Bush Widens Lead in Florida After Absentee Ballots Are Added.
Tallahassee, Florida, Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Texas Governor
George W. Bush has widened his lead over Vice President Al Gore to
927 votes in Florida, according to an unofficial tally by the
Associated Press.
Bush tripled his earlier lead of 300 votes by winning about
65 percent of the overseas absentee ballots counted yesterday,
according to the AP tally that was based on results from 66 of the
state's 67 counties. The Florida state elections commission plans
to release an official count for the state later today.
The tally doesn't include changes from manual recounts under
way in three counties. The Florida Supreme Court has yet to rule
on whether they should be included.
At stake are Florida's 25 electoral votes and the U.S.
presidency. Counts from the other 49 states give Gore 267
electoral votes to Bush's 246, with 270 needed to win the White
House. Gore leads in the popular vote by more than 200,000 votes,
though that has no direct bearing on the outcome.
Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris had planned to
certify the state's results today, which would have given Bush the
victory. Last night, however, the Florida Supreme Court issued an
order barring her from doing so until it determines whether the
manual recounts of ballots should be considered in the count, even
though they weren't completed by the Tuesday deadline.
Hearing Monday
The Florida Supreme Court set a hearing for Monday afternoon
and said the hand counts can continue in the meantime. Democrats
hope that if the hand-counted results show Gore pulling ahead, the
political pressure to include them will be overwhelming.
``It would be very hard for the secretary of state to call
the election for George Bush if everyone knows Al Gore has more
votes,'' said Gore spokesman Doug Hattaway.
Ballots are being examined and recounted in Broward, Palm
Beach, and Miami-Dade counties. In Broward, Gore had a net gain of
48 votes after 22 percent of the precincts were counted.
Palm Beach County officials said they had counted about 10
percent of 463,000 ballots, completing 88 of 531 precincts. The
canvassing board, however, had finished reviewing challenged
ballots in only four precincts, with Bush gaining four votes.
Miami-Dade County is just beginning its hand count.
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll found 56 percent favor
including the results of the recounts in the final tally, with 43
percent wanting them excluded. The survey also suggests public
patience may be running out: 57 percent said it's more important
to determine within a week who won the election, and 40 percent
said it's more important to wait until court cases play out.
New Controversy
The absentee ballot count added another controversy to the 10-
day old drama in Florida. About half the absentee ballots were
thrown out because of challenges from Democratic and Republican
party officials. Some were disqualified because they were
postmarked after the Nov. 7 Election Day, while others lacked
signatures of voters or witnesses.
``We can't agree or get along on anything,'' said Kelvin
Wells, a Republican attorney and chairman of the Bush campaign in
Okaloosa County.
The Florida Supreme Court Justices, all appointees of
Democratic governors, will review a decision by Circuit Judge
Terry P. Lewis, a Democrat, who said that Harris, a Republican,
``exercised her reasoned judgment'' in refusing to accept late
recounts under a law that gives her ``broad discretionary
authority to accept or reject late-filed returns.''
James A. Baker, a Bush adviser, said the Supreme Court's
action was ``designed to maintain the status quo.''
Joseph P. Klock Jr., a lawyer representing Harris, said he
was ``surprised by the timing'' of the Supreme Court's ruling
``because they were operating very cautiously during the week.''
--Rob Wells and Glen Justice in Tallahassee and James Rowley in
Washington with reporting by Greg Stohr, Laura Litvan and William
Roberts in Washington, Susan Decker in Palm Beach and Anna Marie
Stolley in Broward County, through the Washington newsroom/mmw/ba
Story illustration: To check the Web site of the Florida Supreme
Court, go to flcourts.org
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