Source: http://openjurist.org/452/f3d/1226/wexler-v-anderson-e
Timestamp: 2015-08-28 17:23:54
Document Index: 313678171

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 101', '§ 101', '§ 101', '§ 102', '§ 102', '§ 102', '§ 97', '§ 97', '§ 102', '§ 102', '§ 102']

452 F3d 1226 Wexler v. Anderson E | OpenJurist
452 F. 3d 1226 - Wexler v. Anderson E Home
452 F3d 1226 Wexler v. Anderson E 452 F.3d 1226
Robert WEXLER, Congressman, Addie Greene, Commissioner, Burt Aaron, Commissioner, Tony Fransetta, Plaintiffs-Appellants,v.Arthur ANDERSON, Supervisor of Elections for Palm Beach County, Kay Clem, Supervisor of Elections for Indian River County, Florida and President of the Florida Association of Supervisors of Election, Florida Secretary of State, Glenda E. Hood, Defendants-Appellees.
No. 04-16280.
Robert S. Peck, Center for Constitutional Lit., Washington, DC, Jeffrey M. Liggio, Liggio, Benrubi & Williams, PA, West Palm Beach, FL, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.
Ronald A. Labasky, Young Van Assenderp, P.A., Erik M. Figlio, Christopher M. Kise, Florida Sol. Gen., Tallahassee, FL, for Defendants-Appellees.
Cindy A. Cohn, Electronic Frontier Found., San Francisco, CA, for Amici Curiae.
Florida's Electronic Voting Systems Act makes Florida's Department of State responsible for developing and adopting standards for electronic voting and for certifying electronic voting systems for use in the state. See Fla. Stat. §§ 101.5601-101.5614. Each county may then choose its own voting equipment from among those systems certified by the Department of State. Fla. Stat. § 101.5604; see also Fla. Stat. § 101.294. In fifteen of Florida's sixty-seven counties, voters cast their votes using paperless touchscreen voting machines, which require that voters make their selections directly on computer screens by literally touching the screen as indicated. In the remaining fifty-two counties, voters cast optical scan ballots. To vote using an optical scan ballot, a voter uses a pencil to fill in a bubble or arrow by the name of the candidate he wishes to vote for; the ballot is then run through an automatic tabulation machine. Voters casting absentee or provisional ballots in touchscreen counties also submit optical scan ballots.
Florida law provides for a two-stage recount procedure in certain close elections. First, if the margin of victory is one-half of a percent or less, election officials conduct a "machine recount," which entails re-tabulating ballots in precincts using optical scan ballots, Fla. Stat. § 102.141(6)(a), and, in touchscreen voting precincts, examining "the counters on the precinct tabulators to ensure that the total of the returns on the precinct tabulators equals the overall election return." Fla. Stat. § 102.141(6)(a). Second, if the results of the machine recount indicate a margin of victory of one-quarter of a percent or less, officials conduct a manual recount of all "overvotes" and "undervotes" (collectively, "residual votes"). Fla. Stat. § 102.166. An overvote results when "the elector marks or designates more names than there are persons to be elected to an office or designates more than one answer to a ballot question, and the tabulator records no vote for the office or question." Fla. Stat. § 97.021(23). An undervote results when "the elector does not properly designate any choice for an office or ballot question, and the tabulator records no vote for the office or question." Fla. Stat. § 97.021(37).
During the manual recount phase, auditors review residual votes to determine if there is a "clear indication on the ballot that the voter has made a definite choice." Fla. Stat. § 102.166(5)(a). To that end, the Department of State is charged with: (1) adopting "specific rules for each certified voting system prescribing what constitutes a `clear indication on the ballot that the voter has made a definite choice,'" id. at § 102.166(5)(b), and (2) issuing "detailed rules prescribing additional recount procedures for each certified voting system which shall be uniform to the extent practicable." Id. at § 102.166(6)(d).
Because a touchscreen voter never records his vote onto paper, and there is no provision in these counties for contemporaneous print-outs of individual ballots, a "manual recount" in touchscreen counties does not allow for the same type of review of ballots for voter or machine error provided in optical scan counties. In light of these characteristics of touchscreen voting systems, the Florida Department of State originally did not require manual recounts in touchscreen counties.2 An administrative law judge struck down the original rule that failed to require manual recounts, however, and the Secretary of State promulgated Emergency Rule 1SER04-1 in its place. The substance of the emergency rule was incorporated into the permanent rule governing manual recounts on November 3, 2005.3 See Florida Department of State, Division of Elections Rule 1S-2.031 ("Rule 1S-2.031").