ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The horde of partisan lawyers dispatched to Florida in anticipation of widespread Election Day (search) voter eligibility challenges wound up with precious little to do: Only a relative handful of challenges were posed statewide, according to a newspaper report.
Only 63 challenges were made among about 3.9 million votes cast Nov. 2, The St. Petersburg Times reported in Friday editions, citing data from elections supervisors' offices obtained through public records requests.
Those challenges focused on people who were not registered, voting in the wrong precinct or convicted felons. It could not be determined how many challenged ballots were rejected.
Of Florida's 67 counties, 57 had no challenges, including more populated counties such as Duval and Orange. Miami-Dade and Broward, two of the largest Democratic counties, saw the most challenges with 25 and 16 respectively.
Republican strategists said they had planned for challenges, but decided against it in the last hours of the campaign.
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