Remember how important is was for politicians back in 2000 that the voting problems in Florida (and elsewhere) had to be sorted out? Oh, they're sorted out alright. For voters who use the new touch-screen machines, Florida law prohibits recounts and record keeping is poor. On top of that, the machines have problems even registering votes.
The records disappeared after two computer system crashes last year, county elections officials said, leaving no audit trail for the 2002 gubernatorial primary. A citizens group uncovered the loss this month after requesting all audit data from that election.
After the 2002 primary, between Democratic candidates Janet Reno and Bill McBride, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida conducted a study that found that 8 percent of votes, or 1,544, were lost on touch-screen machines in 31 precincts in Miami-Dade County. The group considered that rate of what it called "lost votes" unusually high.
"People can never be sure their vote was recorded the way it was cast, but these are the best records we've got," she said. "And now they're not there."
