Ballots Cast by Blacks and Older Voters Were Tossed in Far Greater Numbers Black precincts had more than three times as many rejected ballots as white precincts in last fall's presidential race in Florida, a disparity that persists even after accounting for the effects of income, education and bad ballot design, The New York Times found in a new statistical analysis of the Florida vote. The analysis of 6,000 precincts uses far more definitive data than previous studies and shows a strong pattern of ballot rejection in black precincts that is not explained by socioeconomic differences or voting technology. Similar patterns were found in Hispanic precincts and places with large elderly populations. It did not matter whether the precinct used punch cards or paper ballots, whether the neighborhoods were rich or poor or the ballot was straight or butterflied. Precincts with more black, Hispanic and elderly voters had substantially more spoiled ballots, The Times found. The analysis did not suggest why blacks' ballots were more likely to have been rejected, but critics of Florida's voting system have suggested that black precincts were more likely to have older, unreliable voting machines and poorly trained poll workers. Ballots Cast by Blacks and Older Voters Were Tossed in Far Greater Numbers