Wexler doesn’t expect paper trail in time for Nov. 2
 
Published Tuesday, September 28, 2004
by Sean Salai Boca Raton News

U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler yesterday claimed victory after a federal appeals court revived his lawsuit seeking a paper trail for Florida’s new touch-screen voting machines, but said he does not expect to win the case before the Nov. 2 presidential election.
“It’s a huge victory for people who want a paper trail for their election machines,” Wexler, a Democrat from Boca Raton, told the Boca News yesterday. “It probably won’t happen before Nov. 2, but I’m confident there will be a paper trail in the long run.”
With five weeks left before Florida voters go to the polls, three judges from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta yesterday ruled that a federal judge was wrong to dismiss the case.
“We vacate that decision and remand for a consideration of the merits,” the unsigned ruling reads. A trial date has not yet been set.
Wexler, on a one-man crusade against Florida’s new touch-screen voting machines since the 2000 elections, claims that the machines in 15 of Florida’s 67 counties do not create paper copies. This violates Florida law requiring the option of a manual recount in a close election, his lawsuit argues.
“The trial court has to hear our case,” Wexler said. “They were wrong to dismiss it. That’s what the appeals ruling means.”
Among the plaintiffs in Wexler’s lawsuit is outgoing Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore, a former Democrat whom Wexler and his supporters blame for the confusing “butterfly ballots” which they say helped to elect George W. Bush in 2000.
During the Florida primaries last month, Wexler spent $80,000 from his campaign war chest on television advertisements supporting LePore challenger Arthur Anderson. He also campaigned on behalf of Anderson, a university professor from Boca Raton, with Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman and other high-profile Democrats.
The strategy worked as Anderson, pushed over the edge by Wexler’s district in the southern part of Palm Beach County, won election by a thin margin. LePore won nearly every part of the county – north, east and west – outside the congressman’s district.
But neither Anderson, who takes office Jan. 1, nor the revived federal lawsuit will change the outcome of this year’s contest between President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry. Wexler, despite fighting the machines for four years, has lost a race against time.
Still, the congressman yesterday said he is more interested in winning the case than in affecting the election.
Wexler and his co-plaintiffs, County Commissioners Burt Aaronson and Addie Greene, have cited the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution and the precedent set by Bush v. Gore in the 2000 presidential elections.
“This appeal should be a huge wakeup call to Governor [Jeb] Bush that even he can’t forever deny people their voting rights,” Wexler said. “This court case is going to have a profound effect on future elections.”