Actor Christian Slater waited hours in line to vote in Miami-Dade on Election Day -- only to learn his vote didn't count.
Slater on Friday posted a picture on Twitter of his Nov. 26 letter from Miami-Dade County's canvassing board, which addressed him as "Christina Slater," the website BuzzFeed first reported.
"After a thorough review, your provisional bllot was not counted because the signature on the provisional ballot certificate envelope did not match the signature on your voter registration record," according to the letter, which Slater later pulled from Twitter.
Slater had Tweeted about his Election Day-wait as well as his problems casting a ballot.
"Made it in the room only to find out the DMV didn't register me when I got my new license. They asked me if I wanted to reg and I said yes," Slater tweeted on Election Day. "So, now I'm standing by and waiting while this guy tries to get the State on the phone I guess. I really want to vote."
He did, by provisional ballot.
Get ready for more stories like this in Florida. Tens of thousands of provisional ballots were cast in Florida and many of them didn't count.
Provisional ballots are used when a person's voter registration or voting precinct are in doubt. In each of the 67 counties, the provisional ballots are then reviewed by a three-member canvassing board that tries to determine if the vote were legitimately cast before counting it.
What do you expect when our Elections Department is riddled with unqualified patronage hires who came to the department with zero elections experience? They did not go through job interviews or a competitive selection process.
That includes Supervisor Penny Townsley, Chief Deputy Supervisor Tara Smith, Deputy Supervisor Christina White, Deputy Supervisor Gary Hartfield, Deputy Supervisor John Mendez, etc., etc. Their patron and the Queen of the Cronies, Deputy Mayor Alina Hudak, has not gone through a job interview or competitive selection process in 30 years.
Mayor Gimenez needs to clean house in the Elections Department. Every executive position in the chain of command, starting with Hudak's position, should be advertised and Gimenez should hold competitive interviews to find the best qualified candidates for those jobs. Political cronies like Hudak and Townsley are an obstacle to reform and need to be shown the door.
Also, the Board of County Commissioners needs to create an ordinance that requires an open and transparent competitive recruitment process for every county position, especially those in the executive ranks. Every department director, deputy director, assistant director, and deputy mayor hired by Gimenez has been hired without a competitive selection process. That is known in the business world as a “worst practice.”
The people of Miami-Dade deserve Elections Department employees who are competent at their jobs and chosen through a fair process, not the incompetent political hacks currently there who were responsible for Christian Slater's stolen vote.
Posted by: Ernie444 | November 30, 2012 at 06:43 PM
Third world country this Florid county of Dade
Posted by: sandy feet | November 30, 2012 at 08:20 PM
Banana Republic of Miami
Posted by: THE NUTCRAKER | November 30, 2012 at 10:07 PM
Hudak should be dismissed; what a colossal screw-up. Nothing but excuses for his poor performance. Ernie444 is exactly right; clean house.
Posted by: cljahn | November 30, 2012 at 10:37 PM
A good actor could have acted like Christian Slater well enough to pass for Christian Slater!
Posted by: Rick | December 01, 2012 at 06:18 AM
Wake up America, especially you folks in Florida. I was your neighbor for 26 years and am proud to be a former Floridian Our fine soldiers give their lives to assure other countries have the freedom to vote. We send men and women in our military to their deaths assuring other countries have the right to vote. Come on Florida it's not that hard. executivedeception.com
Posted by: Brian Williams | December 01, 2012 at 06:37 AM
If he was a green toothed marielito, he would have had no problem.
What's with the hair plugs, botox and eye lift on that strange looking Slater dude?
Posted by: Neil's GhosT | December 01, 2012 at 07:23 AM
Never register to vote with the DMV or any third-party group. Do it yourself and follow up on it afterwards.
Posted by: Dan | December 01, 2012 at 10:14 AM
one of the reasons mr.obama won.
Posted by: angie | December 01, 2012 at 12:00 PM
THE ENTIRE STATE OF FLORIDA DESERVES TO BE THE BUTT OF JOKES FOR A LOT OF REASONS NOT ONLY ELECTIONS!!
Posted by: Doug Watson | December 03, 2012 at 10:11 AM
Very informative.
I'm a new Florida resident but I'm thinking I should be getting involved in the leadership of this state. I have no experience but I think I might do better than whoever is in charge of voting in Florida. Whew!
www.marlenehibbard.com
Posted by: Marlene A Hibbard | December 03, 2012 at 04:16 PM