Florida Again?!?

Since 2000 Florida has served almost as a metaphor for democracy gone bad. Now the Christian Science Monitor reports that they're at it again. While it is hard to maintain, in the wake of sweeping Republican defeats and the at least temporary rise of the Democratic party (who won this past election cycle not so much for anything they have done or promised to do, but simply because the Republicans have been so bad that anyone could be reasonably expected to do better, but that's another story) that Karl Rove is an evil genius in league with the devil and the state of Florida to rig elections, it is difficult to ignore this stark fact:

In Sarasota, FL, 18,000 ballots, roughly 13% of the total, recorded no vote in the 13th District Congressional race, a race "won" by Republican Vern Buchanon by a mere 369 votes over Democrat Christine Jennings, who not surprisingly still refuses to concede defeat despite two recounts. Why won't she concede defeat? Because, along with the improbable result (13% of voters really don't care who represents them in the U.S. House of Representative?!?) there is no paper trail with the machines which produced this improbable result. There is, in other words, no way to, independently of the machines which have produced such an aberation, confirm the election result.

Hmmm...

I don't like to toss out reckless conspiracy theories, but just what the hell is going on in Florida, anyway? They can't get a presidential election right, they can't get a congressional election right, and somehow, despite being behind the University of Michigan for the entire season (including after Michigan's last game) their University of Florida Gators football team sweeps into the BCS title game at the last possible moment!