Bittersweet Election Issues
This was written a week ago, but a wedding and Thanksgiving issues delayed its publishing.
Honestly, when I wrote an entry criticizing Florida and Sarasota County officials’ stance on the electronic voting machines in use in the county, I didn’t expect that anything would go wrong. Lack of problems wouldn’t have caused me to change my stance, which has more to do with the public having access to the workings of voting machines than any specific concerns about security. As luck (or worse) would have it, Sarasota County has been put in the national spotlight for the problems exhibited during the election.
Christine Jennings (D), a banker, and Vern Buchanan (R), a car salesman, were competing for the 13th congressional district seat being vacated by Katherine Harris (who lost a bid for U.S. Senate in this year’s election). Their campaign was a bitter one, characterized by intensely negative attack ads that played almost constantly on area television stations.
On election day, 237,861 ballots were cast in that race (Jennings and Buchanan were the only candidates) and Buchanan ended up with 373 votes more than Jennings, making this the second closest congressional race in the country. Because of the the negative campaigning and the lack of alternative candidates, there was some suspicion on my part that the rate of non-voting for this race would be higher than in other races. I almost didn’t vote in the race, and my fiancé definitely (and intentionally) didn’t.
In Sarasota county, 15% of ballots did not contain a vote in the Jennings/Buchanan race. This event is called an “undervote.” This was a much higher percentage than I would have predicted, and a much higher percentage of non-votes than in neighboring counties (2% in one county and 5% in another). These neighboring counties were also exposed to the negative ads, so there shouldn’t be that big of a difference. Hundreds of people have reported that the race did not appear on their ballot, or that their vote in the race was erased when they got to the final review section and that they had to go back and make the selection again.
Assuming that the missing Sarasota County votes went for the candidates at the same rate as the ones that were counted, Jennings would have won the race handily, according to a review by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. In fact, Jennings would have won even if the undervote rate was as high as 8%.
The main factor contributing to the high undervote percentage is likely the design of the electronic ballot. Before casting my ballot at around 11am, I was warned by a volunteer at the polling location that people were missing that race on the ballot.
The Buchanan/Jennings race appeared on the second electronic “page” of the ballot, along with the governor’s race. The vote for the 13th district congressional seat was placed at the very top of the screen, and because there were only two candidates, it took up very little space. The governor’s race below it had 7 options (including “write in”). The way the voting screen was set up, it was not obvious that two races were presented on that page. I certainly wouldn’t have seen it had the poll worker not told me where to look for it.
That could explain some of the undervotes, but it doesn’t account for people who say they definitely voted in that race, but found that on the review screen, their vote had been erased, requiring them to go back and make their selection again. Among those who complained about this issue is David Shapiro, the winning Democratic candidate for a Florida state representative seat. He says that he definitely voted for Jennings, but on the review screen, it said he had not voted in that race.
Sarasota County elections supervisor Kathy Dent (a Republican) was aware of both these issues, as they were reported during early voting. She sent out an e-mail telling poll workers to warn voters to be on the lookout for that race, but claims of machine malfunction on that race were dismissed. Even after election day, when the problems became even more apparent, Dent held her ground.
Elections Supervisor Kathy Dent met a rising chorus of voter complaints and unusual ballot tallies in the District 13 congressional race with resolute defiance Wednesday.
Dent dismissed allegations of computer problems with the county’s touch-screen balloting in the race between Republican Vern Buchanan and Democrat Christine Jennings. Instead, she blamed voter disillusionment or error for an abnormally large undervote in the contest.
“I think we did a good election yesterday,” Dent said, adding later that, “we worked as hard as we could work. I wouldn’t do anything differently.”
The arched-back response fueled anger among critics who say Dent is too defensive and thin-skinned, if not incompetent, to run the pivotal elections office. Instead of thoroughly investigating complaints about how the District 13 race appeared on the touch-screen ballot in Sarasota County, Dent reflexively viewed them as unfounded attacks on the voting system she pushed the county to buy, they said.
As a result, they argued, thousands of potential votes may have been unrecorded in a race apparently determined by a 368-vote margin.
On election day, when asked by Sarasota County voter Steve Runfeldt to explain why precinct 22 had 10 machines in use when only 3 were “zeroed” out, Dent replied sarcastically, “You know what is going on? I personally put 64,000 votes for Vern Buchanan in those machines. You can quote me.” Dent refused to answer any more questions and got into a Sarasota deputy’s vehicle. When the vehicle was approached by Runfeldt and attorney Jim Keeney, the deputy sped toward the pedestrians. Runfeldt jumped out of the way. The vehicle narrowly missed Mr. Keeney and struck the clipboard he was carrying. The deputy stopped the car, exited with a hand on his weapon, and accused Mr. Keeney of hitting his car.
The Friday after the election, Ms. Dent appeared to have a change of heart. Whereas until Friday she had adamantly defended the touchscreen machines she had bought, a letter she wrote on Friday.
Although a ballot initiative that called for a paper trail and spot audits of election results won 55 percent approval Tuesday, the switch to paper still seemed uncertain, as Secretary of State Sue Cobb, Dent and the County Commission were slated to challenge its constitutionality in the appellate court.
“As a result of the (referendum) vote, irrespective of any determination by the courts, I am going to urge the county commission to find the necessary funds to purchase the voting equipment which will satisfy the expression of the voters and current federal and state law,” Dent wrote in a letter Friday. “I will also urge state election officials to expedite review and approval of the system. The sooner we can acquire the new voting system, the sooner we can implement it.
Wile E. Coyote has much the same reaction, when he’s already 100 meters past the cliff’s edge. We need better from our public officials.
