The Fight For Sarasota Voters
PFAW
People For The American Way
Dec 27, 2006
Once again, Florida is the site of one of the most disturbing voting problems in the nation – and People For the American Way Foundation is there, fighting for voters’ right to cast votes that count.
In the recent elections, voting machine flaws in Sarasota County led to a massive undervote of more than 18,000 ballots in the 13th Congressional District race – where the current vote totals separate the candidates by less than 400 votes.
PFAW Foundation has been on the case from day one. Immediately after the election, we launched an investigation into the undervote and called the nation’s attention to this debacle. Then, we held a public forum that provided disenfranchised voters an opportunity to tell their stories. Now, PFAW Foundation is pursuing legal and political avenues of bringing about a revote that will allow disenfranchised voters to cast votes that count. PFAW Foundation and allied organizations are representing Sarasota County voters in a lawsuit seeking a revote that has been filed in state court, and we and our allies are working to rally public opinion to support both a revote and an independent investigation that can get to the bottom of this mess.
Here’s a timeline with more information about PFAW Foundation’s work in Sarasota County:
* Sunday, December 3: PFAWF partners with the Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections, the local branch of the NAACP, and other groups to hold a “Revote Rally” where Sarasota County citizens can make clear to the larger public their desire for a revote.
* Tuesday, November 28: PFAWF Florida Counsel Reggie Mitchell attends first day of voting machine audit, calls attention to audit’s poor structure and lack of impartiality.
* Wednesday, November 22: PFAWF expresses concern about a second member of the state audit team, David Drury, who has a vested interest in finding that machines worked properly because he’s the one who certified them in the first place.
* Tuesday, November 21: Voters represented by PFAWF and allied organizations file suit in Tallahassee asking for a revote. [Click here to read the full complaint]
* Thursday, November 16: Hundreds of voters overflow a packed public hearing convened by PFAWF Florida Counsel Reggie Mitchell and allies at the Sarasota Hyatt. Some witnesses waited nearly three hours in the hallway for their turn to speak. All local networks and major Florida media were in attendance. More than 50 voters testified, from a 16-year-old high school poll worker to a 71-year-old veteran who lamented the fact that this election was the second time his vote had been stolen.
* Wednesday, November 15: PFAWF denounces the Jeb Bush administration’s astonishing decision to appoint Alec Yasinsac, a partisan opponent of voter verifiable paper trails, to conduct the audit of Sarasota voting machines.
* Wednesday, November 15: A press conference to announce the public hearing is attended by Florida and national TV, radio, and print outlets.
* Monday, November 13: PFAWF calls for a public hearing to keep spotlight on voter problems – supported by allies on the ground: the Florida Fair Elections Coalition, Voter Action, the ACLU and Common Cause.
* Saturday, November 11: PFAWF urges county officials not to certify election results, calls on state and county officials to seek method for conducting a revote.
* Friday, November 10: PFAWF calls for an independent nonpartisan investigation of the massive undervote.
* Thursday, November 9: PFAW Foundation finds irregularities in Sarasota County voters’ reports provided to the nonpartisan Election Protection hotline.
