The paperless touch screen voting machines showed 134 blank ballots. The winning margin was 12 votes. Since Florida law required an examination of the invalid ballots, and no ballots were available to examine, the county could not comply with Florida law.*

How so many happened to cast nonvotes remains a riddle. Unlike with punch cards or paper ballots, there's no paper record with electronic voting that might offer a clue to the voter's intent.

The percentage of nonvotes -- 1.3 percent -- is modest compared to the days of "hanging" and "pregnant chads." But in Tuesday's race, every vote was crucial. In a seven-candidate field, Ellyn Bogdanoff beat Oliver Parker by just 12 votes.