Florida Senate Deleting Voters Right To Recount, TOMORROW!!

Florida Senate Deleting Voters Right To Recount, TOMORROW!!


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 30, 2004
Contact: Lale Mamaux
Phone: (202)225-3001
Cell: (202)225-1913


Wexler Outraged at State Senate Bill Denying Voters Their Right to Have a
Manual Recount

Proposed Bill to Change Florida Recount Law is Unconstitutional

(Washington, D.C.) Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) is dismayed that State
Senator Anna Cowin, Chair of the Senate Ethics & Elections Committee, has
introduced legislation to change Florida's manual recount law. According to
Section 30 on Page 44 of the legislation (SB3004), "a manual recount may not
be conducted of undervotes on touchscreen machines." This legislation will
likely come up for a vote in the Senate Ethics & Elections Committee
tomorrow. (Please find attached a copy of the legislation)

"It is inconceivable to me that, after what happened in the 2000
Presidential election, Republicans in Tallahassee would have the audacity to
introduce legislation, which denies voters in the 15 Florida counties with
touchscreen voting machines the means to conduct a manual recount, while
leaving 52 counties with a way to conduct one. This is blatantly
unconstitutional, and Florida's voters should be outraged," Wexler said.

Wexler filed a federal lawsuit on March 8, 2004, along with Palm Beach
County Commissioners Burt Aaronson and Addie Greene and Florida President of
the Alliance for Retired Americans Tony Fransetta, under the precedent set
by Bush vs. Gore in the 2000 presidential election. Wexler, Aaronson, Green
and Fransetta cite that it is unconstitutional for 52 counties in Florida to
have a means to conduct a manual recount, while the other 15 Florida
counties with touchscreen voting machines have a paperless system that does
not allow for a recount. On March 22, 2004, U.S. District Judge James Cohn
granted an expedited trial schedule in Wexler's federal lawsuit.

Congressman Robert Wexler serves on the House Judiciary Committee and the
House International Relations Committee.


cowin.anna.web@flsenate.gov

Capitol Location

404 South Monroe Street Room 416
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1100
Phone: (850) 487-5014
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keep those phony poll numbers puffed up, with just a close enough margin to make a Bush win 'conceivable' to the masses...

Frightening.