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TALLAHASSEE -- Insisting there's something strange about a batch of 78,000 absentee votes that helped tip the scales for Amendment 4, gambling foes have filed a lawsuit seeking a recount in Broward County.
But the courtroom isn't the only battleground.
The Central Florida lawmaker who is leading No Casinos suggested Monday the Legislature could define "slot machines" as something less than the Las Vegas-type gambling machines that proponents of Amendment 4 want to bring to South Florida race tracks and jai alai frontons.
Amendment 4, which won passage by a margin of almost 51 percent of the 7 million plus votes cast, changes the state constitution to let voters in Broward and Miami-Dade counties decide whether to allow slots at seven South Florida race tracks and jai alai frontons. Any tax revenues on the slot machines would be dedicated to schools around the state.
No Casinos and Heather Veleanu, a Broward voter who is managing director of an animal rights group, filed a lawsuit late Friday in Tallahassee seeking a recount in Broward.
State Rep. Randy Johnson, a Central Florida Republican who chairs No Casinos, told reporters Monday that questions about the 78,000 votes remain unanswered.
About 94 percent of those 78,000 ballots, which weren't correctly counted on Election Day, favored the constitutional amendment. That approval margin exceeds Broward's countywide approval margin of 70 percent.
Because the amendment won by a margin of nearly 120,000 votes, throwing out the disputed Broward votes wouldn't change the outcome. But it could narrow enough to open the door to a statewide recount.
A spokeswoman for the Broward County Supervisor of Elections office did not return a phone call Monday seeking comment.
Lawyers for the slots campaign thought the lawsuit was "thin" and the campaign was "not terribly worried," said Earl Bender, manager of the slots campaign.
The case was assigned to Circuit Judge Nikki Ann Clark, who is also the judge for an earlier Amendment 4 lawsuit filed by Floridians Against Expanded Gambling, the U.S. Humane Society and Grey2K USA, a greyhound advocacy group that opposes dog racing.
That lawsuit, which is set for trial in late January, alleges that thousands of signatures submitted to get Amendment 4 on the ballot were forged. Bender has denied those allegations.
Johnson told reporters that the new lawsuit is just one front in the battle against gambling. Another key fight will be in the Legislature, which will write a law to implement Amendment 4. Among other things, the law will define "slot machines."
TALLAHASSEE -- Insisting there's something strange about a batch of 78,000 absentee votes that helped tip the scales for Amendment 4, gambling foes have filed a lawsuit seeking a recount in Broward County.
But the courtroom isn't the only battleground.
The Central Florida lawmaker who is leading No Casinos suggested Monday the Legislature could define "slot machines" as something less than the Las Vegas-type gambling machines that proponents of Amendment 4 want to bring to South Florida race tracks and jai alai frontons.
Amendment 4, which won passage by a margin of almost 51 percent of the 7 million plus votes cast, changes the state constitution to let voters in Broward and Miami-Dade counties decide whether to allow slots at seven South Florida race tracks and jai alai frontons. Any tax revenues on the slot machines would be dedicated to schools around the state.
No Casinos and Heather Veleanu, a Broward voter who is managing director of an animal rights group, filed a lawsuit late Friday in Tallahassee seeking a recount in Broward.
State Rep. Randy Johnson, a Central Florida Republican who chairs No Casinos, told reporters Monday that questions about the 78,000 votes remain unanswered.
About 94 percent of those 78,000 ballots, which weren't correctly counted on Election Day, favored the constitutional amendment. That approval margin exceeds Broward's countywide approval margin of 70 percent.
Because the amendment won by a margin of nearly 120,000 votes, throwing out the disputed Broward votes wouldn't change the outcome. But it could narrow enough to open the door to a statewide recount.
A spokeswoman for the Broward County Supervisor of Elections office did not return a phone call Monday seeking comment.
Lawyers for the slots campaign thought the lawsuit was "thin" and the campaign was "not terribly worried," said Earl Bender, manager of the slots campaign.
The case was assigned to Circuit Judge Nikki Ann Clark, who is also the judge for an earlier Amendment 4 lawsuit filed by Floridians Against Expanded Gambling, the U.S. Humane Society and Grey2K USA, a greyhound advocacy group that opposes dog racing.
That lawsuit, which is set for trial in late January, alleges that thousands of signatures submitted to get Amendment 4 on the ballot were forged. Bender has denied those allegations.
Johnson told reporters that the new lawsuit is just one front in the battle against gambling. Another key fight will be in the Legislature, which will write a law to implement Amendment 4. Among other things, the law will define "slot machines."
