Sarasota's Dent denies errors

["Margit Johansson" <margitjo@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061118/BREAKING10/61118003/-1/NEWS0521&start=1

Dent will report no touchscreen errors on state paperwork

By TODD RUGER

todd.ruger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

SARASOTA - A skeleton staff at Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent's
office spent Saturday putting the final touches on the Nov. 7 election.

All that is left to do is fax the official results of the election,
tabulated Friday night after two recounts and the adding of
provisional and overseas ballots, to the state Division of Elections.

Those offical results will be certified by the state Monday, and will
be followed by a 10-day contest period.

Dent herself filled out a form Saturday, required as part of the
official results, that asks a series of yes or no questions regarding
any problems that could have come up during the election.

Dent said she plans to answer no to questions of whether voting
equipment malfunctioned or affected the outcome of the race, since
she believes the now-controversial touchscreen machines did notmake any errors.

The integrity of the machines has been called into question by
attorneys for Democrat Christine Jennings, who lost by 368 votes to
Republican Vern Buchanan, because 13 percent of voters did not cast a
ballot in the race.

The attorneys say that is statistical evidence of lost votes. Plus,
they say they havehundreds of eye-witness accounts of voters who say
the machines did not function right when they tried to cast a ballot
for Jennings.

A state audit of Sarasota County's touchscreen machines has been held
up in court and will likely be delayed past Thanksgiving week.