Wexler ponders next move in battle for ballot receipts
Palm Beach County judge tosses out
 
Published Friday, February 13, 2004
by Dale King
U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler says he hasn’t given up in his fight to attach a printer to every touch-screen voting machine in Florida.

The congressman, who leaves shortly on a trip to the Netherlands, suffered a setback in his effort Wednesday when a Palm Beach County judge dismissed his lawsuit aimed at forcing the secretary of state and Palm Beach County supervisor of elections to hook up the touch-screen apparatus to election equipment.
Judge Karen Miller dismissed Wexler’s suit against Secretary of State Glenda Hood and Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore for what he had called their failure “to ensure that Floridians will have their votes recorded accurately.”
Miller ruled that Wexler wasn’t legally entitled to file the suit, and she suggested he take the matter to a court in Tallahassee rather than Palm Beach County.
Coincidentally, lawyers for Hood and LePore had requested a change in venue to the state capital.
Democrat Wexler has been lobbying hard to get printers that will spit out a copy of what voters decide on the ballot screen.
He seemed to be on a roll. The tri-county commission, the panel that includes members of the county commissions in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade, unanimously endorsed the idea of purchasing printers.
Earlier this month, Palm Beach County commissioners voted unanimously to appropriate $3.2 million to buy printers for the nearly 6,000 voting machines.
LePore has been adamantly opposed to paper ballots, saying they are unnecessary and, if anything, an additional encumbrance. She said the voting machines have redundant memory to prevent mistakes.
Wexler, however, pointed to problems with the recent recount in the District 91 House race as reason to provide voters with a paper trail.
He said election officials had no way to conduct a recount because there were no paper ballot receipts. A recount is required by law in the case of close elections, Wexler said.
After Wednesday’s vote, LePore said she was happy with the judge’s decision and plans to press ahead with preparations for the March 9 Democratic presidential preference primary.
Wexler said 15 Florida counties have touch-screen voting apparatus without provision for a paper printout. “Even though touch-screen machines allow voters to review their ballot choices electronically,” he said, “without a final, tangible ballot verified by individual voters, no meaningful recount is possible.