Another election year, another recount fiasco in Florida. On January 6th, a local election was held for a seat covering parts of Broward and Palm Beach Counties. A total of 10,844 votes were cast, and Ellyn Bogdanoff won by a margin of just 12 votes. There were also 137 under-votes, in which voters' choices failed to register. Under state law, there must be a manual recount of all undervotes and overvotes (ballots marked more than once) in any election where the winning margin is less than 0.25%. But no recount is possible, because the votes were cast using touch-screen voting machines whose only paper output is the final tally. The machines can be asked to print out the same result again, of course. But as Robert Wexler, a Democratic congressman, likes to point out, "a reprint is not a recount". He has just filed a suit arguing that the machines violate state law, and asking a judge to order that they be equipped with printers, so that voters can verify their decisions on paper. The paper copies would then be placed in a ballot box, for recounting if necessary.
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