Group with GOP ties sues TV networks over early call on Florida
By The Associated Press
11.16.00
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PENSACOLA, Fla. — A group with Republican links sued TV networks
yesterday and accused them of discouraging voters from going to the polls in
the Florida Panhandle by making early projections that Vice President Al Gore
would carry the state.
Michael Watson of White City, a rural community in Gulf County about
80 miles southwest of Tallahassee, said he was at a friend's house
getting ready to go vote for Republican George W. Bush when he heard the TV
prediction before polls had closed in the Central Time Zone.
"I figured it wouldn't do me no good to go vote,"
Watson said, so he decided not to make the trip of about 20 minutes to his
polling place. "That kind of robbed me of my right to vote."
However, elections officials in at least three counties in the
Panhandle, which voted heavily for Texas Gov. Bush, said they had no evidence
of people staying away from the polls because of networks calling Florida for
Democrat Gore after polls had closed in the Eastern Time Zone. Polls closed at
7 p.m. local time in both time zones, an hour apart.
Brenda Renfroe, assistant supervisor of elections for Escambia County
in Pensacola, said the networks' calls were made only about 15 minutes
before polls closed.
"I can't imagine anyone in line would have heard it, and
we didn't have any reports of anyone walking away," Renfroe told
the Pensacola News Journal.
The Committee for Honest Politics sued in Shalimar on behalf of an
Okaloosa County voter who did cast his ballot but contended its value was
diminished by the networks' projection.
The Indianapolis-based group's executive director, Dan Perrin,
said another lawsuit would be filed tomorrow on behalf of Bay County voters in
Panama City. Perrin also serves as executive director of the Republican
Leadership Coalition and the Fairness Foundation.
The Okaloosa lawsuit seeks an injunction against seven TV networks and
the Voter News Service, which conducted exit polls for the networks, to prevent
them from making similar projections in future elections before all polls close
in a state.
It also names election officials as defendants and seeks a new
election in Central Time counties if hand counts elsewhere put Gore ahead in
Florida.
Okaloosa Supervisor of Elections Pat Hollarn said she had received no
complaints indicating anyone was discouraged from voting although she, too, was
angry about the projection.
Anyone who did stay home, however, will not get much sympathy from
her.
"What a perfect excuse for that lazy slob," Hollarn
said.
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