Hope for the voters

By Palm Beach Post Editorial

Saturday, October 30, 2004

Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood did just enough to convince a federal judge that the state could conduct a hand recount of touch-screen ballots, but not enough to avoid the suggestion that voters need a verifiable paper trail.

U.S. District Court Judge James Cohn's ruling just eight days before Tuesday's election rejected the idea of federal election overseers to reinstill confidence in a maligned system. While it remains to be seen whether the system will survive the pressure of Tuesday's vote, Judge Cohn left the state — and voters — with the unanswered question: What about next time?
"The court notes the preferable voting system would include a paper printout reviewed by the voter," Judge Cohn wrote, noting that he could not impose such a system. The first state to test a paper trail on touch-screen machines, Nevada, found that nearly 6,000 votes tallied on 116 machines during a Sept. 7 primary exactly matched the voter-verified printout. Florida has not certified printers for touch-screen ballots. Until a few weeks ago, Ms. Hood had insisted on regulations that called for no hand recount at all, even though that conflicted with state law. When sued, she lost, then patched together regulations on Oct. 15, just three days before Judge Cohn heard arguments in the lawsuit brought by U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach.

The judge rejected Rep. Wexler's argument that hand recounts in the 15 counties with touch-screen machines, including Palm Beach and Martin, would not be equal to hand recounts in the 52 counties with optical-scan ballots, including St. Lucie. Judge Cohn said the Supreme Court ruling in Bush vs. Gore called for a single standard for each voting system. Rep. Wexler's lawyer will argue on appeal that the recount opportunity must be equal for all voters, no matter the system.

So as Florida voters prepare to elect a president, they are being told to trust new machines and untested rules. Races decided by less than 0.5 percent, when a candidate can demand a hand recount, or less than 0.25 percent, when a hand recount is mandatory, would put Ms. Hood's regulations to the test. Judge Cohn's warning, and the success of printers in Nevada, offer voters hope. Questions about printers and paper trails remain, but the judge's comments demand that the state find answers.