NYT: In Florida, Echoes of 2000 as Vote Questions Emerge in Christine Jennings' House Race

[DeepModem Mom]

In Florida, Echoes of 2000 as Vote Questions Emerge
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
Published: November 10, 2006

SARASOTA, Fla., Nov. 9 — A Democrat who narrowly lost the Congressional race here is seeking a recount after dozens of people reported problems using Sarasota County’s touch-screen voting machines and a significant number of ballots had no recorded votes in the high-profile race.

The Democrat, Christine Jennings, lost to her Republican opponent, Vern Buchanan, by just 373 votes out of a total 237,861 cast — one of the closest House races in the nation. More than 18,000 voters in Sarasota County, or 13 percent of those who went to the polls Tuesday, did not seem to vote in the Congressional race when they cast ballots, a discrepancy that Kathy Dent, the county elections supervisor, said she could not explain.

In comparison, only 2 percent of voters in one neighboring county within the same House district and 5 percent in another skipped the Congressional race, according to The Herald-Tribune of Sarasota. And many of those who did not seem to cast a vote in the House race did vote in more obscure races, like for the hospital board.

More than 100 voters have told the Jennings campaign that their votes for her did not show up on the summary screen at the end of the touch-screen voting process, and that they had to re-enter them. The candidate’s lawyers said they feared that not everyone had noticed the problem or realized that they could re-enter the vote....

A recount will almost certainly be conducted because the vote was so close. State law requires machine recounts when the margin of victory is half a percentage point or less, and manual recounts when it is a quarter of a percentage point or less. But it is not clear that a recount can recover a vote that was never properly recorded....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/10/us/politics/10florida.html

[Iwasthere]

1. Did anyone video tape this anomoly as they were told they should?

[In Truth We Trust]

2. K&R.. Hand Counted Paper Ballots NOW!!!

[Tuesday_Morning]

3. Miami Herald front page article

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/15975371.htm

is pretty good.

State closely eyes Sarasota recount, voting machines
Florida officials planned to monitor the recount in one of the nation's most disputed congressional elections.

SARASOTA - With 18,382 votes either not cast or not recorded in one of the nation's most closely contested congressional races, Florida Secretary of State Sue Cobb announced Thursday that she will send a team to observe an upcoming recount and review Sarasota County's voting procedures.

<snip>

Regardless of the recount result, the case will likely end up in court and will have ramifications not just in Congress but throughout Florida. Activist groups from Sarasota to Miami-Dade County have voiced concerns over the soundness and accuracy of the ATM-style touch-screen voting machines in use, and for the process of reviewing votes.

The machines' manufacturer, Election Systems & Software, and election officials say the equipment works well when it's properly maintained and used. But Jennings' lawyer, Kendall Coffey, said he isn't so sure and that his client draws only a little comfort from Cobb's decision to become involved.

''I don't think any of us would be satisfied with having the government do the verification because, honestly, the government appears to be part of the problem here and may or may not be part of the solution,'' said Coffey, who represented Democrat Al Gore's failed recount challenge in the disputed 2000 presidential election.

<snip>

more at link

[seafan]

4. 'Even larger % of EARLY voters (29%) showed *no vote* in the race'(!!) in Sarasota Co.

This is what the defeated candidate for Attorney General in Florida, Walter "Skip" Campbell, reported also, that at least 100 voters in South Florida called him, reporting that his name "did not appear" on their ballots! (I have no confirmation whether this refers to "the first page" of the ballot, or the "final summary page".)

A comparison of the percentages of undervotes of both-- early voting totals AND November 7 voting totals-- by machine versus the paper absentee ballots in all races should be examined for all touchscreen counties in Florida, and most especially, South Florida.



Another excerpt from the NYT piece:

Mr. Buchanan declared victory early Wednesday and began preparing for his new job, but Ms. Jennings has refused to concede. She has not ruled out going to court, Mr. Coffey said, but she will first wait for a recount to be completed.

Some state officials, including Ms. Dent, the elections supervisor, theorized that many voters skipped the Congressional race because they were turned off by vitriolic campaigning. But Mr. Coffey said if that had been the case, other counties in the same Congressional district would have had similarly high “undervote” rates.

So many voters reported similar problems in the state’s early voting period, Mr. Coffey said, that the Jennings campaign wrote a letter to Ms. Dent expressing concern. He said the results showed that an even larger portion of early voters — 20 percent of the total — did not vote in the Congressional race. By contrast, only 2 percent of voters using paper absentee ballots skipped the race, he said.

Mr. Coffey said Ms. Jennings wanted independent experts to come test the county’s iVotronic voting machines, made by Election Systems and Software of Omaha. Ms. Dent did not return a call seeking comment on Wednesday.

“I don’t think any of us would be satisfied with having the government do the verification,” Mr. Coffey said, “because, honestly, the government appears to be part of the problem here.”

The * goons are still infesting our machines in Florida.





Chad Search: An election board canvasser employs a magnifying glass during the Florida vote recount in 2000. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)



Broward County Canvassing Board member, Judge Robert Rosenberg, stares at a dimpled punchcard ballot November 23, 2000 as the board begins counting the county's ballots that were considered questionable... Source: Reuters/Colin Braley

[seafan]

11. No, we've never 'gotten over' 2000.

Governor Bush Appoints Charles E. Burton to Palm Beach Court--- May 02, 2000

[robinlynne]

5. oh shit. Jeb Bush and two republicans get to decide?

[TexasLawyer]

6. Election Systems & Software

ES&S made these machines. They either malfunctioned or were hacked. Either way, this reflects very badly on the integrity of the machines and the maker.

Note to Secretaries of States and County election officials-- observe well-- do not buy ES&S voting machines.

[Ravy]

7. Can the civil courts get involved?

If a jury says that there is sufficient proof that the votes were not accurately tabulated, I think they should be able to award actual damages for the cost of running the campaign and possibly to the counties for the cost of the election, plus any punitive damages.

If the companies provied shoddy products, they should be liable for the damage.

[TexasLawyer]

12. There is very probably a limitation of liability

in the sales/service contract for the voting machines between ES&S and the state or county.

And/or there may be a law or regulation in Florida limiting or capping liability of a voting machine vendor or service provider. Haven't checked on that.

[Ravy]

13. I would think the limit of liability in the sales contract would be

only for the county's part.

There may be other laws but I wouldn't think an agreement with the county would limit damage to a third-party, like a candidate.

If the election machine vendors would get slapped with a few of these suits with mega-damages, then they would ensure a fair election or go out of business. Either way, Democracy wins.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

8. A key question: Of the 18,000, how many summaries show Crist for

Governor at the top of the ticket? And the same for the even larger percentage with no Congressional District votes amone early voters.

I would guess that there are very few votes for Crist on the summary screens of non-voters in the Congressional District election.

Funny how computer "glitches" always seem to favor Republican candidates, isn't it?

[hayu_lol]

10. Oh Hell, save us all some time and energy...

box up the machines, load them in a yellow Ryder Truck surrounded by armed guards in giant suvs, drive them directly to the SCOTUS and let the SCOTUS stop the count.

Been there and done this before...we know the routine.

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. Of course, this is Katherine Harris's district

Why am I not surprised? Sarasota has a history of this sort of thing.

[brentspeak]

14. This is ridiculous. Incompetence or willfull corruption?

Like we're to believe that 18,000 people showed up to the polls just to take a look at the voting machine and then depart?