State: Hand recounts for touchscreens still barred for primary

Associated Press  30 August 2004

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A rule barring 15 counties that use touchscreen voting systems from conducting hand recounts will remain in place until after Tuesday's primary election, state officials said.

A decision by an administrative law judge Friday invalidated the state rule, but the rule will stand until the 30-day appeal period expires under Florida law, Dawn Roberts, director of the Division of Elections, said Monday in a memorandum.

So, if any of the races in the 15 counties are so close Tuesday that state law would normally require a hand recount, they won't have to do one. More than half the state's voters are in counties that use touchscreens.

Secretary of State Glenda Hood in April issued the rule preventing manual recounts in touchscreen counties. The recount for touchscreens would look at votes that didn't register for one candidate or the other to try and count them.

The state hasn't decided yet whether to appeal the ruling, said Alia Faraj, a spokeswoman for Hood.

"In the meantime, we are going to be taking comment from interested parties, which include the machine manufacturers, supervisors of elections and all interested parties," Faraj said.

If the ruling isn't overturned on appeal, the state would use the comments to create an emergency rule for the November election, Faraj said.

A coalition of government watchdogs and other interest groups had sued the state, arguing that Florida law requires provisions for hand recounts in every county, no matter what voting technology is used.

Administrative Law Judge Susan B. Kirkland agreed and invalidated Hood's rule, writing that state law clearly contemplates "that manual recounts will be done on each certified voting system, including the touchscreen voting systems."

Elections supervisors in some of the 15 counties with touchscreens had asked the state what they should do about a law requiring manual recounts when elections are particularly close, because the machines the counties use aren't programmed to create a paper record of each vote.

Touchscreens don't let people vote for more than one candidate in a race, known as an overvote, or to unintentionally fail to vote in a particular race, called an undervote. If they fail to vote in a race, the machine should alert them and prompt them to choose again if it was an oversight.