Setback In Fla. Democrat's Election Fight

Court Rules Against Christine Jennings' Call For New Vote, Appeal Coming

(CBS)  This story is by CBS News producer Phil Hirschkorn

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A Florida Democrat plans to appeal a court ruling stifling her hopes for a new election in the nation's only unresolved congressional race, while Democrats in charge of the next Congress vow to examine the race and could possibly order a revote if the courts don't.

Christine Jennings contends faulty electronic voting machines like the ones used by 40-percent of American voters cost her the seat representing south Florida in the House of Representatives. But she lost a key court ruling on Friday, when a state judge denied experts tapped by her campaign access to the machines.

Florida has certified Republican Vern Buchanan as the winner over Jennings by 369 votes out of 238,000 counted and recounted in the state's 13th congressional district, which encompasses five counties south of Tampa.

State Judge William Gary rejected motions by Jennings and groups representing voters to probe the ES&S touch screen machines and their software used in the most populous county, Sarasota, where if results are to be believed, one in every seven voters chose to skip the race.

"Plaintiffs have presented no evidence to demonstrate," Judge Gary wrote in his order, "the results not valid."

Jennings argues proof of machine malfunction lies in the 18,000 electronic ballots, or 15-percent of those recorded by machines on Nov. 7 and in two weeks of early voting, showing no preference in the House race. By comparison, only two-and-half-percent of Sarasota voters using paper absentee ballots skipped the House race. In two other counties using the same ES&S machines, fewer than five-percent recorded no House vote.

"The testimony of plaintiffs' experts was nothing more than conjecture and not supported by credible evidence," Judge Gary said, after holding two days of hearings in Tallahassee. Gary sided with ES&S, who argued its software, or source code, was a trade secret.

"It's shocking that there is more concern for protecting a company's profits rather than protecting our right to vote," Jennings said in a written statement following the ruling. "The secrecy and question marks surrounding electronic voting is creating a real crisis in confidence among America's voters, and the only way to resolve this is by conducting a thorough review by outside experts."

Meanwhile in Washington, Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) announced that on Jan. 4, the first day of the new Congress, he will call for an "inquiry," a symbolic act putting the House on record recognizing the challenge to Buchanan's election. Jennings has filed a notice of contest with the House Administration Committee, which will begin its own independent investigation, backed by subpoena power, next week.

"The evidence will show the certification did not reflect the will of the voters and a revote is necessary," Holt told reporters. "No one in a seat like this should get too comfortable."

Holt said if Buchanan is eventually removed from his seat, which the House has the power to do and has done at least three times in the past 70 years, that would be "based on the evidence, not on a partisan power play."

Holt plans to reintroduce legislation mandating electronic voting machines to generate a voter verifiable paper trail as backup. Florida is one of 15 states using machines that don't. A majority of the last Congress co-sponsored his bill, but it never came to the floor.

"In too many elections, federal and local in recent years, there have been results that can't be believed and can't be confirmed," Holt said.

The House investigation and court appeals over Florida's race could drag on for months.

"I know that I won, and I know that a re-vote is very, very important, so that every person can have their vote count," Jennings told CBS News. Since she won 53-percent of the Sarasota vote, if a normal percentage of ballots had no preference for the House race – say 3,000 instead of 18,000 – Jennings would have easily beaten Buchanan.

"I do see us as the test case for the United States," Jennings continued. "This one is so in-your-face, that no one can deny that there's a problem."

Only 1,800 Sarasota voters skipped the governor's race, the first listed on the electronic ballot, and only 1,600 skipped the senate race, which immediately followed the House race.

Jennings said, "I will fight as long as I need to, until we have an answer as to what happened to our votes."

Kendall Coffey, Jennings's attorney, who represented Al Gore in the disputed 2000 presidential election, told CBS News, "As a Floridian, it's very frustrating. Instead of 'never again,' it's 'here we go again,'"

Coffey derided the state's "rubber stamp recount" as a re-tally that failed to capture voter intent.

"The only debate is how much the malfunction was machine error. A 15-percent non-vote in a hotly contested congressional race basically hasn't happened before in modern times," Coffey said.

[randalds]

Guys, lieberman18; Is a paid provocateur like bushrocks1, and Jane1234. I fell for it too sorry but if don%u2019t engage them they will change their name and go away for awhile.

Posted by bluestardad at 03:20 PM : Jan 01, 2007


I'm beginning to believe that missamerica4 is the same.

[defirststate]

Why does anyone or any group regardless of their party or philosophy ever object to the fair, honest, open and verifiable recording and tabulation of votes?

If a system can be manipulated to your advantage, it can and eventually will be manipulated to your detriment unless your little tricks come to light first (think plea bargain.)

The bottom line is that the people of Florida can't seem to get a handle on how to vote, even if there were only one candidate to vote for it would be difficult for them

[lieberman18]

And you're not much of a bluestardad or a former army captain, pal. Provocateur? Great. If so, then what are you, the scion of Benedict Arnold.

Your gal pal lost, boy. Time to move on.

[bluestardad]

Don%u2019t waste your intellect.

[bluestardad]

Guys, lieberman18; Is a paid provocateur like bushrocks1, and Jane1234. I fell for it too sorry but if don%u2019t engage them they will change their name and go away for awhile.

[grumpas]

I see you haven't wised up enough to figure things out yet lieberman18! I can't help but wonder if you pay your light bill the way you do your taxes???? Do you expect the power company not to raise rates and give you a break on your bill???? Thanks to moron's like you we have trillion dollar deficit! My grandchildren are going to be paying your friggin taxes for you cheapskate! National Security under your Republican's is a joke! We don't have any and haven't had for close to 7 years now (why do you think 9/11 happened)! They have wasted their time and our tax dollars in Iraq chasing phantom terrorist's they have created! Terrorist's don't have to hit us again, all they have to do is set back and let Georgie to do us in for them! Where Democrat's aren't perfect they sure beat the other side of the street!

[ressigmann]

A revote would not do anything but give a bunch of really sore losers a chance to change how they voted. Rule of law requires proof of wrongdoing before such a revote can occur. So far the "proof" is that this statistic should not be. Even if there is some sort of problem with the program, the plaintiffs must prove that it was deliberate and only targeted at Democratic voters. An equally applied error would not be legal grounds for a revote, just as voter stupidity was not in the 2000 election. In that case first graders using the same system in a simulation voted without problem. As for every vote counting let's remember that Al Gore's lawsuit for a recount was only for 3 heavily Democratic counties, and did not want the rest of the state recounted. President Bush's counter suit was that if one county got recounted they all should be. Al Gore also tried to get military absentee ballots thrown out. I guess Democrats only want Democrat votes to count.

[lieberman18]

RandalDS misses sitting around the old campfire with FascistUSA singing the Horst Wessel song and toasting Schicklgruber. Apparently the election of his Democratic Toadies hasn't satisfied the little boy too much.

Tough.

The message to Pelosi and Howie Screamer was - while we're unhappy with President Bush and the Republicans we also DO NOT want you tampering with our National Security, Moddycuddlying ILLEGALS, and raising our taxes. You did that with Jimmeeee the coward and bigot, and with Slick the Pervert. You don't do it now.

Either govern with "integrity" as you promise, or you will soon be back out on your *****. As for you, Randy, and your boyfriend, the apt-named Fascist, grow up.

[kstrisha]

Quote defirststate:

Without implying any culpability, "Trust us" is just not enough. Trust but Verify. Trade secrets can't be allowed to prevent verifying election results. Accidental or otherwise, there too many ways to compromise the process. Trade secrets means secret, unverifiable vote counting.

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Well said!!!