Group faults ballot scanner for Florida overvotes

A type of ballot scanner used in 13 counties, including Pasco and Pinellas, accounts for a disproportionate number of invalid votes cast in 2008, a report from an elections watchdog group reveals.

That may be true, said Secretary of State Kurt Browning, Florida's top elections official, but those overvotes are a reflection of voter intent, he said, not machine malfunction or poor design.

An overvote, which does not count, occurs when a person marks more than one choice in an election race or ballot question decision. The overvote rate rose from 0.05 percent in 2004 to 0.28 percent in 2008, which Browning attributed to the statewide switch in 2007 to all-paper ballot voting and optical scanners.

Before that, some counties used touch-screen machines, which do not process overvotes, Browning said. "In 2006, there were no overvotes in those counties."

However, the Florida Fair Elections Center says it's not that simple. On Tuesday, the group reported that the IntElect DS200 scanner counted only 40 percent of Florida ballots, yet accounted for more than 80 percent of the overvotes statewide in the 2008 general election.

"It's a disproportionate effect," said Mary "Kitty" Garber, research director for the elections center, who wrote the report.

The newly certified DS200 digital scanner from Election Systems and Software "presents casting an overvoted ballot as though it were a legitimate option," Garber wrote in her report. "It performed poorly irrespective of whether the county using the DS200 had previously used touch screens or optical scanners."

Spokeswoman Kimberly Gurzick said the company still was reviewing the report and will follow up with state officials.

Browning said that unlike some scanners certified for use in Florida, ES&S systems notify the voter of an overvote and offers the choice of whether to cast that vote anyway. It's logical that there would be more overvotes in those precincts, he said, adding that he stands by the certification of those machines.

Garber noted that she looked at overvotes in the presidential race only.

"Our understanding of the voters in the 2008 presidential election is that they were fairly motivated to vote. People don't come out and stand in line for two hours to have their ballot spoiled."