Cross-posted at My Left Wing, Progressive Historians and BlueSunbelt
This is a short diary and I was going to wait until this weekend to see if any follow-ups appeared in the local newspaper, but frankly, this news put me in a great mood and I just had to share.
I’ll get right to it.
A special task force, formed in March by the Committee on House Administration voted yesterday to open a federal investigation into last November’s disputed District 13 congressional election in Sarasota County, Fla. Irregularities resulted when more than 18,000 touch-screen ballots failed to record votes for either candidate.
The three-member task force has asked the Government Accountability Office to design testing protocols to determine the reliability of the touch-screen voting machines used in the heated race between Democrat Christine Jennings and Republican Vern Buchanan. Jennings lost the election to replace Republican Rep. Katherine Harris by a scant 369 votes. Harris went on to lose handily in a U.S. Senate race against the popular incumbent, Democrat Senator Bill Nelson.
The Miami Herald has reported that the task force voted exclusively along party lines with Democrats Chairman Charlie Gonzalez (D-Texas) and Rep. Zoë Lofgren (D-Calif) voting in the affirmative, and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif) in the negative.
From the Miami Herald:
''We need a dispassionate review to get this behind us,'' said task force Chairman Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, D-Texas. "What is to be gained if we move forward? Some resolution... free of doubt and uncertainty.''
McCarthy says he's seen no evidence that the machines weren't working and charged his fellow task force members with "doing a disservice to the constituents of Congressman Buchanan," according to the paper.</blockquote</p>
I don’t think it’d be much of a stretch to say that Rep. McCarthy is virtually alone in his negative assessment of the benefits of a sanctioned probe that will include experts who’ll take a critical look into the enigmatic proprietary software installed in the touch-screen voting machines used in Sarasota County last fall.
Experts representing both Jennings' campaign and ES&S, the voting machines' manufacturer, have said that the undercount changed the outcome of the race.
Jennings lauded the probe in an exuberant statement:
I am thrilled that the investigation will move forward. This is about more than who won or lost an individual election -- it's about protecting the right to vote. ... The 18,000 people in Sarasota who lost that right, and the millions of Americans nationwide who use electronic voting machines, deserve answers. We must restore confidence in our voting systems."
Folks, this is the vote Florida Democrats were waiting for – especially residents of the Sarasota area like me.
I’ve got a great feeling ‘bout this!
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