This from the Miami Herald….

A Leon County judge today shot down a request by Democratic congressional candidate Christine Jennings to access the secret software that runs electronic voting machines that were used in Sarasota County.

The decision deals a serious blow to Jennings’ effort to contest the House District 13 election she barely lost last month to Republican Vern Buchanan.

House Democrats also said today that they will not take any action to block Buchanan from assuming the Southwest Florida seat when Congress reconvenes next week.

Jennings has alleged that the machines made by ES&S, which also manufactured the voting machines used in South Florida, had malfunctioned. Buchanan won by less than 400 votes, but more than 18,000 voters in Sarasota County did not make a choice in the race to succeed Rep. Katherine Harris.

Post-election tests and audits have shown no machine malfunction, but in her lawsuit contesting the results, Jennings asked for the right to have outside experts look at the ”source code” or software used by ES&S, which is a trade secret.

A computer expert for Jennings said it was statistically unlikely that nearly 13 percent of Sarasota County voters would have skipped the heated congressional election.

Leon Circuit Judge William Gary told Jennings no, saying that the experts utilized by her lawyers had engaged in ”speculation” and ”conjecture” and were not “supported by credible evidence.”