Voting machine problems in Sarasota

["Margit Johansson" <margitjo@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061108/NEWS/61
1080506



 13th CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT


Slim 368-vote margin will trigger a recount for the 13th District


By JEREMY WALLACE

H-T POLITICAL WRITER

jeremy.wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Republican Vern Buchanan was clinging to a 368-vote edge over Democrat
Christine Jennings for the 13th Congressional District early this
morning.

Although Buchanan declared victory just before 1 
a.m., the razor-thin
margin kept Jennings from conceding defeat and will generate an
automatic recount.

"It's been a long night," Buchanan told diehard supporters gathered at
the Sarasota Hyatt. "We got official notice. We won."

The results were loaded with controversy as nearly 13 percent of all
ballots cast in Sarasota didn't include a choice for Congress. That
difference, and scattered reports of difficulty finding the race on
Sarasota's touchscreen ballots, raised concerns about under votes in the
race.

Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent couldn't explain why 8,000 to 10,000
fewer people voted in the congressional race than in other high-profile
races for governor, attorney general or U.S. Senate. But she said
nothing mechanical went wrong with the county's $4.7 million touchscreen
voting machine system.

"Could it be that both candidates are from Sarasota - I don't know,"
Dent said. "I don't have a clue. We had a real heated race in the
primary and I think it turned people off."

Throughout the day voters complained that touchscreen voting machines
were not registering votes for Jennings properly. Jennings campaign held
a midday press conference to warn the problem was widespread.

At about 11:30 p.m. with the results still in great doubt, Jennings
address supporters at a reception at Michael's on East in Sarasota.

"Right now, the most important thing, and I think that my opponent would
agree, is to make sure that the rights of Florida voters are protected
and that every vote is counted," she said.

It's a strikely similar comment to those made during the controversial
presidential election in 2000 when President George W. Bush won Florida
by less than 600 votes after weeks of legal battles and recounts.

Already Democrats were calling in lawyers from the Democratic National
Committee to weigh in on the potential voting issues.

"I hope it isn't the second coming of the butterly ballot," Kendall
Coffey, attorney for the Jennings campaign.

Susan McManus, a political science professor at University of South
Florida, said the difference more likely resulted from people frustrated
with the contentious campaign.

"You can see first-hand the results of an extremely negative campaign.
People said, "I can't vote for either one of them.'"

In Sarasota County, with all but one precinct reporting, 87,797 people
voted for Bill Nelson, Katherine Harris or another candidate for U.S.
Senate. In the governor race between Charlie Crist and Jim Davis, 87,678
county resident voted.

Only 76,549 voted for Jennings or Buchanan. In comparison, about 3,000
more people voted in the Sarasota Public Hospital Board election.

But a similar undervote was not recorded in other counties that voted in
the District 13 race. In Desoto County, only about 70 fewer votes were
cast in the House race as the governor's race. That represents a 1.1
percent undervote. In Manatee County - where not all voters even get to
vote in the House race -- the undervote for the Jennings-Buchanan race
was less than 6 percent, half that of Sarasota County, which registered
a nearly 11 percent undervote when compared to the governor's race.

If Buchanan's victory holds, he will have survived a Democratic wave
that turned two other Republican held seats in south Florida to
Democratic control. The 13th Congressional District had emerged as one
of the most watched races in the nation, seen by many as a tipping point
to determine which party would control Congress next year.

Buchanan used that idea over the last days of the campaign to warn
voters that picking Jennings was akin to putting liberal Democrats in
control of Congress.

At the beginning of the year few political pros predicted even one
Republican seat in Florida having any national significance.

But because of a rough primary in the 13th Congressional District, the
shocking scandal in the 16th and a strong showing in the 22nd, Florida -
and south Florida became one of the most fought over political
territories in the nation.

Arguably only Pennsylvania and Ohio have tighter races than Florida.

President George W. Bush, former President Bill Clinton, first Lady
Laura Bush, former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and
former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani are among the parade of
political stars who made it to south Florida hoping to tip the scales to
their party.

"What looked to be a relatively uninteresting year in Florida politics
has turned out to be one of the most interesting in the nation," said
Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of
Virginia.

The close battle in the 13th led to fierce campaigning, buttressed by a
slew of negative campaign mail, television ads, and radio spots in which
Buchanan tried to peg Jennings as a liberal. Jennings tried to label
Buchanan a corrupt businessman, continually question his business
background.

Despite key difference on big issues, the two candidates rarely debated
during their eight week campaign.

Instead the candidate relied on money to get their messages out.

In all, $11.4 million was spent or available to be spent on what became
one of the most expensive races in House history, falling just shy of
the $11.6 million record.

In a district where Republicans make up 45.3 percent of voters,
Democrats make up 32.3 percent and voters unaffiliated with either major
party are 22.4 percent, courting the other side was most important for
Jennings, whose campaign featured a TV ad with prominent Republicans
saying they would vote for her.

Even before the results began trickling in, Jennings campaign staff was
raising questions about Sarasota's electronic voting machines. The
campaign said more than 30 people complained Tuesday that their initial
votes for her weren't recorded.

Add to that the dozen or so complaints the Jennings camp says it
received during early voting and her supporters are worried there might
be hundreds of voters who intend to vote in the race but a computer
glitch seems to be preventing it.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg," said Jennings' attorney Coffey.
"We know the problem is more widespread than that."
_____

Staff Writers Todd Ruger, Carol E. Lee, Doug Sword and Dave Gulliver
contributed to this report.