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Florida secretary of state grilled
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MEMBERS of a federal commission investigating Florida's presidential election accused Secretary of State Katherine Harris of presiding over a "disaster" and trying to shift blame to others.
The US Commission on Civil Rights on Friday concluded a two-day hearing on what some described as voting irregularities in the state that decided the presidency.
Panel members said Harris failed to help county elections supervisors and they criticized her for disparities in discarded ballots.
"It was a disaster for your state as well as for the rest of the country and the way people feel about having faith in the system of this country,'' panel member Victoria Wilson said.
The results of the November 7 election were contested for more than a month until Republican George W Bush was awarded Florida's 25 electoral votes, and thus the White House.
Some voters have said that blacks and others in Florida were deprived of their right to vote through incorrect purges of voting rolls, broken voting machines and other problems. The Madison County elections chief, Linda Howell, testified on Friday that the state had mistakenly listed her as a convicted felon.
Harris, a Republican, deferred most questions to Florida's elections director, Clay Roberts, saying she had delegated him to run the day-to-day operations of her department's elections division.
Harris told the panel that her priority was ensuring the voting systems in the state are up to par.
"We want to make sure the will of every voter is self-evident," she said.
The commissioners weren't content with that.
"I don't know who's responsible-- the supervisors are saying you're responsible, you're saying Mr Roberts is responsible," Wilson said. "I'm on the merry-go-round called denial."
Chairwoman Mary Frances Berry called Harris' description of her role in the election "laughable".
The panel will issue an initial report within 60 days and send its recommendations to Congress and the president this summer.(SD-Agencies)
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