Florida's 13th congressional district

Infobox U.S. congressional district
state = Florida
district number = 13

---

representative = Vern Buchanan
party = Republican
english area =
metric area =
percent urban =
percent rural =
population = 639,295
population year = 2000
median income = 40,187
percent white = 90.2
percent black = 4.5
percent asian = 0.8
percent native american = 0.3
percent hispanic = 7.7
percent other race = 0.2
percent blue collar =
percent white collar =
percent gray collar =
cpvi = R+4

Florida's 13th congressional district encompasses all of Sarasota, DeSoto, and Hardee County, and most of Manatee County, except for a small northern coastal portion in District 11. It also includes a small section of Charlotte County. It is currently represented by Republican Vern Buchanan. George W. Bush received 56% of the vote in this district in 2004. The district has a Cook Partisan Voting Index score of R +4.

2006 election controversy

In the 2006 election, election officials certified Republican businessman Vern Buchanan as the winner of the race over Democratic candidate, banker Christine Jennings by 369 votes. Buchanan was declared the winner after a mandatory recount and analysis of alleged voting machine errors in the race. The primary controversy in this race is that over 18,000 ballots, roughly 1 in 6, cast in Sarasota County apparently did not register a vote for this race, far higher than in the two previous elections involving Jan Schneider, but lower than the undervote in 2000. Sarasota County voted for Jennings by a 6 point margin. Jennings has not conceded the race, and is pursuing administrative and legal challenges to the result, including filing an appeal for an investigation of the election with the House Administration Committee. [ [http://www.cqpolitics.com/2006/12/the_cqpolitics_interview_chris_1.html The CQPolitics Interview: Christine Jennings] (December 6, 2006)] Preliminary results from an investigation by Congress' Government Accountability Office conclude that there is no evidence that the voting machines caused the high undervote, but that inadequate testing made it impossible to prove their complete reliability. [ [http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0897t.pdf GAO Report] (October 2, 2007)] Sarasota County has since moved to optical scanned paper ballots as a result of a 2006 referendum vote.

According to a statistical study published in 2008 [cite journal
author = Arlene Ash and John Lamperti
year = 2008
month = Spring
title = Florida 2006: Can Statistics Tell Us Who Won Congressional District-13?
journal = Chance
volume = 21
issue = 2
pages = 18 - 24
publisher = Springer
url = http://www.amstat.org/publications/chance/pdfs/199.featured.pdf
format = pdf
accessdate = 1 June 2008 ] , the missing votes were caused by the ballot screen layout. The authors' best estimate on what the result would have been, had this problem not occurred, give victory to Jennings at a 99.9% confidence level, and a mean margin of victory for her of 639 votes.

External links

* [http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20070804/NEWS/708040356/1006/SPORTS Voting inquiry finds reasons to dig deeper] ( [http://www.heraldtribune.com The Sarasota Herald Tribune] , August 04, 2007)
* [http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/16997273.htm Congressional task force to begin investigating contested Florida 13 election.] ( [http://www.bradenton.com The Bradenton Herald] , March 31, 2007)
* [http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070328/NEWS/703280546/1060 Congressional Republicans act to block Congressional Task Force slated to begin investigation into Florida 13.] ( [http://www.heraldtribune.com The Sarasota Herald Tribune] , March 28, 2007)
* [http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070317/NEWS/703170432/-1/xml Memo on voting machines "misfiled" by Kathy Dent's office.] ( [http://www.heraldtribune.com The Sarasota Herald Tribune] , March 17, 2007)
* [http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=23728 People for the American Way Statement on Newly Revealed ES&S Memo on Possible Machine Malfunction.] ( [http://pfaw.org People for the American Way] , March 15, 2007)
* [http://www.ncvoter.net/downloads/ESS_Aug_2006_iVotronic_FL_memo.pdf August 2006 Memo from Elections Systems and Software warning Florida Supervisors of Elections of a response time issue on their iVotronics touchscreen voting systems.]
* [http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=1126 Sarasota: Could a Bug Have Lost Votes?] (Professor Ed Felten, [http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com The Freedom to Tinker Blog] , February 27, 2006)
* [http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4183 Jennings Campaign: State Audit of Sarasota Voting System Flawed, Incomplete.] ( [http://www.christinejenningsforcongress.com Christine Jennings Campaign] , February 23, 2007)
* [http://election.dos.state.fl.us/pdf/FinalAudRepSAIT.pdf Software Review and Security Analysis of the ES&S iVotronic 8.0.1.2 Voting Machine Firmware, Final Report.] (Florida Department of State, February, 2007)
* [http://www.voteroversight.org/id19.htm Affidavit by Clare Ward-Jenkins, poll worker in Precinct 14, Sarasota County. Ms. Ward-Jenkins' affidavit details her encounters with a bug that repeatedly cleared votes cast for Democratic Congressional candidate, Christine Jennings.] ( [http://www.voteroversight.org VoterOversight.org] , January 19, 2007)
* [http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/article.php?id=6423 Analysis: Undervoted ballots heavily favored Democrats.] ( [http://www.orlandosentinel.com The Orlando Sentinel] , November 22, 2006)
* [http://heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061121/NEWS/611210505/-1/NEWS0521 Buchanan declared winner; rival Jennings sues] ( [http://www.heraldtribune.com The Sarasota Herald Tribune] , November 21, 2006)
* [http://heraldtribune.com/assets/pdf/SH81371120.PDF Christine Jennings' "Complaint to Contest Election"] (Filed in Florida Court, November 20, 2006)
* [http://www.bradblog.com/Docs/FL13_SarasotaBallotScreenshots_110706.pdf Sarasota County Electronic Ballot Screenshots] (Posted on [http://www.bradblog.com The BradBlog] , November 20, 2006)
* [http://www.christinejenningsforcongress.com Christine Jennings' web site.]
* [http://buchanan.house.gov Vern Buchanan's Congressional web site.]

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