Palm Beach
voting machine lands on eBay
By Dick Kelsey, Newsbytes
11-17-2000
 |
| Own
a piece of modern Americana... Two Florida men
were charged with trying to auction off a
stolen Palm Beach County voting machine on
eBay. The purloined polling device contained
the county's allegedly misleading
"butterfly" ballot. |
Two Florida men are charged with
stealing a Palm Beach County voting machine and trying
to sell it on eBay,
police said Friday.
The pair took a small voting machine
from a polling place two days after the election, and
posted it for sale on auction site eBay, Mike Flint,
chief investigator for the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement (FDLE), told Newsbytes. Palm Beach County
election officials learned of the posting and told the
FDLE, which made contact with the thieves in an
undercover operation.
"Originally, they asked $2,000,
then raised it to $20,000," Flint said. "We
met to talk price." Officers posing as buyers
arranged a meeting late Thursday and, after agreeing
to a negotiated price of $4,000, arrested Mark
Richter, 40, and Steven Robert Solomon, 43, who were
jailed, Flint said.
There was nothing political about
the caper. "This was just an opportunistic scheme
the individuals thought up as a way to make some
money," he said. Votes in the machine were
tallied in statewide totals after the polls closed on
Nov. 7, but the device remained in an apartment
complex clubhouse until it was stolen two days later,
he said, noting that it is not uncommon for voting
machines to be picked up days after an election.
The unusual episode occurred at the
epicenter of a bizarre chapter in American
presidential politics. A
razor-thin margin in the race between Republican
George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore in Florida is
centered in Palm Beach County, and continues today.
The stolen machine contained the allegedly misleading
"butterfly" ballot, which has become a
symbol of the standoff between the GOP and Democrats
over the Florida vote count.
Richter and Solomon were both
charged with unlawful possession of a voting machine
— a felony — and dealing in stolen property.
Solomon was also charged with possession of a firearm
during the commission of a felony after officers found
a handgun on his person.
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