State panel says Republican won House race; rival sues

Jennings lawyers want independent computer experts to examine the ES S touch-screen machine source code as well as Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent s software. Ultimately, Jennings lawyers want a judge to order a revote.
The crisis of confidence goes well beyond Sarasota.

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It is a case that may indeed be historic, Jennings lawyer, Kendall Coffey, told reporters after the lawsuit was filed.
A hearing is set for today.
More than 17,000 Sarasota County voters who cast ballots in other races Nov.

7 failed to vote in the congressional contest, a rate nearly six times higher than in the other District 13 counties or on Sarasota s paper absentee ballots, the suit claims.
The statistical evidence is overwhelming. The statistical evidence is based on numbers that cannot be seriously questioned, Coffey said.

In addition, there are eyewitness accounts of voting problems.
The suit also notes Jennings won Sarasota County 53 percent to 47 percent, so any undervote problem likely affected her more than Buchanan, who won the other four counties.
It includes comments from voters who said they had to revote, sometimes pressing harder on the screen, to cast ballots for Jennings after a review showed their initial attempt failed.

One voter, though, did not go back for fear of losing other votes.
The challenge names Buchanan, Secretary of State Sue Cobb, state Division of Elections Director Dawn Roberts, the Canvassing Commission and Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent as defendants.
I guess the theory is if you don t win, sue, Buchanan said.

The wealthy auto dealer, who poured more than $5 million of his own money into the race, called on Jennings to stop listening to the high-priced lawyers and out-of-town special interest groups and concede.
He said there was no evidence machines malfunctioned and attributed the undervotes to voters being turned off by negative campaigning.
The people have spoken, and I won this election, Buchanan said.

I won on election night, I won in the machine recount and I won in the manual recount.
Jennings said the next representative should be chosen by the will of the people and not by a problem with the voting machines, adding that voters in the state and country deserve answers about what went wrong.
Cobb said the state would defend the laws of Florida.

The lawsuit is not Jennings final option. She could appeal the results to the House, which will be under Democratic control next year.
A number of advocacy groups and the American Civil Liberties Union said they planned to file suit today asking for a revote in Sarasota County.

The state is auditing Sarasota voting machines separate from the legal challenge.
It will include a Nov. 28 test of machines prepared for but not used in the election.

The machines that were used cannot be accessed until the challenge period ends 10 days from Monday, Cobb said.
The Canvassing Commission - made up of Gov. Jeb Bush, Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher and state Sen.

Daniel Webster, R-Winter Haven - approved the results in a quick meeting. Bush and Webster participated by teleconference.
Other winners certified included Republican Charlie Crist, now the state s attorney general, as governor; former U.

S. Rep. Bill McCollum, also a Republican, as attorney general; former banker Alex Sink, a Democrat, as chief financial officer; and Republican Charles Bronson, who was reelected as agriculture commissioner.

Democratic U.S. Sen.

Bill Nelson was certified as the winner over Harris for a second six-year term. Harris came to national attention when she presided over the 2000 presidential election recount as Florida s secretary of state. Bush s brother, George W.

Bush, became president after winning Florida by a mere 537 votes.