Florida Appeals Court Denies Jennings and Voters’ Request for Machine’s Source Code Information

TALLAHASSEE—Yesterday evening, the First District Court of Appeals denied Christine Jennings and voters’ request to examine the voting machines and source code at the heart the 18,000 missing votes in the 2006 congressional race in Sarasota County. Following yesterday’s ruling, People For the American Way Foundation Florida Legal Counsel Reggie Mitchell released this statement:

“This is a disappointing ruling. Every day that goes by means another day that the voters of Sarasota County remain disenfranchised. Sarasota’s voters waited more than five months for this one paragraph ruling from the Court of Appeals. The Florida court appears to be abdicating its responsibility, in a timely way, to get to the bottom of what happened to the disappeared votes in Sarasota County. Fortunately, the United States Congress is taking its duty to investigate this disenfranchisement much more seriously. The 18,000 disenfranchised voters deserve to know what happened last November, and future voters deserve protection from similar problems.”