Posted on 02/24/2007 7:39:44 PM PST by Vermonter
MANATEE - A state audit of Sarasota County's touch-screen voting machines and an independent review of their source code found no evidence that they caused 18,000 non-votes in the 13th Congressional District race, according to two reports released Friday.
Instead, the reports' authors suggested ballot design was a more likely culprit and urged more study into it.
Critics quickly faulted the findings as flawed, incomplete and a "whitewash," contending the authors ignored evidence to the contrary. Critics also vowed to continue legal efforts to force a new election between U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, and Christine Jennings.
Officials certified Buchanan the winner of the Nov. 7 election by 369 votes, but more than 18,000 Sarasota County voters inexplicably voted in other races but not the congressional contest. Jennings is challenging the election results in court and the U.S. House, contending the machines did not record thousands of votes for her.
That prompted the audit by state elections officials, who reported they found "no evidence of machine malfunction and no evidence of elections' staff misconduct," to cause the non-votes, or undervotes. Auditors did suggest some minor changes to the county's elections policies and procedures, but said they were not a factor in the undervotes.
Kathy Dent, the county's elections supervisor, said the audit "was a beneficial exercise" that validated her belief the machines didn't malfunction.
As part of the audit, a team of computer experts from four states examined the machines' computer source code. Although they found some programming defects and security vulnerabilities, there was nothing in the code that could have caused the undervotes, the experts said.
"I'm convinced that it's not machine-related and the team is unanimously convinced that it's not machine-related," said Alec Yasinsac, a Florida State University computer science professor who led the eight-member group.
The reports conclude the state's investigation into the undervotes, said Sterling Ivey, spokesman for the Florida secretary of state, which oversees elections.
"We feel like we've turned every stone and looked under every crack and crevice," he said. "We just haven't found anything to indicate a mechanical reason why the undervote was so high."
But critics vowed to keep fighting, accusing the reports' authors of not looking hard enough out of self-interest. Among their charges:
• The audit was led by the state official who certifies voting machines.
• Auditors tested only a small sample of machines used in the election.
• Not all of the source code was examined.
"This audit's a whitewash," said Ralph G. Neas, president of the People For the American Way Foundation, among the several groups suing for a new election. "It is the result of a flawed process overseen by people with a stake in the outcome, and it will not be the last word on this matter."
Yasinsac said his team examined at least 75 percent of the code, bypassing the rest because it was not used in the election. He defended the review as scientifically sound and a model for others to follow.
Yet David Kochman, Jennings' spokesman, questioned why the voting machines weren't scrutinized more.
"A doctor can't diagnose a medical problem without examining the patient, so how can you diagnose an election problem without examining the machines?" he said. "It's unfortunate that the state's election officials were more concerned about sweeping the problem under the rug than finding out the truth about what went wrong with Sarasota County's voting system."
Jennings plans to continue efforts to gain access to the code so her experts can review it, Kochman said. Jennings is appealing a state judge's refusal to allow access, but one of Buchanan's lawyers said the new reports weaken her case.
"We think the reports will aid us significantly in the litigation as they go to the heart of Ms. Jennings' claim," Glenn Burhans said.
Exactly.
Your suggestion is far too logical for bureaucrats and too dangerous for those who challenge elections for a living.
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