DEXTER FILKINS Herald Staff Writer

Amid allegations of fraud in the Hialeah mayor's race, Metro administrators on Monday ordered a dramatic tightening of the county's absentee voting rules. Under the old rules, people could bring various kinds of identification to obtain up to three ballots for other voters. Some campaign workers would pick up far more than three ballots, election officials believed.

The new system requires that people picking up ballots for other voters show photo IDs. And each person can pick up only one ballot, with stricter controls by election workers.

"We are trying to curb the use of absentee ballots as a campaign tactic," said James Kohanek, Metro's assistant supervisor of elections. "People will still be able to pick up ballots for their elderly aunts, which is what the law was meant for."

The changes aim at cleaning up illegalities surrounding third-party absentee voting, which are at the heart of the fraud allegations in Hialeah.

Under Metro's third-party rules, a voter who can't go to the polls may designate another person to pick up an absentee ballot, bring it to the voter, and then return the ballot to the elections office for the final tally.

The law was designed to help people who can't make it to the polls because of last-minute emergencies. But elections supervisors say that candidates across Dade are exploiting the law to pick up easy votes. They worry that some voters, particularly elderly ones, are subject to intimidation by aggressive campaign workers.

In Hialeah, convicted felon Raul Martinez relied on an overwhelming margin in absentee ballots to propel him to victory over Nilo Juri. Last week, Juri filed a lawsuit claiming that Martinez won the election because absentee ballot fraud had been committed.

Handwriting experts hired by The Miami Herald said last week that at least 36 signatures on absentee-ballot application forms did not match the signatures on the forms that accompany the ballots. Some of those forms were witnessed by Martinez campaign workers.

The Martinez campaign has denied any wrongdoing. Martinez, who was convicted of extortion in 1991 after five terms as mayor, won by 273 votes over Juri in the Nov. 9 run- off. Martinez trailed at the polling places, but won the election thanks to a 2-1 margin in absentee ballots.

Juri, who took his case to Spanish-language radio Monday, said he welcomed the rule changes.

"In this specific case, it is too little, too late," Juri said. "Anything they do for the future to not allow tampering with voting I welcome and applaud."

In the week between the Nov. 2 and Nov. 9 Hialeah and Miami elections, the elections office was overwhelmed with campaign workers bringing in requests for absentee ballots. Lines were 40 or 50 people deep. Elections workers had trouble ensuring that signatures were valid, and that no one picked up more than three ballots.

Kohanek said the new system, with photo IDs, will better track campaign workers who try to get more than one ballot per election.

Local election supervisors must fill in many of the details on third-party absentee ballots, says County Attorney Robert A. Ginsburg. The state law governing the ballots says that a voter can "designate" someone else to obtain a ballot, but offers few guidelines.

As a result, absentee voting rules vary widely from county to county.

In Broward, election supervisors place no limit on the number of absentee ballots a third party can pick up. Nor do they require that a third party show photo ID. Nor do they require that third parties show the voter's ID to pick up the ballot.

Broward Elections Supervisor Jane Carroll said the rules trouble her. She is particularly worried about the lack of a limit on the number of absentee ballots that may be picked up by a third party.

"We have people who come in with 45 to 50 votes," Carroll said. "We think it is becoming a whole business."

Carroll said she suggested a tightening of Broward's rules, but was told by county attorneys that she did not have that authority.

"I would like the state Legislature to pass a law controlling how many ballots you can pick up," Carroll said. The law "has been totally abused."