'Suspicious' cooler that stopped voting in Winter Park (FL) was blown up

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Authorities blew up a "suspicious" cooler with a USB cord that was found outside the Winter Park Library — a discovery that suspended early voting and irritated scores of would-be voters in Orange County.

The bomb squad's robot X-rayed the cooler and found items inside that could not be identified and was deemed suspicious.

So as a precaution, it was detonated, Winter Park Lt. Tom Pearson said.

People are being reminded they can cast ballots at nine other locations in Orange County and on Election Day.

Would-be voters were cleared from the building at 460 E. New England Ave. and from a line that formed outside the library after a polling deputy reported a "suspicious package" to police at about 11:45 a.m.


"It appears to be a lunch-type cooler on the side of the building," Winter Park Lt. Tom Pearson said. "It had been there for a couple of hours. They thought that perhaps it was suspicious, so they notified us. We came out. A couple of our officers took a look at it and made the decision to err on the side of caution."

Some would-be voters were furious.

"This is voter intimidation," said Winter Park resident Tracy Jackson. "They are keeping me from voting for Obama."

Read more: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-suspicious-package-early-voting-site-20121103,0,6034747.story