>>Briefs filed in yet another challenge to absentee ballots
December 13, 2000
Web posted at: 5:13 PM EST (2213 GMT)
TALLAHASSEE, Florida (CNN) -- Attorneys for
Republican George W. Bush and Florida Secretary
of State Katherine Harris Wednesday afternoon
filed briefs with the Florida Supreme Court in yet
another case challenging the legitimacy of absentee
ballots in the Florida presidential election.
In this case, Cynthia McCauley, a voter from Bay
County in the Florida panhandle is alleging that
numerous "illegal votes" were cast by absentee
ballots when the voters could have gone to the
polls.
The case was dismissed at the district court level
on a motion from Harris and the Bush campaign.
Attorneys for Bush and Harris argued in their respective briefs Wednesday that
the circuit court's decision was supported by federal law and should be upheld.
"It cannot be the law that a technical error like the one alleged in this case should
be allowed to disenfranchise the thousands that voted via absentee ballots," Bush
attorneys said.
McCauley alleges that the trial court "misapprehends the nature and effect of
unqualified voters casting absentee ballots" and wrongly dismissed the case.
McCauley also alleges other election violations, among them that third parties
returned absentee ballots without legal authorization and that election officials did
not verify the identity of people returning absentee ballots as required by law.
But Harris' attorneys argued against that point.
"The alleged improper return of absentee ballots by third parties does not, in and
of itself, constitute a basis for invalidating all of the absentee ballots cast in Bay
County," wrote the attorneys for Harris.
McCauley alleges that the Florida Republican Party sent out a letter "from the
desk of Governor Jeb Bush" bearing the state seal and Bush's signature inviting
people to cast absentee ballots from "the comfort of your own home."
The solicitation made no mention of the legal requirements for casting an
absentee ballot, McCauley alleges, adding that "the mailing intentionally misled
recipients of the mailing by implying that absentee voting is an unconditional legal
right encouraged and validated by Governor Jeb Bush, himself."
As a result, said McCauley, voters who could have gone to the polls illegally cast
absentee ballots.
On November 7, George W. Bush received 38,637 votes in the Bay
County-Panama City area, 8,969 of those absentee ballots. <<
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