Florida officials will not require any recounts of votes cast on
touch-screen voting machines during Tuesday's state primary, despite a
ruling by an administrative judge that counties using electronic voting
are not exempt from laws requiring the re-tabulation of votes in close
elections. The judge, Susan Kirkland, issued a ruling Friday in
response to a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and
other groups. In it, she points out that the Florida legislature
decided earlier this year not to amend state law to bar recounts of
electronic votes. State officials have not decided if they will appeal
the ruling, but they will not change their rules for the primary. The
situation should be cleared up before the November presidential
election. "The whole reason that touch-screen machines were put into
place and that some of the counties chose to use them was to avoid the
problems they encountered in 2000," said Jenny Nash, spokeswoman for
the Florida Department of State. "This is a step backward to that
time." President Bush won the state's electoral votes by just 537 votes
after 36 days of recount and contest. [more ]
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