Electronic Ballots Targeted in Florida

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Election reform groups on Tuesday asked a judge to strike down a state rule preventing counties that use touchscreen voting machines from conducting manual recounts from the machines.

State election officers say manual recounts are not needed because the machines tell each voter if they are skipping a race, known as an undervote, and will not let them vote twice for the same race, known as an overvote.

The officials also maintain that the computer systems running the machines can be trusted to count the votes accurately as they’re cast, and give the final numbers when needed.

But lawyers representing the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups said the state should require a paper trail in case a physical recount is needed, as it was in the 2000 presidential race in Florida.

“I have concern about votes that are cast but not recorded,” said Howard Simon, executive director for ACLU of Florida.

Election supervisors from some of the 15 counties using touchscreens had asked the state if they would need to go through the laborious process of printing screen images of each ballot during a recount. That could involve about half the votes cast in a statewide election -- Florida had about 6 million presidential votes in 2000 -- since the touchscreen counties include the state’s most populous areas.

The Division of Elections then ruled that state law only requires a recount to determine voters’ intent, and that it is impossible to question voter intent with touchscreen ballots.

The state’s other 52 counties use optiscan technology, in which computers read voters’ pencil marks on paper ballots, and would be able to do physical recounts in tight races.

Administrative Law Judge Susan B. Kirkland has 30 days to make her decision after receiving the hearing transcript, which is due back in 10 working days.

Florida’s voting system has been under scrutiny because the 2000 presidential elections debacle, when it took five weeks of legal maneuvering and recounting before Republican George W. Bush was declared president..

Despite the state having spent of millions of dollars on new technology and voter education, the scrutiny has remained, thanks in part to several questioned elections in the last three years in parts of Florida.