Common Cause calls for complete re-vote in botched FL-13 election (18,000 e-votes "lost")

[Herman Munster]

http://heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061110/BREAKING10/61110006&start=1

The nonpartisan group is also calling for an independent investigation into the high number of undervotes in the District 13 Congressional race. More than 18,000 voters, nearly 13 percent of those who showed up at the polls, cast votes in other races but not in the tight Congressional race between Democrat Christine Jennings and Republican Vern Buchanan. It represents a massive undercount compared to other counties, including Manatee, which reported an undercount of 2 percent.

“Sarasota County voters deserve an explanation,” said Ben Wilcox, Executive Director of Common Cause’s Florida office. “The machines should be impounded, audited and tested to determine if voters were unable to cast a ballot and why. A 13 percent undercount is unacceptable and this election should not be certified. Election officials should conduct a revote in this county.” An undervote rate of this magnitude is statistically improbable.

In 2004, according to a report released this summer by the Brennan Center for Justice, the residual vote rate for these machines in "top of the ticket races" i.e., President was 0.7%. And the residual vote rate for “bottom of the ticket races" — i.e. ballot initiatives — was only 6.7%.

“Something clearly went wrong,” said Wilcox. “To certify this election would make a mockery of democracy.”

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Gosh, I thought the Republicans determined after 2000 that Floridians

were just too stupid to know how to use a ballot, and thus there couldn't have any shenanigans or errors made.

:eyes:

[bobbolink]

2. I'm so glad Common Cause is there!

I certainly agree, it should NOT be certified.

Not if we still care about our democracy!

Thanks for posting this, and pleeeez keep us up to date on this.

:hi:

[BlueJazz]

3. I got into an argument with my neighbor today about this whole thing. He said...

"I don't know what the big deal is...the votes would balance out"

ME: What! Come on, Paul..that's not the problem. The problem is most Democrats are thinking that the Republicans simply "Lost" the votes that would have gone to the Democrat"

Paul: They wouldn't do that"

ME: Wouldn't do that ??..Shit..Those pieces of human garbage would Pimp their Mother on the corner of First and Main if they thought it would mean one extra vote" (He's a born-again Rebug)

He got pissed and walked away.....which I don't understand..I tried to use as much Tact as possible ..Heh...Heh..

[ProgressiveEconomist]

10. Whether or not the undervotes for Congress "balance out" may be

determinable if individual summary screens have been saved by the machines.

The key question IMO is, how many of the 18,000 Election Day undervotes and of the even larger percentage with no Congressional District votes among early voters.have Crist for Governor at the top of the ticket?

I would bet your neighbor $10 that there only a minority of non-voters in the Congressional District election have votes for Crist at the top of their summary screens .

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

[IndyOp]

4. Yes! Yes! Yes!

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[malaise]

5. Was on MSNBC a short while ago n/t

[vireo]

6. I'm shocked that this could happen

in Katherine Harris' district. :sarcasm:

[democrat_patriot]

7. Republican threaten lawsuits, we make "calls".

Where's the 7000 lawyers that were standing by? Hellooooo DNC? Mr Dean??

[ProgressiveEconomist]

8. In a recount, no "dimpled" or "pregnant chads" is not a good thing

IMO, DIRECT recording of votes to machine memory should be made illegal by a replacement for the Help America Vote Act.

Only paper and pencil (such as with optically-scanned paper ballots) can be relied upon to show voter intent if something goes wrong.

IMO, a revised HAVA should mandate optical scanners that give voters immediate feedback on their paper and pencil ballots in ALL national, statewide, and Congressional District elections. The scanners must have lights for each ballot line that flash red when a voter submits a ballot with an overvote or with an undervote for a national, statewide, or Congressional office, and that flash yellow when there's an undervote in any lesser race.

Then voters should have as much time and as many re-scans as necessary to submit a ballot that triggers no red flashes.

[indepat]

9. Making a mockery of democracy has been the 'pukes job # 1

[PATRICK]

11. Compared to Cheney's

moves to game and change every single vulnerable seat by means other than fair voting this justice is more than long overdue.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

12. Arguements which can be made to invalidate the vote

I think it is clear from the outrageously high percentage of undervotes that it was NOT voter choice to skip the race, and that for many reasons fault lies with the machines.

There are numerous eyewitness accounts testifying to the fact that the machine did not record voter intent to cast a vote for this race.

There are numerous eyewitness accounts testifying to the fact that confirmation of a non-vote could easily have been missed.

There are numerous accounts testifying to the fact that the race was not displayed prominently and could easily have been missed altogether. This was especially true amongst older voters not used to the machines and using them for the first time.
The fact that the undervote occurred most overwhelmingly in senior communites (one had a rate of 30%) is evidence that he machines are discriminatory towards older voters, and represent a form of disenfranchisment.
if I were a lawyer I would be puttng together this list to file a suit invalidating the vote based on... unequal protection.

The equal protection clause- remember when that arguement was made to invalidate a vote?

[suston96]

13. Precedent......

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061109/NEWS/611090440

"A case that lawyers for both camps might look at would be a touch-screen problem in North Carolina in the 2004 race for state agricultural commissioner.

In that case, a single electronic voting machine ran out of memory and didn't record 4,438 votes. Because of a signature log, elections workers had a record of whose votes were lost, but not a record of how they voted.

The winning margin was only 2,300 votes, enough to have been swung by the missing ballots.

What followed was a three-month battle over what to do, ending with a new state law allowing a revote when disenfranchised voters can be identified.

With no way to recount the missing votes, the state board of elections called for a revote in the one county where the machines were broken, but Superior Court judges ruled that would be against the law.

In the end, winning Republican Steve Troxler and his lawyers collected signed affidavits from more than 1,400 of the voters whose ballots were lost, saying they voted for Troxler.

Before Troxler could deliver his argument, incumbent Democrat Britt Cobb conceded."

Democrats may have won, but the victory does not accurately reflect by how large a margin they - we won.

Someday people in this country will learn that the voters cannot be intimidated "in any way" (see Sec. 2 14th Amendment) in making their elections. Touchscreens and the like intimidate to the point where prospective voters will elect to skip the election.

Maybe that was the intent all along.

[graywarrior]

14. And hold Kathy Dent responsible.

[suston96]

15. Hold off on that about Kathy Dent....

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20061111&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=611110530&SectionCat=&Template=printart

"Article published Nov 11, 2006

2006 ELECTION | UNDERVOTE
Voting machines lose ally

Sarasota elections supervisor, in reversal, endorses switch to a paper ballot system

By PAUL QUINLAN and PATRICK WHITTLE

[e-mail]
[e-mail]
SARASOTA COUNTY -- Amid questions surrounding the touch-screen voting system that registered an 18,000-ballot undervote in Tuesday's congressional race, Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent now says she will comply with voters who want a new voting system -- one that produces a paper trail.

Dent will encourage county commissioners to replace the touch-screen machines with a paper ballot system.

Her announcement Friday marks a reversal for the elections supervisor, who had promoted and adamantly defended the touch-screen system the county purchased for $4.5 million in 2001.

Although a ballot initiative that called for a paper trail and spot audits of election results won 55 percent approval Tuesday, the switch to paper still seemed uncertain, as Secretary of State Sue Cobb, Dent and the County Commission were slated to challenge its constitutionality in the appellate court.

"As a result of the (referendum) vote, irrespective of any determination by the courts, I am going to urge the county commission to find the necessary funds to purchase the voting equipment which will satisfy the expression of the voters and current federal and state law," Dent wrote in a letter Friday. "I will also urge state election officials to expedite review and approval of the system. The sooner we can acquire the new voting system, the sooner we can implement it." "
Those machines will be gone for the nxt election. There are some 3000 counties in the United States. We have a long way to go to kill all the machines from hell.