Bush Lawsuit Irks Those Rejecting Absentee Votes

She’s a military wife in a military community, a rock-ribbed Republican in a Florida county dominated by Republicans. But Pat Hollarn draws the line at bending the law to get more votes for George W. Bush.

The longtime election supervisor in Okaloosa County, home to sprawling Eglin Air Force Base and five other military installations, says she believes the GOP is angling to do just that.

Hollarn’s county in the nook of the Florida Panhandle has--along with half a dozen others scattered around the state--been sued by the Bush campaign. The charge: The counties unfairly rejected many overseas ballots, predominantly from military personnel, that arrived after election day.

The lawsuit--and criticism in her own community--has Hollarn fuming.

Okaloosa County’s canvassing board “bent over backward,” Hollarn said, to tally overseas ballots that trickled in during the 10-day grace period after the election. But the board rejected 25 ballots--nearly all votes for Bush--because the overseas voters failed to follow rules for requesting an absentee ballot, she said.

“These Republican lawyers are just blowing smoke, just running up my attorneys’ fees,” grumbled Hollarn, 66. “Really and truly, they have no grounds.”

Bush attorneys see the scenario far differently. They argue that Hollarn--who on election day won a fourth term with 75% of the vote--and other county officials unfairly rejected the votes of military personnel, men and women serving their country overseas. And they contend federal law clearly eclipses stricter state rules for witness signatures and other ballot formalities.

“For her to whine about being unfairly criticized for doing her job seems pretty unfortunate,” said Ed Fleming, a Pensacola attorney representing Bush. “I frankly don’t think she did do her job.”

This testy tug-of-war is replicated all over Florida, where election officials in many of the state’s 67 counties complain that they have been chewed up and spit out by events in the postelection presidential drama.

Normally an obscure bunch, these local officials have been struggling with murky election statutes suddenly made meaningful by the razor-thin presidential race, pushed to decipher the intent of voters in a forest of hanging chad and balky absentee ballots.

In the case of the late-arriving overseas ballots, county canvassing boards say they have been whipsawed by a potent Republican public relations and legal push. They’ve received nasty e-mails, testy phone calls and heavy lobbying by local GOP officials.

To top it off, the playing field tilted in mid-match with last week’s Florida Supreme Court decision on the presidential recount. As part of the ruling, the state’s high court urged Florida election officials to avoid “hyper-technical” decisions in tossing aside ballots.

The result has been a flurry of renewed reviews of the much-debated overseas ballots, with varying results.

In Orange County, for instance, election officials took a hard line, rejecting 40 ballots because of problem postmarks--thus earning the ire of the GOP and a place in Bush’s lawsuit in federal District Court in Pensacola. Election supervisor Bill Cowles griped in a Web page letter to voters that he was “personally incensed” by what he considered false accusations.

Election officials in several other counties, however, have been more flexible, agreeing to count late-arriving military ballots they previously rejected. Navy-dominated Duval County, for instance, reconvened its canvassing board last Friday and reinstituted dozens of overseas ballots that had arrived without a postmark, thus giving Bush a 20-vote boost over Democratic candidate Al Gore.

In Okaloosa County, postmarks never were an impediment for overseas voters. But the canvassing board, made up of Hollarn and two other local Republicans, closed ranks on another front.

They declined to accept federal write-in ballots, meant as a last-gasp opportunity to vote overseas, unless the proper request had been made for an absentee ballot back at home 30 days before the election. That meant the rejection of 25 ballots in Okaloosa County. Nearly all of them were cast for Bush.

“It broke my heart to reject those ballots,” Hollarn said. “My husband was in the Air Force for 23 years, an F-4 pilot. I’ve flown in an F-15. These people are my life. But the law is the law.”

Attorneys for Bush roundly disagree, saying Hollarn and other county officials have failed to consider all sides of state and federal law, splitting hairs in ways that deny military personnel an opportunity to cast a vote.

“To deprive these people serving our country on the front lines their right to vote doesn’t seem fair,” Fleming said. “These are people who can’t predict if they’re going to be shipped out suddenly before election day. What do they do then? They can’t request an absentee ballot five days before the election.”

Fleming said he plans today to seek a quick hearing in the case, which he believes could boost Bush’s edge over Gore by as many as 150 votes. A Times survey found that more than 660 overseas votes that arrived after election day were never counted in Florida’s final tally.

Hollarn, meanwhile, grapples with naysayers back home.

Since election day, she has survived on about three hours’ sleep each night. Her computer is filled with 150 or more e-mails every day, her desk piled with phone messages.

The nasty mail, she said, is running about 3 out of 10. That’s not bad, but it still stings.

One message from a local voter got right to the point, telling Hollarn she regretted voting for her and wouldn’t next time.

“Honey, you’re not going to have a chance,” Hollarn said to no one in particular. “I doubt I’ll run again. I’ve had it.”

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Times researchers Anna M. Virtue, Lianne Hart and Edith Stanley contributed to this story.