Attention to Florida’s Disputed 13th District Wanes Even As Jennings' Inquiry Presses On

The New York Times
1/29/07

Attention to November’s disputed election of Republican Vern Buchanan in Florida’s 13th District — amid charges of widespread electronic voting machine irregularities, lodged by Democratic nominee Christine Jennings — has faded.

This is, in large part, because the leaders of the new Democratic majority chose to seat Buchanan, the state-certified winner, even though Jennings has continued her efforts in Florida courts and the House itself to overturn the result and force a new election.

But House Democrats are working to keep alive Jennings’ complaint — and the issues it raises about the accuracy and security of electronic voting machines.

Jennings was among the attendees in the House chamber for President Bush’s State of the Union address last week, as a guest of California Democratic Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher.

“I have invited Christine to attend the State of the Union because she should have a seat in Congress. Period,” said Tauscher in a statement. “The Democratic Party, the people of the Florida’s 13th Congressional District and everyone who cares about our democracy should not and will not rest until we can ensure that every vote cast in every election in this country is actually counted.”

The state certified Buchanan, a wealthy car dealership owner, as the winner by 369 votes out of more than 238,000 counted. But Democrats and some voting rights groups have loudly disputed that count, citing more than 18,000 “undervotes” — ballots on which votes were cast for other offices but not for the House race — in Sarasota County.

Some critics say the placement of the race on the ballot caused it to be overlooked. Jennings and others say people did try to vote in the House race but that the electronic voting machines failed to register the votes. Buchanan and fellow Republicans rebut those charges, though, arguing that those 18,000 “undervoters” simply chose not to participate in the House race.

Democrats believe Jennings, a former banker, won the race to succeed Rep. Katherine Harris, who was the Republicans’ unsuccessful GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate last year. They say that since Jennings carried the county of Sarasota in the official vote count, she would have surpassed Buchanan had a similar proportion of undervotes actually been cast in her favor.

Though the House seated Buchanan, Democratic Rep. Rush D. Holt of New Jersey raised a parliamentary inquiry during the opening day of the 110th Congress, prompting the House Administration Committee to investigate the election.

The committee’s chairwoman, California Democratic Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald, sent a letter to Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeals on Jan. 4 stating that her panel is “closely following the course of the litigation now under way in Florida.”

Millender-McDonald urged a reversal of earlier state court rulings that barred Jennings from gaining the access she requested to the hardware and software of the electronic voting machines used in the eletion, including source codes.

Jennings has appealed that ruling, stating that Election Systems & Software, the maker of the iVotronic machines used in Sarasota County, should release the computer codes because they may contain valuable information about the machine’s history.

Campaign spokesman David Kochman estimated that Jennings will find out the status of her appeal in mid- to late February.

Throughout her fight, Jennings has touted support she has received from legal and voting experts who say that the undervotes were the result of error.

Jennings received a boost this month from two outside experts who conducted a study on the election: Government Professor Walter R. Mebane Jr., of Cornell University and computer scientist David L. Dill of Stanford University concluded that the election deserves further investigation because “the available explanations do not fully account for the phenomenon,” and said that the data available does not point to ballot placement, voter choice nor machine error as the only cause.

Jennings’ camp was encouraged by the study and remains hopeful that the state’s legal system will grant access to the electronic voting equipment.

“Between the new study from some of the country’s leading experts . . . and the Court of Appeals taking up our position, we’re hopeful that they will rule in our favor and we’ll be able to get the full investigation, not just for Florida but for the entire country,” said Kochman.

While the outcome of this dispute will be closely watched for its implications on the ongoing controversy over the efficacy of electronic voting machines, the Florida 13 race also is being upheld as an example of the escalating cost of U.S. House campaigns.

Buchanan raised more than $8 million for his campaign, topping all of the nation’s House candidates in last year’s elections, with $5.5 million of that amount coming from his personal accounts. Jennings raised nearly $3 million

http://www.nytimes.com/cq/2007/01/29/cq_2195.html