Touch-screen fracas brewing

By JAMES MILLER     Daytona News-Journal   July 01, 2005

DELAND A day after the Volusia County Council rejected touch-screen machines because they don't use a paper ballot, the decision reverberated in DeLand and Tallahassee.

In DeLand, a flap erupted Thursday over whether Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall had threatened to sue Councilman Art Giles, and as Giles reported go after "you and your personal finances and your wife's personal finances."

McFall said Giles, who opposed the touch screens, misheard her and called it an "unfortunate" misunderstanding.

In Tallahassee, Attorney General Charlie Crist warned in a letter that the county could be liable under state civil rights law if it doesn't have disability-accessible equipment.

The notice didn't come as any real surprise, said Councilman Dwight Lewis, who also opposed the touch screens.

"I think I've always had these concerns with it," Lewis said. "It doesn't answer my question at all, that's the thing. It doesn't make me feel any better about what they're asking us to do."

Three advocacy groups for people with disabilities had already promised legal action against the county for not buying the machines to meet a state requirement that counties have disability-accessible voting equipment for the first election after July 1.

In Volusia County, municipal elections are scheduled for Oct. 11, but the only disability accessible equipment certified by the state is touch-screen equipment. Some activists and four of seven council members oppose the machines primarily because they don't use a paper ballot.

Crist's letter, dated Thursday, points out that there are penalties for not obeying the Florida Election Code, including first-degree misdemeanor charges.

In DeLand, Giles told council members in a budget workshop that McFall had threatened a lawsuit after the meeting Wednesday. He said McFall had crossed a line by making the issue personal and mentioning his wife and was certain he'd heard her right.

"How could I misunderstand that?" he said later. "Has it damaged the relationship? I can assure you it has, absolutely."

Of the other council members, only Bruno said McFall had raised the possibility of a lawsuit, and that happened prior to a June meeting on the issue.

At the time, McFall acknowledged in an interview that she was looking at all of her legal options. On Thursday, she said Giles had misunderstood.

She said she approached Giles after the meeting to tell him she plans to ask a court next week to give an opinion about the legality of conducting municipal elections without the touch screens. While she has no plans to sue the council, she said she warned Giles he could be targeted by one of the other groups.

"I said, 'Well you know all these other lawsuits will probably name the council members personally, and that's when it starts affecting your personal account.' "