Politics

Appeal denied in vote machine challenge

Christine Jennings who narrowly lost a congressional race, is again refused access to a secret code used in Sarasota County voting machines.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published June 19, 2007

TALLAHASSEE – A state appellate court ruled Monday that Christine Jennings has no right to examine the programming source code that runs the electronic voting machines she says malfunctioned in her southwest Florida congressional race.

The three-judge panel said Monday that Jennings did not meet the "extraordinary burden" of proving a lower court was wrong to deny her request in December.

Jennings already had shifted focus to a congressional task force assigned to sort out her election dispute with Republican Vern Buchanan, the state-certified winner of the 13th Congressional District race by 369 votes.

A spokesman said she has no immediate plans to appeal Monday's ruling.

"I think the only important activity right now is what is going on in Congress, since they have the ultimate authority in this matter, " Jennings' spokesman David Kochman said. "They are also moving quicker than the court ever has. In terms of access to the source code and machines, the task force made it clear last week that won't be a hurdle. It has subpoena power."

The Government Accountability Office said last week it will not know if the information is needed until after an initial review of other investigations in the case. The agency is scheduled to give the task force a progress report on July 27. The review could take until September.

In December, Florida Circuit Judge William Gary said Jennings' claim that the touch screen machines in Sarasota County lost up to 18, 000 votes was conjecture and didn't warrant overriding the trade secrets of the voting machine company, Election Systems & Software on Omaha, Neb.

An company spokesman did not immediately return phone calls on Monday. Buchanan's spokesman for the legal challenge also didn't return after-hours phone messages.

[Last modified June 19, 2007, 09:56:49]