SARASOTA -- Republican Vernon Buchanan's lead stood at 400 votes as the race's second recount ended Friday at a secure warehouse just outside of town.

Buchanan's battle with Democrat Christine Jennings for the 13th District Congressional seat next moved to the Supervisor of Elections office at 2001 Adams Lane for a count of overseas military ballots. The count was to be completed by 5 p.m. Saturday.

Veterans Lee Kichen and Rich Swier were on hand to observe the count. Swier represented the Sarasota County Veterans Commission, which comprises "over 50 military, veterans and patriotic organizations," he said. "We're here to make sure the military ballots get counted and if something comes up that needs a judgment, that we err on the side of counting the ballot, versus not counting it."

Swier explained there was concern in his ranks about an "effort to get some ballots disqualified. We haven't seen that, but we wanted to make sure that (Supervisor of Elections) Kathy Dent and all the good people certifying the count are erring on the side of counting the vote."

Kichen said, "We want to protect the vote, the franchise of those men and women that are in harm's way today. It's never been more critical, because these kids are voting under some very arduous circumstances. Literally under fire. We also have hospitalized service members that have suffered traumatic wounds where their signature will not be the same (now) on their application as it was before they were wounded."

In the meantime, the Buchanan campaign continued to proclaim victory.

"The votes have been counted, recounted and counted again and each time, I have received a majority of the votes," said Buchanan through a press release handed out at the military count. "It is time now for Christine Jennings to put the best interests of this district first and send home all the liberal special interest groups who hope to use this election to advance their own agenda."

Buchanan's people hope to have his election certified by the state on Monday.

The Jennings camp, however, has other ideas.

In a press release of their own, they called on Buchanan "to help restore voter confidence by participating in the state-ordered audit of Sarasota County's voting system. The Buchanan campaign has delayed hiring experts in a deliberate effort to slow down the process, forcing Circuit Judge Deno Economou to order the Buchanan campaign to retain an expert by Monday in order to participate in negotiations over a fair and transparent process for the audit."

According to David Kochman, Jennings' communications director, "We're hopeful Buchanan's people share the concerns of voters and will aid in seeking answers to what went wrong in causing over 18,000 votes to go uncounted. We're looking for a fair independent audit of the voting system to see what went wrong to cause that system to fail the people of Sarasota."

Jeff Sadosky, communications director for the Republican Party of Florida, said the second recount offered further proof that Buchanan had enough votes to win.

"State law is in place for this very option," Sadosky said. "To go through and make sure nothing was missed. It's been proven again. The results have still borne the fact that Vern was victorious."

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