In his initial suit, filed in March 2004 against Florida elections officials, Wexler argued that the 15 Florida counties that use touch-screen voting systems that lack the ability to create a paper voting receipt are violating the law. That's because without this paper receipt, voting officials can't conduct a recount in the case of a close election -- something mandated by Florida law.

The other counties use optical scan gear, which produces a verifiable paper trail. Wexler maintained in his suit that this means Florida is using unequal voting systems and is thus violating the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. However, last June, after a tangled legal process, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Wexler's lawsuit. Wexler, in a statement Tuesday, said he is "disappointed in the decision by the Supreme Court, [but] in fact the prospects for a paper trail have never been brighter. New legislation will be introduced in Congress requiring a paper receipt that allows for a manual recount in close elections.

"I have spoken to Speaker Pelosi on this issue and I believe she will ultimately back the proposal and it will pass the House. The act of voting is sacrosanct, and in 2007 the American people need not endure faulty and malfunctioning voting machines that are incapable of producing an accurate recount. The 18,000 missing votes in the Congressional election in Florida's 19th district -- where no paper receipts exist -- demonstrate that the status quo is unacceptable."

In a Sept. 25 statement made when he filed his appeal, Wexler explained the decision to push the case by noting that different U.S. Circuit Courts had issued varying opinions on the same matter.

"The Constitution guarantees equal protection to all voters," Wexler said at the time, "and I find it inexcusable that since the 2000 election, the voting rights of Floridians have been ignored. The unfortunate fact is that there is widespread disregard for voter rights in Florida and around the country and a disturbing failure by some elected officials to fully ensure the validity of their state's electoral process."