(FL Fed Appeals) Court reviewing dispute over state's system of voting

[seafan]

Posted on Thu, Dec. 08, 2005
BY JAY WEAVER



Three judges heard arguments on whether the state's current system of voting and recounting ballots violates the Constitution.
An unsettled legal fight smoldering since Florida's hotly disputed 2000 presidential election rekindled Wednesday in a Miami federal appellate court.

Three members of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on whether the state's current system of voting violates the Constitution because some Floridians vote on electronic touch-screen machines and others on optical scan ballots.
''They are not treating voters the same,'' Washington, D.C., attorney Robert Peck argued, citing ''election glitches'' in Florida with touch-screen machines that cannot produce voter printouts for manual recounts in the same way as optical-scan ballots.

Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Florida, has led the lawsuit that calls on Florida to institute a paper trail in 15 counties, including Miami-Dade and Broward counties, that use touch-screen voting machines.

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He filed the suit on March 8, 2004, under the U.S. Supreme Court precedent set by Bush v. Gore in the 2000 presidential election, which requires uniform standards throughout a state when conducting a manual recount.
Outside the Miami federal courthouse, Wexler argued that 52 Florida counties with optical scan machines have a means to conduct a manual recount, while such recounts cannot be done in 15 other counties with touch-screen machines.

He said Florida is currently not in compliance with the Bush v. Gore standard and the Constitution's equal protection clause.

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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/13355043.htm