Court Upholds Fla. Vote Deadline
By Jackie Hallifax
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2000; 1:22 p.m. EST
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. –– A Florida judge ruled on Tuesday that officials
may cut off the vote recount in the state's fiercely contested presidential
election at 5 p.m. EST, handing a victory to George W. Bush and a
setback to Al Gore.
Judge Terry Lewis ruled that counties may file supplemental or corrected
totals after the deadline, and Secretary of State Katherine Harris may
consider them if she employs "proper exercise of discretion."
Democratic officials, who have initiated attempts to conduct manual
recounts in a few counties, said they would appeal the ruling, as did local
officials in Volusia County, where a recount was under way. No details
were immediately available on the details of the appeals.
In his ruling, Lewis said, "Just as the secretary of state cannot decide
ahead of time what late returns should or should not be ignored, it would
not be proper for me to do so by injunction.
"I can lawfully direct the secretary to properly exercise her discretion in
making a decision on the returns, but I cannot enjoin the secretary to
make a particular decision, nor can I rewrite the statute, which by its plain
meaning, mandates the filing of returns by the canvassing board by 5 p.m.
on Nov. 14.
The ruling by the Leon County circuit judge marked the latest turn in a
presidential election that remains unsettled one full week after the polls
closed.
Harris, citing state law, announced on Monday she would not accept any
county vote totals after 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Lawyers for Gore – who has pushed the recount effort – and some
counties appealed.
In his order, the judge said, "I find that the county canvassing boards must
certify and file what election returns they have by the statutory deadline of
5 p.m. of Nov. 14, 2000, with due notification to the secretary of state of
any pending manual recounts, and thereafter file supplemental or
corrective returns.
"The secretary of state may ignore such late-filed returns but may not do
so arbitrarily, rather only by the proper exercise of discretion after
consideration of all appropriate facts and circumstances."
The ruling came as a recount proceeded – in varying stages – in three
counties. Volusia was nearing an end to it recanvass, but a spokesman
said time beyond the deadline was needed.
The recount in Palm Beach County was on hold pending resolution of
conflicting legal advice.
Miami-Dade County officials said intended to begin a partial recount later
in the day.
Clay Roberts, director of the division of elections, issued an advisory
opinion Tuesday to Palm Beach County, saying it does not have a right to
conduct a hand recount of ballots.
"Unless the discrepancy between the number of votes determined by the
tabulation system and by the manual recount of four precincts is caused by
incorrect election parameters or software errors, the county canvassing
board is not authorized to manually recount ballots for the entire county,"
Roberts said.
Attorney General Robert Butterworth immediately issued a conflicting
opinion, saying the county has a right to hand count ballots.
"The (county) canvassing board has the authority to determine that the
voter's intention is clearly expressed," Butterworth said.
The division of elections is under the office of the Republican secretary of
state, who sent a letter to counties Monday saying each faced a 5 p.m.
Tuesday deadline to report results.
Harris and Butterworth are both members of the Florida Cabinet, which
also includes Gov. Jeb Bush, brother of George W. Bush. Each is elected
statewide with equal standing.
The conflict over the Palm Beach count was likely to be settled in court.
"We've got two opinions, and a judge needs to tell us how to proceed,"
said County Judge Charles Burton, canvassing board chairman in Palm
Beach County. A senior Gore strategist said the board's decision to delay
the recount would be challenged immediately in Circuit Court, along with
the Florida secretary of state's ruling on which that decision was based.
Palm Beach County is a Democratic stronghold where voters first
complained that they were confused by their ballots. Their outcry
unleashed a political tide that froze Florida's 25 electoral votes and left
Americans waiting to see who their 43rd president will be.
With the deadline fast approaching, judges in three Florida cities were
deciding the fate of recounted votes.
In Volusia County, where workers began hand counting 184,019 ballots
Sunday, officials said they would be unable to finish by 5 p.m. The county
was prepared to send partial results to the state.
On other legal fronts:
–The Democratic Party filed a motion Tuesday in Circuit Court arguing
that Broward County should be ordered to conduct a full hand count of its
588,000 ballots. The motion says the county canvassing board's decision
not to conduct such a recount was based on an erroneous opinion by
Harris, who said a manual recount can only be conducted if the board
finds a problem with the computer that counted the ballots.
–Democrats sued the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board on Monday
evening, challenging the board's method of reading the ballots. The party
wants "pregnant chads" – dimpled fragments not detached from the card –
counted as votes.
–In West Palm Beach, a judge considered the lawsuits of voters seeking a
new vote in their county. The voters argue the punch-card ballots they
were given on Election Day may have confused them enough to
mistakenly vote for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan when they
intended to vote for Gore.
"We intend to file litigation seeking judicial relief from this decision, which
we think was based on an erroneous legal decision sent down by the
secretary of state," Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Jenny
Backus said.
A federal judge who turned away Bush's initial effort to stop the
recounting said Monday the stakes couldn't be higher.
"I believe these are serious arguments. The question becomes who should
consider them," said U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks, who
declined Bush's request for emergency federal intervention and ruled the
issue was best left to local courts.
Republicans argue the manual recounting should be ended because the
process is prone to abuse and political bias. Democrats hope the recounts
will help Gore pick up enough votes to overcome Bush's narrow lead in
the state, which an informal Associated Press tally put at 388 votes.
With six of seven of Florida's Supreme Court justices appointed by
Democrats, Bush lawyers signaled their strategy was to play defense in the
state courts. The seventh was picked by Democrat Lawton Chiles and
seconded by Bush's brother, Jeb, the Florida governor.
© Copyright 2000 The Associated Press |
