Election chief orders polling place break-in

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A north Florida elections official has no apologies for his decision to have his staff break into a local country club.

Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho had a staff member take a hammer and bust out a window in the clubhouse after country club employees did not show up as planned early Tuesday morning.

Sancho said he has a contract that requires The Golf Club at Summerbrooke to open its doors early so poll workers could set up voting machines in time for the Tuesday primary election.

At around 7 a.m., Sancho gave the go-ahead to break the window. Sancho said voters wound up getting delayed 10 to 15 minutes, but he said no one left before voting.

Sancho said his office is paying to replace the window.