Feinstein asks for probe in FL election

Sen. Diane Feinstein of California is calling for a "top-to-bottom" investigation into the House race in Sarasota County, FL, where no one can explain why 18,000 ballots didn't include a vote for a hotly contested House race, CNet's Anne Broache notes.

Feinstein, the chairwoman of a Senate panel with jurisdiction over election matters, asked the Goverment Accountability Office to compile information about irregularities in direct-recording electronic voting systems, or DREs, which do not typically produce a paper record.

She requested that investigators scrutinize both the 2004 and 2006 elections and include in their research the ES&S iVotronic System used in Sarasota, the Avante Touch Screen, the Diebold's TSX, the Sequoia/Smartmatic HAAT (Hybrid Activator, Accumulator & Transmitter), and the Sequoia AVC Edge System.

Feinstein also also asked investigators to look at printers that have been attached to some of the systems to provide a paper record of the voter's intent. Feinstein intends to introduce a bill that would require use of paper trails in electronic voting machines, perhaps in time for the 2008 presidential race. A similar bill has already been introduced in the House