VotersUnite!

Rep. Wexler sues in push for ballot printouts
By Anthony Man and Kathy Bushouse
Staff writers
Posted January 17 2004

Arguing that he's exhausted other options and that time is running out to ensure an accurate 2004 election, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, turned to the courts Friday in his quest to require paper printouts from electronic voting machines.

In a lawsuit against Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood and Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore, Wexler asked a judge to conclude that both officials are violating their duties to ensure votes are counted accurately.

Wexler's desired fix is a printed duplicate of all ballots cast on electronic voting machines used in Broward, Palm Beach and other Florida counties. He said such a paper trail is the only way to guarantee fair elections because it's the only way to conduct an accurate recount in a close race.

Wexler said he's long been concerned about the lack of a paper record for touch-screen machines, and his fears were confirmed by last week's special election for Florida House District 91 in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Ellyn Bogdanoff was declared the winner by 12 votes. Voting machines showed that 137 people who went to the polls that day cast no ballot even though it was the day's only election.

The outcome prompted him to go to court because he's been writing letters to Hood and LePore for months and nothing has happened.

"It is mind-boggling to me because there is nothing partisan about this issue. There is nothing Democratic about it, and there is nothing Republican about it. This is as American as apple pie," he said.

Actually, there is a partisan edge to the debate. The push for ballot printers has largely come from Democrats, with Republicans and election officials offering resistance or raising questions.

Earlier this week, LePore's re-election challenger, Arthur Anderson, called for paper ballots and accused her of "making excuses" about why they wouldn't work.

LePore said printed records would not be the nirvana Wexler envisions.

"It's not as easy as going to Office Depot and buying printers," she said. "I'm not going to say it's going to be a wonderful idea without looking at all the other issues surrounding it."

For example, advocates for the blind do not want printouts, LePore said, because the audio features on electronic voting machines allow blind people to cast secret ballots. Then there's the question of what language would be used for the printouts.

LePore said she couldn't respond specifically to the lawsuit because she hadn't yet seen it. Jenny Nash, Hood's press secretary, and Denise Nieman, Palm Beach County attorney, said the same thing.

LePore disputed Wexler's contention that she's been dragging her feet on the issue. She said she couldn't simply go out and buy printers until the state OKs the devices.

Mark Pritchett, executive vice president of the nonpartisan Collins Center for Public Policy in Tallahassee, said elections supervisors would be breaking the law by using printers without certification.

Sequoia Voting Systems, which supplied the voting machines used in Palm Beach County, plans to seek federal certification for a printer by the end of March. Federal certification is required before state certification, Nash said. No manufacturer has sought state certification, she said.

LePore is not alone in her view. Kurt Browning, Pasco County elections supervisor and Legislative Committee chairman for the state supervisors association, said the organization also opposes printers.

"We do not believe that printers are a good idea. It's not because we're anti-printer. We just don't see the need for it. These counties have spent millions and millions of dollars on voting systems," Browning said.

Rebecca Mercuri, a computer science professor at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, compared election officials' reluctance to use printers to the automobile industry's one-time reluctance to install air bags in cars.

"We need to just accept the same thing with voting, and people need to say, `Look, this is a safety feature,'" Mercuri said. "It's a very easy, simple solution, and it solves a lot of problems."

Browning said the machines are the best way to get accurate and secure information. And he said the special election for state House is no evidence to the contrary.

"I don't know why it is so incredibly difficult for these people to understand that you had 137 people go to the polls on Election Day, and for whatever reason and we'll never know because it is a secret ballot decide that they didn't want to vote," he said. "I must be living under a rock, [but] I cannot believe that there is a congressman, a relatively intelligent congressman, that believes that when voters go into the voting booth that every last one of them is going to cast the ballot," he said.

Browning acknowledged that confidence of some people would be improved by a paper trail. He said it then becomes a matter of "spend[ing] millions of dollars to keep a relatively small number of people happy."

Wexler, who represents parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, filed the lawsuit in Palm Beach County because that's where he lives. By including the secretary of state, he expects a ruling that would affect all counties.

Broward County Commissioner John Rodstrom welcomed Wexler's lawsuit as a way to resolve the concern about the voting machines quickly.

"It is such a fundamental thing to have integrity in the election system, and we don't want people to be skeptical," Rodstrom said.

Staff Writer Scott Wyman contributed to this report.

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sun-sentinel.com or 561-832-2905.