In a briefing yesterday, Lowell Finley (from VoterAction), one of the lead attorneys for the nonpartisan voters' case against Sarasota election officials and ES&S, spoke about two hearings that were held this week. A "motion to compel" had been filed to force ES&S and the state to turn over the source code of the I-Votronic machines, as well as to allow the actual machines to be examined.
Finley and the other attorneys for the plaintiffs (including Matt Zimmerman of EFF) seem to feel that the hearings went well. ES&S was not willing to put any of their employees on the stand -- not wishing to open them up to cross-examination -- and only had one expert witness, who in the course of his testimony seemed to contradict himself and perhaps even implicate ES&S's co-defendants (the county election officials) as the cause of the undervotes.
The plaintiffs felt that the judge was quite engaged in the hearings; he paid close attention, took notes, asked sharp questions, and didn't put up with grandstanding or badgering by the defense attorneys. The judge let the hearings go long in order to hear all the testimony and has asked for written closing statements by Friday at noon. We can all hope that he rules on the motion very soon afterward.
Since only two weeks are left before freshly elected congressional members are seated in the new Congress, time is of the essence. But even if the judge rules favorably on the motion on Friday at 12:01 PM, there still will not be time for the case to be decided by January 4th, when Congress opens.
At that point, it will be up to Speaker Pelosi and the House Administration Committee to decide whether or not to seat Vern Buchanan, who is the "certified" winner of Sarasota 13. They can seat him outright, seat him conditionally, or not seat him and wait for the court case. They even have the power to request a revote.
Christine Jennings, who is behind by 369 votes with some 18,000 votes gone missing, has written to the House Administration Committee, challenging the election, and requesting that Congress not seat Buchanan, and order a revote, if the Florida courts don't do so.
According to the St. Petersburg Times, a spokesperson for Speaker Pelosi called Jennings's filing appropriate.
"The
Federal Contested Elections Act was written specifically to address
such serious situations, where thousands of voters may have been denied
participation in the election and the outcome is in doubt," spokesman
Brendan Daly said.
But he added that Pelosi hopes the case is
resolved in Florida, not the House. The Democrats, who won control of
Congress in the last election, have promised bipartisanship, and
members from both parties say getting the House involved in untangling
this race could lead to lasting bitterness.
What do you think? Weigh in on our poll.
