PFAW: Precedents Indicate House Can and Should Investigate and Remedy Sarasota Situation

PEOPLE
FOR THE
AMERICAN
WAY

April 16, 2007

To: Journalists

Fr: Ralph G. Neas, PFAW/F President

Michele Lawrence Jawando, PFAW/F Policy and Legislative Counsel

Re: U.S. House Task Force Meets Tomorrow on FL-13; Precedents Indicate House Can and Should Investigate and Remedy Sarasota Situation

On Tuesday, a task force of the House Administration Committee will convene to investigate what went wrong in the congressional election in Sarasota County, Florida, last November. Paperless touch-screen voting machines failed to record the choices of more than 18,000 voters in that election and almost certainly changed the election’s outcome.

This memo highlights key congressional and legal precedents that make it clear that the House has the authority to investigate the Sarasota undervote and to remedy the situation as it sees fit, including vacating the FL-13 seat until a new election is held, irrespective of whether a decision is eventually rendered by courts in Florida. Lawsuits contesting the election are moving slowly through Florida’s justice system and have not yet come to trial. More than five months after the midterm elections, Florida voters still lack confidence that they are represented by someone they actually elected. This delay is unacceptable. Congress has a responsibility to act now to determine what went wrong in Sarasota and to remedy the situation.

The process beginning with tomorrow’s initial task force meeting, under the chairmanship of Representative Charlie Gonzalez (D-Tex.), presents an opportunity for Congress to bring about such an outcome.

-snip-

Conclusion

In sum, the Committee on House Administration, pursuant to the House’s Constitutional authority under Article I, Section 5, Clause 1, has broad power and authority to conduct an examination of an election, election procedures, and ballots in a contested election case, to establish uniform standards and guidelines for the counting of ballots to determine voters’ intentions, and to determine who should be seated.18 That authority is not dependent on any state proceedings, particularly where, as here, the state proceedings are not moving diligently forward or resolving the issues that the House must answer. The House not only has the power, but the duty, to conduct whatever investigation it deems necessary to resolve this issue as expeditiously as possible. Even at its quickest pace, it is unlikely this matter will be resolved by the House even by the late date of May 1, as the 1984 Indiana contest was. Tomorrow’s convening of the FL-13 task force is a positive step forward that may yet offer Sarasota County voters a chance to be represented by someone they know they elected.

http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/documents/PeopleforAmericanWay4-16-07PrecedentsMemo.pdf