Appeals court approves dismissal of Wexler's voting suit

By JILL BARTON
Associated Press Writer  06 August 2004
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. A Democratic congressman who wants to add a paper trail to Florida's new voting machines lost another legal battle on Friday when a state appeals court agreed his lawsuit should be dismissed.

But U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler is pursuing a similar complaint in federal court, arguing that the new touchscreen machines will not allow for an accurate manual recount - like the one needed during the 2000 presidential election fiasco. He sued Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood and Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore to force them to add a paper trail to the computerized machines.

State officials say the ruling by the state's 4th District Court of Appeal proves again that Florida's new multimillion dollar touchscreen voting machines will fix the problems seen with paper ballots.

"We are pleased the court recognized the Department of State operated within the law. Florida's voters should have confidence that their vote will count on election day," said state department spokeswoman Alia Faraj.

The appeals court found that using a paperless voting system does not severely restrict the right to vote and that voters are not guaranteed "a perfect voting system."

"States are entitled to broad leeway in enacting reasonable, evenhanded legislation to ensure that elections are carried out in a fair and orderly manner," the court wrote.

Judges also pointed to another case ruling, which said, "No balloting system is perfect. Traditional paper ballots, as became evident during the 2000 presidential election, are prone to overvotes, undervotes, 'hanging chads,' and other mechanical and human errors that may thwart voter intent."

On the touchscreen system, voters use their fingers to touch a computer screen to mark their ions. Their votes are tabulated on the computer and no ballot is printed out.

A judge also has dismissed Wexler's suit in federal court, but he has appealed and the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in the case in two weeks.

"In the event of a close election, we want to be able to conduct a manual recount so voters in Florida know that their votes will be counted on election day," Wexler spokeswoman Lale Mamaux said.