Appeal deadline passes in manual recount case

By Jack Gurney

Pelican Press  02 October 2004

Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood will apparently abide by an administrative law judge's ruling that Sarasota County and 15 other counties must be capable of conducting manual recounts with their paperless touch-screen voting matches. But she hasn't said how.

On Monday, a spokesman for Hood told the Pelican Press that the Sept. 26 deadline for an appeal of Judge Susan Kirkland's ruling had passed.

"It was not appealed," said Jenny Nash, "and a new rule will be announced based on guidance provided by the judge."

A new rule could force the 16 counties to purchase printers that produce a verifiable copy of every voter's ballot, but it is extremely doubtful there is enough time left to have them hooked up and tested before the Nov. 2 general election.

"I have heard nothing from the Division of Elections," said Sarasota County Elections Supervisor Kathy Dent. "We would have to rewrite our software to hook up printers. They would have be certified to work with our system."

Objection to the exemption

On Aug. 27, Kirkland struck down a recently adopted provision ed into the state's election laws that exempted Sarasota County and 15 other counties with paperless touch-screen voting machines from conducting manual recounts.

"We are going to bring all the parties affected by this together and craft a concrete solution," Nash said. "We requested and received some input after the judge's ruling, but it wasn't substantive. We are going to work collectively and put a new rule in place."

The solution may have to take into account a federal lawsuit that was revived Monday by an appeals court in Atlanta. Filed by U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, the suit contends that paperless touch-screen voters would be denied due process in the event of a recount.

With the Nov. 2 general election less than five weeks away, counties that are currently unable to provide a verifiable copy of each ballot could face an impossible situation. Other states in the same predicament have suggested hooking up printers by 2006.

But on Sept. 14, Nevada successfully conducted a primary election with touch-screen machines attached to new printers.

"Nevada showed that maybe, just maybe, government can get things right after all," Secretary of State Dean Heller said after all the results were tallied.

Nevada spent about $800 each for the printers it hooked up to 2,600 touch-screen voting machines in 16 counties. Based on the Nevada experience, it would cost Sarasota County about $1.3 million to buy printers for its 1,615 machines

Sarasota County spent $4.7 million to do away with old-fashioned punch card voting machines and replace them with paperless Elections Systems and Software electronic machines. Dent has adamantly defended their accuracy and reliability.

Credibility

Four nonprofit organizations challenged the Florida election law exemption: the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, Common Cause Florida, the Florida Voters League and the Florida State Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

While versions of touch screen voting machines have been in use since the mid-1980s, critics have only recently pointed out they do not produce a paper trail that matches a voter with his or her ballot choices in the event of a post-election dispute.

Given the political sensitivity many voters feel after the 2000 presidential election and the controversial role Florida played in the outcome there have been calls for a more credible accounting system. Much of the criticism has focused on paperless touch-screen voting machines.