VotersUnite!

Posted on Fri, Jan. 09, 2004

ELECTION 2004 | HOUSE DISTRICT 91

Recount reminder of 2000 election
A recount in the state House District 91 race harkened back to the more infamous 2000 recount in Broward, and drew some of the same national attention.
BY ERIKA BOLSTAD AND BETH REINHARD
ebolstad@herald.com

It was all too familiar: Elected officials reviewing ''undervotes'' and ''overvotes'' in a warehouse stocked with voting equipment. Lawyers handing out business cards. Political leaders rubbing their foreheads.

At stake in the first recount of 2004 was not the leadership of the Free World however, but a Florida House seat.

The result was anti-climatic: Ellyn Bogdanoff, declared the winner on Election night, remained so by 12 votes on Thursday.

There were no calls for the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene even if the 12-vote margin was reminiscent of the famous 537-vote chasm between Bush and Gore.

'At first, I felt `Oh my God, what did I do wrong?' '' said Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes, overseeing her first election since Gov. Jeb Bush appointed her two months ago to replace the suspended Miriam Oliphant.

''Then I realized, this is part of the process,'' Snipes said. ``It's just a close race. When I came to grips with that, I felt we had run a very good election.''

For everyone but newcomer Snipes, there was a feeling of dej vu in the dingy voting equipment center in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

''The air-conditioning hasn't gotten any better,'' noted Republican attorney and 2000 recount veteran Alex Arreaza. ``There's always tension in the air.''

Just like four years ago, the winner walked away satisfied and the loser grumbled about the process.

Even CNN's political website took note of the recount, recalling the national spotlight focused on Broward County nearly four years ago.

CNN also observed that two other stars from the 2000 drama were making headlines Thursday in Florida. President George W. Bush visited Palm Beach County for the first time since the butterfly ballot helped put him in the White House. And former Secretary of State Katherine Harris is nearing a decision on a potential U.S. Senate bid.

Copies of CNN's ''Inside Politics'' ruminations circled the crowded room in the voting equipment center, packed with television crews, reporters and about 30 people from several camps of the Republican Party. Throughout it all, Broward Republican Party Chairman Kevin Tynan sat in the middle; the seven-way House race in a conservative district drew only Republicans.

''At the beginning of the race I said I would be neutral, and here I am, sitting by myself,'' Tynan said.

Most of the combativeness Thursday came from the second-place finisher in the House District 91 race, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Mayor Oliver Parker. Chads may be gone, but terms like ''undervote'' and ''overvote'' resurfaced Thursday as Parker questioned why 134 electronic ballots were cast without votes for any candidate.

The undervotes remained something of a puzzle Thursday. ES&S, which sold Broward County the $17.2 million touch-screen system, believes that some voters failed to push the ''vote'' button to record their choices. In that case, poll workers might have canceled the ballots by mistake. They are supposed to cast the ballots, creating a special electronic record.

Others, including several candidates, have theorized that Democrats who reached the polls decided not to cast a vote when they realized that only Republicans were on the ballot.

Undervotes are also possible when poll workers reset the machine after a voter error, or after initially choosing the wrong language for the voter.

Whatever the reason, the electronic machines do not provide a paper record that might offer a clue to the voter's intent.

''If there's no way you can do that, then your machines are illegal,'' Parker complained to the canvassing board Thursday afternoon.

The undervotes may remain a mystery, but they did lead to a major change in future Broward County elections. Voters will have a ''none of the above'' option that allows them to vote, without ing a candidate.

It may not forestall recounts in close races, but it will help explain undervotes in the future, election officials said.

And in the end, Snipes was grateful that her first recount happened in a relatively small, low-pressure election. And not in the presidential election.

''It's better for me that it happened now,'' Snipes said. ``When we get to March, I'll be prepared.''