The percentage of nonvotes -- 1.3 percent -- is modest compared to the days of ''hanging'' and ''pregnant chads.'' But in Tuesday's race, every vote was crucial. In a seven-candidate field, Ellyn Bogdanoff beat Oliver Parker by just 12 votes.
''These were the new machines,'' said Chas Brady, a spokesman for Parker's campaign. ``This was not supposed to happen.''
Bogdanoff had a ready explanation for the mystery. She theorized that some of the people who cast nonvotes were among the county's true-blue Democrats who were appalled to find a ballot with only Republicans.
''That would make a heck of a lot of sense if you were looking for a Democrat on the ballot,'' she said.
PUSH THE `VOTE'
Election Systems & Software, maker of the $17.2 million system in use in Broward, believes that some voters failed to push the ''vote'' button at the conclusion of the ballot -- akin to hitting the ''send'' button to dispatch an e-mail.
The company says voters might have been confused by the ballot's ''review'' screen, since there was only one item on the ballot to review, said Broward Mayor Ilene Lieberman, who talked to ES&S officials Wednesday.
When voters hit the ''send'' button after failing to select a candidate, the touch screen gives them a warning. But it doesn't prevent them from voting anyway or, in this case, nonvoting.
That's probably what many did, suggested Gisela Salas, the former Miami-Dade deputy elections supervisor who now works for newly appointed Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes.
''It happens in every election,'' Salas said. ``There are people who make the choice not to select any candidates.''
Brady, spokesman for Parker, the second-place finisher, doesn't buy that theory, since there's just one page on the ballot.
''It's not as though they're on Page 5 and are tired of voting,'' he said.
And Lieberman, a Democrat, believes that anyone who would take the time to go to the polls for such a small election would want their vote to count.
''It's incomprehensible that 134 people went to the polls and didn't cast votes,'' said Lieberman, who served on the canvassing board that oversaw Tuesday night's count. ``We need to find an answer to this question.''
ADD PRINTERS
Lieberman has advocated adding printers to the touch-screen machines to create a paper record of each vote cast. Voters would be able to see the printout to verify it before they leave the machine, a type of technology that many states are beginning to consider.
Lieberman has asked ES&S, which also manufactured Miami-Dade County's voting machines, to provide some answers on the nonvotes by 1:30 p.m. today, when the canvassing board meets for a state-mandated recount.
None of this would have drawn much notice had the race to fill the District 91 seat in Northeast Broward not been so breathtakingly close, said Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore, who survived her own recount in 2000 after designing a controversial ''butterfly'' ballot.
''We always pray for large margins,'' she said.
Bogdanoff had a ready explanation for the mystery. She theorized that some of the people who cast nonvotes were among the county's true-blue Democrats who were appalled to find a ballot with only Republicans.Too bad there is no proof of that, especially no voter interviews to suggests it.
Another theory:
Election Systems & Software, maker of the $17.2 million system in use in Broward, believes that some voters failed to push the ''vote'' button at the conclusion of the ballot -- akin to hitting the ''send'' button to dispatch an e-mail.Others are also skeptical:
''It happens in every election,'' Salas said. ``There are people who make the choice not to select any candidates.''Brady, spokesman for Parker, the second-place finisher, doesn't buy that theory, since there's just one page on the ballot.
If this is going to be done then THAT piece of paper is what needs to be put in the ballot box and the electronic tally needs to be deleted. You cannot have a paper "receipt" that you take home with you and an electronic ballot you entered at the polls. All it would be is for several hundred people to produce fraudulant "receipts" and claim "I didn't vote like THAT!". Even if they place "a" receipt in the box, it is no guarantee of their vote if there is a separately totaled electronic count (again, put a fake receipt in the ballot box to throw the results into suspicion).
Houston has electronic balloting now and I didn't see the results coming in any quicker than before. The polls close and the results aren't "counted" until after midnight on some races. There aren't that many vietnamese paper ballots (the Houston system so far is only in Spanish and English).
Another thing that may be throwing voters is the talk of "touch screen" systems. Houston has a dial. You can touch the screen with your finger all you want but it will do nothing to mark a ballot entry. Do people touch the screen on all ATMs yet?
All this talk of vote fraud and yet no mention of why it is "wrong" to ask all voters to produce photo ID (the type that every adult must have legally have to drive a car, let alone buy alcohol or even step into a bar, or write a check).