed to let independents vote in party primaries is accurate, it's all the more troubling.  It suggests either serious ignorance on the part of poll workers' supervisors or a deliberate disregard for state law.

According to Brenda Snipes, Broward County Supervisor of Elections:

"We will consistently conduct successful elections in compliance with the law to ensure that every eligible voter can exercise their right to vote."

That's a quote from the supervisor's website, not a comment on today's reported irregularities.