Duval County Supervisor Of Elections Resigns

John Stafford, Duval County's Supervisor Of Elections, has sent a letter to the Governor saying he was resigning for medical reasons effective today. Stafford suffered a heart attack in March. He's been in and out of the hospital since. Stafford was elected as the Supervisor of Elections in 1999. Before that he spent 6 years as Assistant Supervisor of Elections. Stafford has been with the office since 1988 and has been supervisor since 1999. He won re-election in 2003. In his absence the office has been managed by assistant supervisor Dick Carlberg. Secretary of State Glenda Hood, the state's election chief, said Bush will appoint an interim supervisor. In the 2000 presidential election, 27,000 votes were tossed because of misleading instructions on a punch-card ballot. On the presidential ballot, voters were told to choose one person on every page. The presidential ballot, however, took two pages. If a voter followed instructions, the vote was tossed out as an overvote. The office has been criticized recently because it set up only one site where early ballots can be cast. Hood announced Monday that two to four additional early voting sites will be added. [more ] and [more ]