ok, one last try.... although I am not a lawyer, I can read. And it looks like you're locked into reading the Texas law the same way the mainstream media is reporting it. You've taken one aspect of the law, and come to a conclusion, without considering the other elements of the law in their entirety.
The law clearly states' the preference applies only when (1) two or more parties are requesting the recount and (2) the parties requesting the recount note in their application for a recount pursuant to section 214.042-A difference in the type of recount requested.
The same statute also provides that "an electronic recount using a corrected program shall be conducted in preference to an electronic recount using the same program as the original count." Electronic counts with amended programs are always given preference to regular electronic counts.
In Section 214.042 of the election code the law states that an electronic recount be conducted by default unless the application for a recount specifically requests otherwise. Section 214.042 clause C notes "Unless a different counting method is requested, the ballots shall be counted electronically using the same program as the original count."
Cutting through all the legal terminology, What I believe the law is saying in plain language is this....
We prefer an electronic recount unless the parties disagree with that method. In that case, we will choose the manual recount, because, we don't want to pay for both a manual recount and an electronic recount. In other words, we recognized the two methods may differ in tabulation results. therefore, we first default to the electronic recount, then as a last resort shift to manual recount.
That is very different than saying we prefer manual recounts. And make no mistake, the media has been reporting that very thing for the better part of 3 weeks. Manual recounts are NOT preferred in Texas over electronic recounts. And George Bush did not sign a law stated as much.
Finally, in their brief with the FLSC, Gore lawyers were wrong when they said on page 54.
"What is more, by providing for manual recounts in close elections, Florida law (like Texas law, see Tex. Elec. Code Section 212.005(d) (“[a] manual recount shall be conducted in preference to an electronic recount”)), expresses a preference for manual counts over machine counts."
The Brief is here, and this quote is on page 54: flcourts.org
What more can I say to convince you Mr Palau? |
