ted, <The court didn't bother to order a statewide hand recount>
Why do suppose this is? Seems inconsistent with the lofty language on page 8:
Twenty-five years ago, this Court commented that the will of the people, not a hyper-technical reliance upon statutory provisions, should be our guiding principle...
...the principle that the will of the people is the paramount consideration.9
Seems to me that would best be served by allowing ALL counties to do hand recounts. Now, the supreme court was too smart to make their bias obvious. They didn't forbid new recount petitions per se.
But they did set a deadline of Sunday for completing any recounts. The deadline is totally arbitrary since there is nothing in Fla. low saying anything special about November 26, 2000.
The deadline is illegal and arbitrary. Florida law makes it obvious that, until the election is certified, any county board can start the process for recount. See the 'justices' own explanation of the law:
...(page 11) This request [by the county board to request a manual recount] must be filed with the Board [i.e., the State board] before the Board certifies the election results [last I heard, this has not been done] or within seventy-two hours after the election, whichever occurs later.13 Upon filing the written request for a manual recount, the canvassing board may authorize a manual recount.14 The decision whether to conduct a manual recount is vested in the sound discretion of the Board.15 If the canvassing board decides to authorize the manual recount,...
So, there is no justification in FLorida law for the Sunday deadline. It was obviously made short so that Republican counties would have no chance of doing a recount.
So much for the right to vote in Florida.
Petz |
