Guide to the Florida Election Controversy
What happened in Florida?
The state's 6 million voters split almost evenly between Vice President Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush. The vote was so close that it triggered an automatic machine recount under Florida law, which confirmed a slight lead for Bush.
Controversy has since raged over many aspects of the Florida vote. Palm Beach County used a two-sided "butterfly" ballot that may have led some voters to accidentally choose Reform Party Candidate Patrick J. Buchanan instead of Gore, or to have their vote invalidated because they voted for Gore and Buchanan.
In addition, a high percentage of late-arriving overseas absentee ballots were invalidated, leading to Republican charges that Democrats were attempting to exclude military votes that would have gone in greater numbers to Bush.
Meanwhile, the Gore campaign requested manual recounts of three Democratic counties – Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade – to review the machine-tabulated results there. Palm Beach and Broward have been conducting ballot-by-ballot reviews of the results. Miami-Dade has called one off, saying it could not be done in time for a 5 p.m. Sunday deadline set by the Florida Supreme Court.
What does Florida law say about hand recounts and what is the disagreement between Bush and Gore?
Florida law allows a candidate to request a manual recount of ballots. The three-member election canvassing board in each county has the power to decide whether to do the recount. The board members start with three precincts, or 1 percent of the ballots. Then, if the initial results indicate "an error in the vote tabulation which could affect the outcome of the election," the county canvassing board then moves to a county-wide review.
At first, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris said she would not accept the results of such recounts and told the counties to submit their final tallies a week after the election. But the state Supreme Court ruled that the recounts were allowed and required Harris to accept any results submitted by 5 p.m. Sunday.
Republicans said that was an outrageous rewriting of Florida election law. Democrats said the court tried to harmonize two conflicting parts of Florida law, one allowing for hand recounts and the other setting a one week deadline for reporting results to Harris.
What is the controversy over how the recounts are being conducted?
The Florida law doesn't tell election officials exactly how to consider ballots that are imperfectly punched – for example, with hanging or "dimpled" chads, the rectangular squares that are supposed to be completely detached. The counties are using differing and sometimes changing standards for considering those ballots.
Republicans are arguing that the boards are counting too many ambiguous ballots as votes for Gore. Democrats contend that the important thing is to ensure, as the Florida Supreme Court said, that the will of the voters is ascertained as nearly as possible.
How do these recounts work?
Two-member counting teams, with observers from each party present, go through the ballots and set aside the "questionable" ones. Those are reviewed by the three-member county canvassing board, composed of the supervisor of elections, the chair of the board of county commissioners, and a county court judge who acts as chair. In Palm Beach, all three are Democrats. In Broward, they are split 2 to 1 for the Democrats.
What happens Sunday?
The deadline for counties to submit their final vote tallies is 5 p.m. After that, Secretary of State Harris is expected to certify the winner of the state's 25 electoral votes.
However, that won't be the end of the matter. Gore's lawyers have said he will contest the election results under Florida law, which allows for court review if there is evidence that "a person other than the successful candidate was the person duly nominated or elected to the office in question." If Gore is certified as the winner, Bush is likely to file a similar claim.
In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court announced Friday that it will grant Bush's request to review the Florida Supreme Court ruling that manual recounts can be included in the final tallies. It said it will hear oral argument in the case Dec. 1.
What is the U.S. Supreme Court case about?
Normally, the U.S. Supreme Court does not get involved in questions involving a state supreme court's interpretation of a state law, in this case Florida election law. However, both the Constitution and a federal law come into play in this situation as well. Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution provides that each state is to select its members of the electoral college "in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct." Section 5 of Title III of the United States Code says a state's electors shall be chosen in accordance with "laws enacted prior to" Election Day.
Bush's lawyers claim that the Florida Supreme Court's ruling usurped the state Legislature's constitutional power to determine how the state's electors should be selected. They also say the court improperly created a new election rule when it set a new deadline for certifying the election not contained in the existing state law.
Gore's lawyers argue that the Florida high court was engaging in the normal judicial process of interpreting a state law.
How does a contest work?
State law provides broad grounds for contesting election results, including the "rejection of a number of legal votes sufficient to change or place in doubt the results of the election."
The law gives the circuit court broad discretion in such a case, saying the judge "may fashion such orders as he or she deems necessary to ensure that each allegation in the complaint is investigated, examined or checked, to prevent or correct any alleged wrong, and to provide any relief appropriate under such circumstances."
If Bush is certified as the winner tonight and Gore mounts a contest, as he has said he plans, it could include Miami-Dade's refusal to conduct the full manual recount, a challenge to the standards used by other county officials in determining when to include "dimpled" chads, and potentially a claim about the Palm Beach butterfly ballot.
Bush could presumably challenge the exclusion of a number of overseas absentee military ballots that would have gone to him, as well as the recount procedures that he has criticized.
What is the Florida Legislature's role?
As noted earlier, the Constitution grants state legislatures the power to set the rules for picking members of the electoral college. The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature has indicated it plans to join in the U.S. Supreme Court case, bolstering Bush's argument that the Florida justices intruded on the Legislature's territory.
In addition, the Legislature is considering whether it could step in to choose a slate of electors itself or to take other steps, especially if electors are not chosen by the Dec. 12 deadline. Section 2 of Title 3 of the United States Code says that "whenever any State . . . has failed to make a choice" of electors, then the legislature can settle the issue itself "in such a manner" as it chooses. That would require the legislature to convene a special session, something that requires a three-fifths vote or the agreement of both the House and Senate leaders.
What are the electoral college deadlines, and what could happen after that?
The electors are supposed to be chosen by Dec. 12. The electoral college is to meet in the states Dec. 18 to cast its votes. Congress then meets Jan. 5, ordinarily a pro forma session that merely ratifies the results. However, this is not a normal year.
A joint session of Congress is scheduled for Jan. 5 to count the votes of the electoral college. If there were continuing controversy over Florida's presidential choice, senators and House members could challenge and possibly invalidate the electoral votes, thus throwing the election into the House. Such challenges, however, could only succeed if a majority in each chamber agrees.
If neither candidate wins a majority of the electoral votes, the Constitution calls for the presidential election to be taken up by the House of Representatives. It's not entirely clear whether that majority means 270 electoral votes – the majority of all electors – or simply a majority of those whose credentials have been certified by the states and accepted by Congress.
If the election goes to the House, it selects the president by majority vote, with each state delegation having one vote. Twenty-eight delegations are controlled by Republicans.
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