Court rejects U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler’s lawsuit over touch-screen voting machines

By Jeremy Milarsky
Staff Writer South Florida Sun Sentinel
Posted August 7 2004

A panel of state appellate court judges dismissed U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler's lawsuit over touch-screen voting machines Friday, saying that while the right to vote is fundamental state officials don't need to guarantee a perfect voting system.

Wexler, D-Boca Raton, sued in both federal and state court to compel the state government to install paper receipts for Florida's ATM-style touch-screen machines. Fifteen counties including Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade currently use the electronic voting systems.

Wexler still has an active appeal in the federal court system.

His state-court case ended up in the Fourth District Court of Appeals because Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Karen Miller dismissed Wexler's complaint in state court in February, saying the congressman had no legal right to make a case since he has no opponent in the fall elections.

Appellate judges disagreed with that part of Miller's ruling, but they dismissed Wexler's case nonetheless, saying he needed to take his case up with one of the people he originally sued: Secretary of State Glenda Hood.

State law requires a hand-recount of ballots if the margin of victory in an election is less than one-quarter of 1 percent.

But with paperless electronic voting machines, hand recounts are impossible. In April, the state Division of Elections, which Hood oversees, made an administrative rule saying such recounts are unnecessary in counties where touch-screens are used.

"[Hood's] duty was to adopt regulations pursuant to ... recounting votes," the judges wrote. "[She] has now done that. [Wexler] must now challenge the adopted rules."

Several citizens' groups have already done that. Lawyers representing a number of election-reform groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, challenged Hood's rule change on July 27. An administrative law judge is expected to rule on the case within 30 days.

"It appears ... our lawsuit has taken on more significance," said Howard Simon, executive director of the Miami chapter of the ACLU. "The number of possibilities ... are growing narrower."

The chairwoman of a citizen's group in Miami agreed with Simon, saying the state administrative case has always been the critical lawsuit surrounding the touch-screen machines.

"Florida voters lost nothing by the ruling," Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, chairwoman of the Miami-Dade Coalition of Election Reform, wrote in a letter to group members Friday evening. "The only loser is Mr. Wexler, who looks dumb bringing an irrelevant lawsuit and then losing it. Please remember that there is already an administrative challenge to the rule that is currently pending."

Members of Wexler's congressional staff, however, said their legal case was far from irrelevant, and they plan to meet with lawyers over the weekend to discuss their next move. A federal appellate panel will hear oral arguments on Wexler's case on Aug. 20 in Atlanta.

"We are moving forward with our federal lawsuit," said Lale Mamaux, Wexler's press secretary.

Meanwhile, officials in Hood's office, who have dismissed concerns about the touch-screen machines, called the ruling a victory.

"They clearly recognized that the Department of State was within the law," said Alia Faraj, a spokeswoman for Hood. "We will do everything we can to make sure the elections are smooth and fair."