Florida County to Sue for Extension of Vote Recount Deadline
By Stephen Cohen
Deland, Florida, Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Election officials in Volusia County voted to sue the state for an extension of the Tuesday deadline for certifying ballot recounts in the presidential election between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore.
The county's three-member canvassing board voted unanimously to ask the county's attorney to file a civil action seeking the extension after determining they could not meet the state-mandated 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline to finish the hand recount, one of four requested by the Gore campaign.
``It's looking like it's going to be close, and it may be impossible'' to finish the recount and have them in the state capital of Tallahassee by the deadline, the board's chairman, Michael McDermott, said.
The U.S. presidency is at stake in Florida's recount of ballots cast in the Nov. 7 election. Officials have already recounted the vote by machine, finding that Bush had 327 votes more than Gore out of about 6 million that were cast statewide, according to an unofficial tally by the Associated Press.
Gore and Bush largely split the Electoral College votes from the other 49 U.S. states and whoever wins Florida's 25 votes will almost certainly win the election.
The decision in Volusia County, which Gore carried 97,069 votes to Bush's 82,213, followed by about 12 hours a decision by election officials in Palm Beach County to hand count all its ballots. The Gore campaign had asked for hand recounts in four counties where Democratic support was heaviest: Palm Beach, Volusai, Broward, and Miami-Dade.
Bush Files Suit
On Saturday, representatives of Bush filed suit in federal court to stop the hand count. A hearing on the suit is scheduled for Monday.
Former Secretary of State James A. Baker, an adviser to Bush, said the lawsuit was filed to protect the integrity of the Nov. 7 vote. ``We have no other choice,'' Baker said. ``The manual vote count sought by the Gore campaign would not be more accurate than an automated count.''
On CBS's Face the Nation program, Baker also said a hand recount ``gives rise to so many opportunities for human error and indeed even mischief.''
Gore campaign chairman William Daley, on the same program, countered by saying, ``This will be the most open and observed hand count in the history of America. There no question it will be done in a quick, open and fair way.''
U.S. District Court Judge Donald Middlebrooks, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, set a hearing for 9:30 a.m. on Monday, according to Bruce Rogow, a lawyer representing one of those named in the suit, Palm Beach election supervisor Theresa LePore.
Bush, meeting briefly with reporters outside his home in Crawford, Texas, on Saturday said it was time for the process to end. ``It would be good for this country to have this election over with, so that the new administration can do the people's business.''
Gore requested the hand count after learning that tens of thousands of Florida ballots were rejected by vote-counting machines. In a hand count, those ballots are examined and if the voter's intent is clear, they are added to the total.
Baker said that practice is arbitrary and unfair. ``Machines are neither Republicans nor Democrats and therefore can be neither consciously or unconsciously biased,'' Baker said.
``If this new selective recounting process proceeds, the votes in some counties will be counted in a completely different and standard-less manner, from votes in the remaining counties,'' Baker said. ``At this point, a changed result would not be the most accurate result -- simply the most recent result.''
`Irreparable Injury'
The suit alleges that a recount by hand would ``inflict irreparable injury'' to voters ``by arbitrarily denying full effect to the votes that they cast on Nov. 7.''
Because the counties involved lean towards Democrats, the hand count is likely to increase Gore's chances of winning Florida, and with it the presidency, political analysts said. ``It may very well boost Gore's totals a little bit,'' said Howard Gold, an associate professor of government at Smith College.
If the hand count does give the lead to Gore, the Bush campaign could request hand counts in predominantly Republican counties.
In addition to the recount, there are an estimated 5,000 to 14,000 mail-in ballots that haven't yet been counted from Florida residents living abroad. Bush campaign officials say Bush likely will win a majority of those votes, based on counts from previous elections.
The deadline for the absentee ballots is Nov. 17, and it's unlikely the election will be resolved before then, Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman told CBS News.
Baker said Bush won the Florida count and the recount, and it was time for Gore to accept that.
Poll Results
In a poll taken Nov. 10 and published today by Time magazine and CNN, 27 percent of Americans said Gore should concede while 39 percent said he should wait for court decisions on contested ballots. Another 27 percent said Gore should concede without going to court if he loses the official Florida recount. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Bush met today with his running mate, Dick Cheney, and with Andrew Card to plan a new administration. Card, a Republican National Committee official, is in line to be Bush's chief of staff. Card served as Transportation secretary under President George Bush, father of George W. Bush.
``The people of America understand there's a very good chance that Dick and I will be vice president and president,'' Bush said. ``When that happens, we need to be prepared. It's an awesome responsibility.''
In Washington, President Clinton urged Americans to ``be patient'' while the vote-tallying process continues. ``The events unfolding in Florida are not a sign of the division of our nation, but of the vitality of our debate, which will be resolved by the vibrancy of our Constitution and laws, Clinton said in his weekly radio address.
While Florida's 25 electoral votes hold the key to the election, the results in several other states are also close and may require a recount. The closest is in New Mexico, where Bush held a 17-vote lead following a recount.
Gore was projected the winner in Oregon, Iowa and Wisconsin with his margin of victory in all three states below 10,000. If all four of these states ended up in Bush's column, he could win the election without Florida. |
