TALLAHASSEE - The Department of State has notified elections supervisors that touch screen ballots don't have to be included during manual recounts because there is no question about how voters intended to vote.
While touch screen ballot images can be printed, there is no need and elections supervisors aren't authorized to do so, Division of Elections director Ed Kast wrote in a letter to Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Kurt Browning.
Florida law requires a manual recount of overvotes where too many candidates were chosen, and undervotes where no candidate was chosen in elections where the margin of victory is one-quarter of 1 percent of the vote or less.
But because the law states that the purpose of a recount is to determine whether there was a "clear indication on the ballot that the voter has made a definite choice," there is no need to review touch screen ballots, Kast said.
It is impossible to vote for too many candidates on a touch screen ballot, and Kast said a "review of undervotes cannot result in a determination of voter intent as required by" Florida law.
Browning asked for the opinion after a Broward County Republican Ellyn Bogdanoff won a seat in the state House by 12 votes, a margin that triggered an automatic recount. He said the election raised the question of whether paper images needed to be produced for the undervotes in that race. He also supports Kast's opinion.
"There are no ballots to count, there are no ballots to recount," Browning said.
Secretary of State Glenda Hood said there are no certified methods of printing records of touch screen votes. She said the machines are reliable and accurate and can't be tampered with.
