Judge Hints At Extension For Recount
_____ Update _____
Palm Beach Co. Delays Hand Recount
Associated Press at 8:29 AM
Amid the swirl of legal maneuvers, officials in Palm Beach County voted 2-1 on Tuesday to delay their manual recount until they can clarify whether they have the legal authority to proceed.
The county, a Democratic stronghold, had planned to count, by hand about 425,000 ballots – exactly one week after voters first complained they were confused by their ballots.
"The opinion we have received is that this manual recount is not authorized by Florida statutes. It is my understanding that an advisory opinion is in fact binding on this board," said Judge Charles Burton.
Burton had opposed the canvassing commission's earlier decision to order a hand count.
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 14, 2000; Page A01
TALLAHASSEE, Nov. 13 –– A state judge today expressed doubts about the Florida secretary of state's contention that local election officials must deliver their final results by 5 p.m. Tuesday, indicating that he may grant them more time to conduct their ballot-by-ballot recounts.
Volusia County, where election workers are racing to examine 184,000 ballots, filed the lawsuit in an effort to overturn the Tuesday deadline. It was joined by Palm Beach County, the Gore campaign and the Florida Democratic Party.
The Bush campaign entered the case on the side of the Florida government and went one step further, asking the judge to stop manual recount results from being included in the final statewide totals, even if they are completed before the deadline. But Leon County Circuit Court Judge Terry P. Lewis repeatedly questioned the conclusion of Secretary of State Katherine Harris that state law gave her no flexibility in applying the one-week deadline.
Lewis noted that Harris intends to certify the results available by Tuesday's deadline but cannot declare a final winner until the remaining absentee ballots are counted on Friday or Saturday.
"So you do a certification and you don't say who the winner is?" asked Lewis. "What's the good of doing a certification ahead of time?"
State lawyer Deborah Kearney, seemingly caught off guard, said state election law requires that results be certified seven days after a vote and was not intended "to allow recounts to go on and on and on." She asked, "Where's the ending of it?"
Lawyers for Volusia County, which has nearly completed its hand count, asked Lewis to extend the deadline until Saturday. Dexter Douglas, representing Gore, asked for an extension until Nov. 21. A third lawyer said the counting should end "when the court thinks it should end."
At issue are several sections of Florida's election law that seem in conflict. In one section setting out the deadline for officially certifying election returns, the law says county returns must be filed by 5 p.m. of the seventh day, and--if they are not--the missing results "shall be ignored." But another section of the law, enacted later, uses more permissive language, saying that if county boards fail to file their results, those returns "may be ignored."
In court, Lewis asked Kearney about the difference in phrasing.
"It doesn't mean it has to be ignored?" Lewis asked her.
"That's right," Kearney replied.
A separate part of the law sets out the laborious procedure for requesting and conducting a hand recount, including first conducting a test of at least three precincts and then, if needed, redoing the full county. But that section does not specify how conducting the recount fits into the deadline for certifying the vote. Harris said her study of state election law tells her she has no discretion over the certification deadline except in cases of natural disaster. An elected Republican active in the Bush presidential campaign, Harris said in a statement that the electoral process is a balance between a voter's right to be heard and the public's right to a "clear, final result within a reasonable time."
The judge wondered aloud about the schedule, set out in the election law, that gives a disappointed candidate 72 hours after polls close to request an automatic recount. That recount, as in this case, can trigger reviews, preliminary recounts and a series of options that can easily take more than a week to play out.
"How could you ever envision a large county having a manual recount if anyone asks for it?" Lewis asked at one point.
Lawyers for the state and the Bush campaign argued that Lewis would be wrong to intervene in a local question. At the same time, they said, the four counties lack the authority to grant a manual recount because the alleged irregularities in the vote were not serious enough to warrant such a review. They also contended that counting four counties out of 67 in Florida would be unfair.
The lawyers also said the election laws clearly reflect the legislature's desire to bring elections to a timely conclusion. "The public interest is in resolution," said John Sjostrom, a private lawyer retained by Harris's office.
Democrats contended that the election laws provide room for a manual recount and said that certifying the election results without waiting for the manual vote counts would "cut everybody off at the knees," as Gore lawyer Douglas put it.
"It is not only unjust, but it flies in the face of these cases. It flies in the face of common sense," said Douglas. |
