E-Voting Under Fire In Florida

An election dispute in Florida is likely to bring continuing scrutiny of electronic voting machines.

U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, a New Jersey Democrat, said that 18,000 "missing" votes in Florida's 13th Congressional District is "an overwhelming indication that something went wrong."

Republican Vern Buchanan beat Democrat Christine Jennings by 368 votes in the November election, making it the second-closest congressional race in the country.

"It is a matter of fundamental fairness, of good government, and of accountability that we get to the bottom of this election," Holt said in a prepared statement. "It is imperative that every election reflect the will of the voters accurately. There is no way to know whether the result presented by the Florida Secretary of State is valid -- in fact, there is significant evidence that it is not."

Some observers have suggested that the 18,000 voters simply did not vote in the District 13 race; others claim the touch-screen ballots did not record the votes.

Holt promised a House Administration Committee review of the matter under the Federal Contested Elections Act. He said the committee would conduct an inquiry, based on legal proceedings in Florida, as to whether the certified results are valid or whether the full House of Representatives should review the issue.

"According to evidence provided in the Florida case, to date, 18,000 ballots cast on electronic voting machines did not record the voter's selection for the House of Representatives, more than enough to change the outcome of the election..." he said. "I expect the evidence will show that the certification did not reflect the will of the voters and a re-vote is necessary."

Holt said Michael Herron, an independent expert, said an accurate count would have changed the outcome of the election. Holt intends to introduce legislation requiring voter-verified paper ballots to allow auditing of electronic voting machines. An elections advisory group also recently recommended a paper trail for electronic voting.

Election Systems & Software has maintained that the machines worked properly and election officials in Florida also upheld the vote counts. Democratic challenger Jennings suffered a blow in a lawsuit over the outcome when a judge dismissed a request to examine the programming code in the electronic voting machines.