Florida Senate proposal would rule out ballot recounts

By Jennifer Peltz
Tallahassee Bureau
Posted April 1 2004

TALLAHASSEE · South Floridians pushing for a touch-screen voting paper trail are steamed about a state Senate proposal that they say runs counter to their cause.

Tucked into the 90-page proposal (SB 3004) is a decree that "a manual recount may not be conducted of undervotes on touch-screen machines," which are used in South Florida's three big counties.

There's really nothing to hand-count, since the machines don't use or produce paper ballots, explained sponsor Anna Cowin, R-Leesburg.

That's exactly the problem, say Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade county leaders and activists who want to require touch-screen machines to spit out and secure paper versions of each vote as it is cast. They say the printouts would make manual recounts meaningful and reassure voters leery of the machines.

"It is actually more than outrageous that after what happened in the 2000 presidential race, anyone in Florida would suggest that the ability of voters to have a recount in the closest elections should be eliminated," said U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, who is pressing for ballot printouts in federal court.

"The more appropriate response would be, `What do we need to do to provide voters with certainty that their votes are being counted?'"

Cowin and many elections officials say the machines provide that certainty. They note that the touch-screen computers have backup memory, prompt voters to confirm their choices and keep a log of everything they've recorded. Elections supervisors also suggest the printouts could bring new problems, from jamming up to compromising blind voters' ability to cast a secret ballot.

Recent demonstrations and testimony left Cowin with "no doubt whatsoever" that the machines work properly and printouts are unnecessary, she said.

But some in South Florida aren't so convinced. They point to reports of machines malfunctioning, fears of potential tampering and the lack of anything outside the machines themselves to consult when they log curious results. Critics say the paperless machines also would raise questions of equal treatment in a statewide recount, since the 52 counties that use optical-scan systems still do have paper ballots to count by hand.

"We really think this is going to leave votes uncounted and lead to an election crisis," Martha Mahoney, a University of Miami law professor and member of a citizens' election-reform group, told the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee as it considered Cowin's proposal Wednesday.

The committee, which Cowin leads, expressed some concern but approved her plan. Cowin pledged to investigate the touch-screen questions further.

Meanwhile, Sen. Ron Klein of Boca Raton, Rep. Ken Gottlieb of Hollywood and Rep. Anne Gannon of Delray Beach all Democrats are shepherding proposals to require ballot printouts. Federal legislators are pushing similar ideas in Washington.

"We need to do everything we can to make sure the elections are fair and that people are sure they're fair," said Gottlieb.

"The most important thing we can do is make sure that the public is comfortable that when they've cast their votes, there's a paper record to prove it," Klein said.

Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade county commissioners have said they want to outfit their machines to leave a paper trail, though they can't for now. The state and federal governments haven't approved ballot printers.