Democrat Christine Jennings, who lost to Vern Buchanan by less than 400 votes in the race for Florida's 13th Congressional district, got a double dip of bad news Friday. A Leon County judge rejected a motion by her lawyers to get access to the secret software, or "source code," used to run the electronic voting machines in Sarasota County. The decision means that Jennings will have a tough time proving that more than 18,000 registered voters bypassed the Southwest Florida congressional race because of machine malfunction. More here.
Likewise, a spokesman for incoming U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Democrats do not plan to block Buchanan from taking a seat in the new Congress when it reconvenes next week Instead a fellow Democrat plans to make a motion asking that Congress move ahead with a "formal inquiry" and leave open the possibility of future action pending the outcome of Jennings court battle in Florida and an investigation by the House Administration Committee, which is responsible for looking into the election contest filed last week by Jennings.
In a statement Jennings said that residents of the 13th district deserved to have someone representing them while the electoral battle moves forward:
"I
believe that when this process is finished, I will have the privilege of
representing District 13 in Congress,'' said Jennings in a statement. "But while this process continues, our
district deserves to have representation in Washington. I believe the right
thing to do at this point is seat Vern Buchanan temporarily, while we continue
gathering evidence and finding the truth about what happened.''
Sore loser.
Posted by: | December 29, 2006 at 03:34 PM
First we need to know who the winner and loser is. She could be a sore winner!
Posted by: Bill Pate | December 31, 2006 at 11:23 PM