Fact: Thirteen percent of Sarasota voters did not vote for either candidate in the Jennings-Buchanan race although they did vote for other candidates, even minor ones. (Facts are from news reports and on-line results from Supervisor of Elections in various counties.)

Fact: People in Sarasota who used paper absentee ballots in Sarasota had only a 1.8 percent undervotes. They were evidently not “turned off,” either. Compare with 13 percent of same population using the ballot constructed by Kathy Dent and the voting machines she defends.

Fact: Sarasota County voted strongly in favor of Christine Jennings.

Opinion: Ed Martin--Lost votes, in the same precincts as those counted would have followed the same pattern and she should have won. Herald Tribune calculates a similar result.

Fact: Kathy Dent has refused to consider using paper trails which are auditable.

Opinion: In this case, the paper ballots would have proved whether the undervotes were electronic mistakes or not. They also would have been easier to read than the design on the computers. That is why the absentee ballots did not have an unusual undercount.

Fact: Kathy Dent had to be ordered by a judge to put the question on the ballot, despite citizens submitting a legal petition with more than 14,000 names on it. Kathy Dent is appealing the judge’s decision and even after this election disaster she still seems to be on that course.

Fact: A number of people, three very bright people have told me personally they had to repeat their vote in order to cast a vote for Jennings and many more have reported similar problems to the press and party officials.

Opinion: Their feelings include poor ballot design and buttons not working properly when pressed.

Fact: A recount may be held, perhaps two.

Opinion: Experts familiar with electronic voting machines say these recounts are meaningless. The machines will simply cycle out the same results. Unless there was an obvious error in totaling, other failures will not be disclosed. Whether voters intended to vote and the screen “button” they pushed did not work will not be possible to discern.

Opinion: Kathy Dent is the Donald Rumsfeld of Sarasota elections. She has a sprinkling of fellow Republicans defending her integrity. Even if you buy that, there is no defense for her incompetence in ballot design, or her stubborn temperament that will not change in the face of overwhelming support for an auditable paper trail. She needs to step down or be defeated in her next election. Even better, the law should be changed to have non-partisan supervisors of elections.

Ed Martin can be reached at: Ed@insideveniceflorida.com