MELISSA BLOCK, host:
Though orientation is underway for members of the 110th Congress, there are still 11 House races that have yet to be decided. Two of them will be settled next month in run off elections. Recounts are expected in many of the others.
MICHELE NORRIS, host:
And when you say recount, you know the word Florida can't be far behind. The House seat from Florida's 13th District, around Sarasota, is the one Katherine Harris gave up in her unsuccessful bid for the Senate. The Republican candidate there has claimed victory, but a recount has started, and election officials also want to know why 18,000 voters did not cast a vote for either candidate for Congress.
From Sarasota, NPR's Greg Allen reports.
GREG ALLEN: The supervisor of elections in Sarasota County, Kathy Dent, this morning announced the beginning of a process that for many here in Florida is all too familiar.
Ms. KATHY DENT (Supervisor of Elections): I have in my hand, and I have copies for each of you, the certificate of the Elections Canvassing Commission ordering the machine recount for the 13th congressional race.
ALLEN: When the votes were counted election night, Republican Vern Buchanan claimed a narrow victory. Fewer than 400 votes separated him from Democrat Christine Jennings. That narrow margin, less than two tenths of one percent, under Florida law triggered an automatic recount.
But the larger question is why some 18,000 people who cast ballots did not register a vote in the congressional race. The entire county uses touch screen voting machines, and before the election in early voting, hundreds of people called election officials, campaign offices and the media to complain that they had trouble casting ballots in the congressional race. Voter Mike Lachey says on the machine he used, at first the race simply didn't appear, so he asked for help.
Mr. MIKE LACHEY: Well, the poll-worker actually said, "oh, that happens a lot," quote-unquote. I didn't think anything of it. I thought, this happens to me. I had no idea it happened to anybody else until the Sunday before the election when I read in the paper that a number of other voters had actually cast a ballot for Jennings, but then later on it would come back in the end in the summary and say you expressed no preference.
ALLEN: When first asked about the large under-vote, County Election Supervisor Dent defended the touch screen machines and said voters may have made mistakes or simply chosen to not cast ballots in the hotly contested race. But she's now asked state election officials to conduct an audit of the system.
Ms. DENT: I can't offer an explanation, I just know that we're going through the process, the legal process, to determine whether there are any problems with the equipment.
ALLEN: That audit won't get underway in earnest until after a second manual recount is completed over the weekend. The Jennings campaign has retained Kendall Coffey, a lawyer well known for his work on behalf of Democrats in the 2000 presidential recount.
In Sarasota County, though, one thing does seem certain. This will be the last election for touch-screen voting machines. On November 7, voters here approved a referendum calling for a return to paper ballots. Kendra Muntz is with the Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections, the group that put the measure on the ballot.
Ms. KENDRA MUNTZ (Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections): As it happens, it's the absolutely crystal clear example of why we need to have an independent record of the vote, a permanent record, that you can go back and check and audit if need be.
ALLEN: Sarasota Election Supervisor Kathy Dent says she now supports dumping the touch-screen machines and returning to paper ballots, not because of the current problems, but because voters demand it.
Greg Allen, NPR News, Sarasota, Florida. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
