Florida Division of Elections officials plan to announce today the results of Friday’s 2nd round of electronic voting machine testing in Sarasota County.

They ran limited, mock elections last week on two batches of the touch screen voting machines as part of a state audit.

It comes after 18-thousand digital ballots showed no vote in the highly contested congressional race there between Republican Vern Buchanan and Democrat Christine Jennings.

The first of 2 tests last Tuesday failed to match up with expected results. Elections Division spokesman Sterling Ivey says that’s because staffers failed to execute the test correctly.

“No matter how well designed a test like this is it cannot go back and re-create conditions and it’s highly unlikely to turn up the actual cause that led to 18-thousand undervotes”

Ivey says they’d used scripts to recreate what Sarasota voters did on Election Day. Lowell Finley with the advocacy group Voter Action calls the state’s testing process ‘flawed’.

“It was simply voter input error. The person casting the ballot hit the wrong button or did not go back and unselect the race as required by the script.”

Vern Buchanan has already been declared the winner in the 13th Congressional District. But Jennings is contesting those results.

Election officials say they’ll release the results of last week’s audit tomorrow.

Voters from Sarasota County are filing suit in state court in Tallahassee, asking for a revote in Florida’s 13th congressional district.

The lawsuit alleges that thousands of citizens were disenfranchised when massive under votes plagued the tight Congressional race between Democrat Christine Jennings and Republican Vern Buchanan. In a high-profile battle over former Representative Katherine Harris' seat, the result was decided by 363 votes. But more than 18,000 ballots cast on Sarasota County's e-voting machines registered no vote in the race.

The lawsuit is being filed by a group of bipartisan Sarasota County voters. The voters are represented by election advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. ACLU of Florida Executive Director Howard Simon stresses the lawsuit is not about the winner or loser.

“Our concern is not the concern of the candidate but the concern of thousands of voters who were disenfranchised. I mean I have to say this election was an election that apparently was decided more by faulty voting machines than by the voters. The issue is that you can’t pretend to have a democracy and disenfranchise over 18,000 voters.”

Officials say at this point holding a new election is the only appropriate option.

The suit is being filed under a Florida law that lets voters contest an election based on misconduct by election officials or on evidence that legal votes were rejected in sufficient numbers to place the outcome of the election in doubt.

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A bipartisan group of Sarasota County voters is suing the state to force a new election for the 13th congressional seat.

The voters’ lawsuit cites misconduct of election officials, including the failure of Sarasota’s Supervisor of Elections to adequately investigate, identify or report equipment or software malfunctions or ballot layout errors in the touch screen voting machines. Voters and poll workers filed complaints about the machines during the two week period of early voting.

The voters are represented by various groups, including the ACLU. Director Howard Simon says this problem is even worse that the ill-designed Palm Beach county ballots in the 2000 election debacle.

“We have never had such a massive disenfranchisement problem for those who showed up on election day as 18,000 voters just in Sarasota county alone. And I want to say this is not something that should have come as a surprise to anybody. State and local election officials should have seen it coming. They were warned. We warned them years ago.”

On Monday, the Florida Elections Canvassing Commission certified Vern Buchanan as the winner of the Congressional District 13 race by 363 votes, despite the fact that electronic ballots cast by more than 18,000 people in Sarasota County showed no vote for either candidate in a high profile congressional race.

A judge will hear arguments today in a challenge to Republican Vern Buchanan's slim victory in the 13th Congressional District race.

State officials certified yesterday that Buchanan won the House seat being vacated by Republican Representative Katherine Harris.

But his opponent - Democrat Christine Jennings - is suing because she says voting machines malfunctioned in Sarasota County. Jennings says she won’t quit until all the votes are counted…

“I am committed to seeing that the will of the voters is carried out in this election of 2006. I will not rest until the intended votes are counted and every person’s vote is counted and reflected accurately.”

Jennings' lawsuit says more than 17-thousand Sarasota County voters who cast ballots in other races November seventh failed to vote in the congressional contest.

That’s nearly six times higher than in the other 13th District counties or on Sarasota's paper absentee ballots.

Buchanan says the people have spoken and he's won the election.

The voter advocacy group People for the American Way held a meeting in Sarasota last night to raise concerns about voting problems in the county.

More than 200 people turned out to complain about problems in voting for congressional candidate Christing Jennings.

The Democrat trails Republican Vern Buchanan by fewer than 400 votes. A second recount is in progress, but there's still no explanation for about 18-thousand ballots that registered no vote in the high profile congressional race.

Sarasota resident Carol Fischer says she was certain she voted for Jennings, and was surprised to have the touch screen machine tell her that no vote had been recorded.

"It's very sad for our nation since 2000 to look at this city as a place that our votes don't count. Something needs to be done and our vote needs to be counted."

People for the American Way is calling for a re-vote in the 13th district congressional race.

The organization says a manual recount will never be able to account for votes which were never registered by electronic touch screen voting machines.

The mystery deepens about what happened to thousands of Sarasota County votes during Tuesday’s election. Sarasota Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent says the touch screen machines ran well. Supporters of congressional candidate Christine Jennings say they fear their votes may not have been counted. Miami attorney Kendall Coffey has been brought in by Jennings to monitor the recount and coordinate the investigation.

“We’re continuing with an investigation that is not driven by Chris Jennings or her lawyers, but is a spontaneous combustion of outcry from this community.”

Coffey says hundreds of people experienced a computer glitch when using the touch screen machines. Despite some 18-thousand potentially unaccounted votes, Jennings’ opponent Vern Buchanan has already declared victory. He tells Republican leaders he’ll be in Washington Monday for congressional orientation. While he’s gone recounts begin in Sarasota, Manatee, Hardee and DeSoto Counties. State law requires the recount because Buchanan’s margin of victory is less than one-half of one-percent. At last count Jennings trails Buchanan by 368 votes.

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Former U-S Attorney Kendall Coffey says it may never be known what happened to 18-thousand votes in Sarasota County’s congressional race. Coffey is representing Democrat Christine Jennings in her bid to win the seat being vacated by Katherine Harris. Her opponent Republican Vern Buchanan leads the race by 368 votes. Coffey questions the county’s Supervisor of Elections theory that people didn’t vote because they were turned off by the candidates.

“The real rebuttal to the supervisor’s thesis is if people were not interested in this race then why is there such a spectacular differential between absentee and machine? The only explanation for that is machine failure.”

Kathy Dent insists the county’s touch screen machines ran flawlessly. Coffey questions why 13-percent of people using the machines failed to vote in the Jennings-Buchanan race – while only 2-percent of people voting by absentee ballot left that race blank. Coffey says outside experts need to inspect the touch screen machines. A voter-passed referendum mandates a countywide switch to paper ballots before the 2008 election.

The winner of Katherine Harris’ congressional seat might not be known for a week or more. Sarasota Republican Vern Buchanan currently leads Democrat Christine Jennings by 368 votes. But as Alex Newberry reports the race has triggered a recount and a controversy.

Sarasota County Elections Supervisor Kathy Dent is trying to explain why more than 18-thousand people did not vote in this high-profile race. Dent says, like her, many people were turned off.

“There are a lot of disillusioned voters in Sarasota County. I left that race blank because I was disillusioned with the candidates.”

Dent says her electronic touch screen voting machines performed well.
Democratic Candidate Christine Jennings differs.

“Sarasota voters have been victimized by having their vote count”

Jennings supporters wonder if a glitch with the electronic balloting lost votes for her. Sarasota Democratic Party official Steve Runfeldt says it might take a lawsuit to allow them to look inside the touchscreen machines.

“What’s more important, a valid vote? Or the protection of corporate rights to own their software?”

Vern Buchanan’s campaign says the numbers will confirm their candidate won.

The Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections says there were more than 18-thousand undervotes in the District 13 Congressional race. That means people who voted in other races, neglected to vote in the race between Democrat Christine Jennings and Republican Vern Buchanan. Buchanan leads the race by just 368 votes. Jennings says her supporters had trouble with the touch-screen electronic voting machines.

“Sarasota voters have been victimized by not having their vote count. I hope my opponent agrees that the most important thing is to make sure that every vote throughout the district is counted and counted accurately”

Since the race is so close, state law mandates a recount. That must be completed by November 18. There are also 200 provisional ballots yet to be approved. The Buchanan campaign remains confident their candidate will come out the winner in the end.

Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent says Republican Vern Buchanan's 368-vote win over Democrat Christine Jennings in the 13th Congressional District is headed for a recount.

Dent said her workers ran a great election and she did not know the exact causes of a 18,000-vote difference between the total number of ballots cast in Sarasota and those cast in the race for district 13.

Dent said the undervote most likely was caused by voters overlooking the race because of the way the ballot was laid out. She is confident the machines worked properly. And she says the voters need to be pro-active.

“We can’t do anything when voters walk away and decide they have a problem, we need to know about the problem when we can take care of the problem."

Dent said she received reports from both Jennings and Buchanan supporters that the machines did not register votes for the house race.

The manual recount will should be complete by November 18th.

She encouraged voters who had problems to report them to her office, but didn’t know what they would be able to do.

Assistant U-S Attorney Bob Mosakowski will serve as the Election Officer for the Middle District of Florida...which includes all of Southwest Florida.

He and appointees like him across the country are part of the U-S Department of Justice’s “Ballot Access & Voting Integrity Initiative”. Its goal is to help ensure public confidence in the election process.

Mosakowski says while the Justice Department has provided election monitors for decades, their level of training has increased in recent years.

“Prior to the election of 2000 there were district election officers, but after the election we started going to Washington every year for 2 days of training. It became much higher profile and much more effort was put into the program.”

Mosakowski will be available until polls close at 7:00. He can be reached at area code 813-274-6129 – or at 813-274-6000.

Complaints about ballot access problems or discrimination can be made directly to the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section in Washington, D-C by calling 1-800-253-3931.

Voters in Charlotte County are being asked to consider taxing themselves to purchase environmentally sensitive land. Twenty-six Florida counties already have land acquisition programs in place, including Lee, Collier and Sarasota. The referendum on the Charlotte Ballot calls for a .20 millage increase in property taxes that would raise 77 million dollars over 20 years. For a 200 thousand dollar property with a homestead exemption – that works to about 3 dollars a month. Julie Morris is an environmental specialist with Charlotte County.

“we’re very blessed in Charlotte County. There’s still a lot of green space left. It’s very unique. We run the gamut of all the eco-systems that are in this part of the state – and there are some opportunities to really buy some nice properties.”

All the areas would be open to the public for nature-based recreational activities. A citizen’s oversight committee would recommend properties for purchase. The land would be acquired from willing sellers at fair market value.