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HomeMy WebLinkAbout86168 - MINUTES - City Commission MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING, CITY COMMISSION, CITY OF DANIA, FLORIDA, HELD OCTOBER 14, 1964. The City Commission of the City of Dania, Florida met in Special • Session in the Commission Room at the City Hall. PRESENT WERE: MAYOR COMMISSIONER VERA L. HILL COMMISSIONERS R. L. GRAMMER VIRGIL L.. TARPLEY JOSEPH D. THORNTON • S. ELLIS YOUNG CITY ATTORNEY CLARKE WALDEN CITY MANAGER LESTER E. CULVERSON CHIEF OF POLICE MONTIE F. SMITH CITY CLERK MARY THORNHILL • The meeting was called to order at 11:00 o!clock A. M. by Mayor Hill for the purpose of canvassing the returns of the Primary Election held within the City of Dania, Florida on the 13th day of October, A.D. , 1964. The returns as certified by the duly appointed clerks and inspectors and the number of votes cast for each candidate of said election are as • follows: NAME OF CANDIDATE North South West Total . Precinct Precinct Precinct Votes GEORGE V. KNOBLOCK 80 y 251 25 356 i BERNARD .C. O+CONNOR 36 88 51 175 FRANK SALVINO 133 273 47 453 CARL W. SCILLIA 58 204 143 405 VIRGIL L. TARPLEY 124 246 91 461 BOISY N. WAITERS 28 110 497 635 S. ELLIS YOUNG 153 324 138 615 • CARL ZENOBIA 79 251 194 524 TOTAL VOTES CAST 02 690 549 1511 • WRITE-IN VOTES CLYDE GRAMPA 22 32 54 The results as certified by the duly appointed election officials show the following names are to be placed on the ballot for the General Elect- ion to be held November 3, 1964• FRANK SALVINO CARL W. SCILLIA VIRGIL L. TARPLEY BOISY N. WAITERS - S. ELLIS YOUNG CARL ZENOBIA Commissioner Young: How many votes were challenged? City Clerk: There were 24 challenged slips turned in by the officials • at the West Precinct. Commissioner Tarpley: I have the name of one that voted and she told me she was not registered and did not have to sign anything, she just voted. I have checked, she is not registered and I did not find where she signed anything to show she did vote. I also checked the signature • ballot boa. Attorney Walden: The commission is the judge of its own elections. If there are any irregularities it can be noted, and in the coming general election, precautions taken so that the election will be conducted prop- erly. Actually, the legal test is whether all of the challenged voters • will have any material effect on the outcome of the election. If not, then there is no great point in the commission spending time on it. Commissioner Young: Is not there a matter of perjury involved? Attorney Walden: Yes. But that is a matter for the county solicitor. • What I am talking about is certifying the returns of the election and how many votes each candidate received. Commissioner Young: In other words, if we want anything done, we should inform the county solicitor, is that what you mean? • Attorney Walden: Yes. Commissioner Thornton: Mr. Walden, may I ask you a question? If you are not registered and your name in the books before they close, can you go in and sign an affadavit and vote? • Attorney Walden: No. I do not think so. City Clerk: Some of the confusion yesterday may have been the results of the purging we did last December when letters were mailed to all registered voters with a card enclosed to be returned to the office. If these letters were returned to us marked "Unclaimed, No Such Address, Moved, Moved Left No Forwarding Address, Forward Expired, Addressee Unknown, or Unclaimed", after the 30 days as required by law their cards were removed from the registration books. A list of these names was made and posted in the city hall. Also, a list given to each of the commissioners and one to the of- ficials at the precincts yesterday morning. Some of the people that signed the challenged voters affidavits yesterday are on this list. They swore • they still lived in the city. Attorney Walden: Some time names are purged in error. It is the job of the clerk to try to keep the record up to date.; , For instance some one could tell her some one died and she removed the name and it was found out later that the i nformation given her was incorrect. In that case I • think that person could vote if he had ever been registered in the city. It is my thought on this that in the future, you should decide on the election officials as far in advance as possible and we have a meeting with them and outline to them generally what the laws .and rules are. Sometime we 'do not know who the officials are until the last minute, and it is hard to give any kind of instruction. .You have sane that have been working a number of years and there are quite a few new ones. We can work up a set of rules and put it down in black and white and they will have something to go by. City Clerk: May I ask something for my own information? If it is found that some of the people that voted yesterday after signing the challenged voters affidavit are on the list of names that were removed, and they are still residents of Dania, that is -- .it is proven they are resident of Dania-- can they be re-instated for, the November, election? Attorney Walden: I think they could be... However, I believe we should get them to re-register. Commissioner Thornton: How long will it take to count the signature slips? I would like to find out if some one voted and did not sign one of the slips. -2 Attorney Walden: You can do all this, but as I look at it quickly Mr. Scillia is low man in the run-off. At the worst if he lost all the 24 challenged voters he would still out rank Knoblock, is that right? So there is no way that there could be any difference in the outcome. That basically is the legal test, whether or not there is any material difference. If you question the accuracy of the machines or anything like that, I think you should go and look at them, you have done that before. It should be investigated, not on sidewalk information and hearsay, but on facts. Commissioner Thornton: I think we should investigate the signature slips and see if there is a slip in the box signed by the person Com- missioner Tarpley said voted without signing anything. Commissioner Tarpley: It will not change the election, but I would like to know if she voted without signing anything. Commissioner Young: If a person voted, I don't care who it is, that does not live in Dania and they signed an affidavit, then t hey voted illegally and they deserve to spend some time in jail. It is just that simple, how- ever we are nothere to get into that now. }' A motion was made by Commissioner Tarpley that the results of the Primary Election held October 13, 1964 as certified by the duly appointed election officials be approved as certified. The motion was seconded by Commission- er Young, and the roll being called, the commissioners voted as follows: Grammer Yes Tarpley Yes. Thornton Yes Young Yes Hill Yes Carl Zenobia: I would like to ask a question about voting. If a man owns a business here and is voting outside of Dania, can he vote in Dania too? Commissioner Grammer, I would like to ask a question too. If a man has a business here and lives outside the city, can he vote here? Attorney Walden: He cannot. Here is the problem-- if he signs an affi- davit that he •is a legal resident of Dania, then you have to question the fact is he or is he.not a resident of Dania. The City Clerk then has the right after making an investigation to determine if he is or is not a resident. I will write up a set of rules and distribute them amoung members of the commission and the candidates. If it is agreeable, we should perhaps have a little lecture for the election officials before the general election. Commissioner Grammer: I would like to have the Chief of Police check the people that signed the challenged voters slips and see if they are residents of Dania and have lived here six months. If he finds some one voted and T ` does not live here what can be done about it? Attorney Walden: If he finds such a thing it should be reported to the city clerk and she in turn will report it to the county solicitor. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned. Mao Thornhill City Clerk Vera i Mayor-Commissioner t