The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1952-05-19

I was busily engaged IN cornpar-
ing the handwriting, / could not
help but overhear conversation
with reference to ballots which
were questionable and oyerhear
the convers; ton of judges in de-
termining whether a ballot was
to be thrown out or accepted. My
observation indicated that they
were fair and impartial in &C.
cepting and rejecting question
able ballots. Therefore, where
you quote me as having said:
Your office" said Bennett, 'is
to be congratulated on the way
it conducted this election" you
have misrepresented the facts,
since have absolutely no knowl-
edge whatsoever of how the
election was conducted, as my
only knowledge had to do with
absentee ballots in four of the
fourteen precincts. What you
should have written was "Your
office" said Bennett, ''is to be
congratulated on the way it con-
Quoted the canvass of the alb
sentee ballots"
"You further say in your sub
title: Handwriting expert could
find nothing wrong durin G
check" How and where you OBJ
tanned such information is be-
yond m. powers of comprehen-
sion. made no such statement
to your reporters or to Mr.. Pin
der or to anyone. In a few of the
irregularities found by Inc, con-
ferred with Mr.. Pinder, and
where the registration of the alb
sentee voter could not be found
in its proper precinct, Mr.. Pin
der or one of his assistants went
to the master registration list
and checked to see if the absen-
tee ballet had been placed in
the wrong precinct. In a few
instal ces this proved to be so
and l was advised by Mr.. Pinder
that the record had not been
purged in several years, but that
this would take place following
the present election. Therefore,
it was possible that some of the
voters might be listed in other
precincts or their name might be
carried when they had moved
away from Monroe County.
1T is absolutely preposterous
to ..llege that l said nothing was
found wrong during my check.
"Out of approximately $4,000
ballots cast in the election, my
opportunity for scrutinizing sig
natures vas limited to $50 alb
sentee ballots out of 988.
with reference to the proper
ton or percentage of absentee
ballots as compared with the
number Of ballots cast, / would
say that beyond any question OF
doubt the large percentage (8%o)
is attributable to considerable
pressure having been brought to
bear by some candidate in order
to cause the voters to vote an
absentee ballot. In normal cleo
tons a l%e or 20 ratio to the
total number of votes cast is
considered good, yet in Key
West the ratio was many times
this: therefore, l think this is
highly significant and irregular,
but, with no definite information
in my possession, have no
statement to make as to the rea-
son for such an abnormal condi-
ton.
with reference to differences
in signatures in the registration,
any discrepancies and other IL
regularities. a detailed report has
been made TO Mr.. Porter. He is
/, at liberty to release my report
or TO retain possession of it, a:
he sees fit.
The average person, unfam-
iliar with conditions in Monroe
County, reading the purported
statements. alleged to have beer
made by me, could draw only
one conclusion and that is -
completely white-waShed the en-
tire election in Key West ano
gave il a clean bill of health.
| II is quite obvious that this was
the impression you were at.
tempting TO convey TO your read
ers, which is in direct conflict
with facts.
II have no knowledge OF the
amount of money that any candi.
date expended in his campaign
have no knowledge of the tao
tics used by any candidate in his
campaign. | have no knowledge
of any promises made by any
| candidate in order 10 win votes
| and. in fact, | have no knowledge
of the conditions prevailing in
! Monroe County concerning this
election. excepting the few hun,
drcd absentee ballots which
! examined in the first four pre-
/ cincts.
Because time would not per