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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (75937)	11/15/2000 2:49:44 PM
From: ColtonGang	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 769670

Latest news as of 2:40PM US presidency drama moves to Florida Supreme Court -- 2:40 PM EST By Paul Simao TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Nov 15 (Reuters) - The tortuous process of deciding the next president of the United States reached the Florida Supreme Court for the first time on Wednesday in a critical dispute over manual recounts in Florida which Democrats believe could deliver the White House to Al Gore. Florida's top election official, a prominent Republican, asked the state supreme court to suspend hand recounts while Democrat-leaning Palm Beach County, at the center of the electoral firestorm, asked the same court to rule if a hand count they suspended earlier in the day was legal. The Gore camp said it will urge the Supreme Court to move swiftly on the issue of recounts, accusing Florida's Secretary of State Katherine Harris of trying to delay the vote result, while the Bush camp said it will join the Florida suit. With the hand count in question in several Democrat-leaning Florida counties, absentee overseas ballots due in by Friday and a blizzard of lawsuits, it could be days before the final result is known in Florida, where Republican George W. Bush currently holds a razor-thin lead of 300 votes. Palm Beach County said it would meet a 2 p.m. (1900 GMT) deadline set by Harris, for counties wanting to hold a recount to present their case to her. A judge upheld a Tuesday deadline for counties to return official vote counts but gave Harris discretion over whether or not to accept late recounts. Eight days after the Nov. 7 election, the nation is anxiously following the fast-moving drama in Florida where a mandatory recount was ordered because the Bush win was so narrow. Whichever candidate wins the Sunshine State's 25 electoral college votes will become the 43rd U.S. president. LEGAL QUAGMIRE OVER CRUCIAL HAND RECOUNTS In her application to the supreme court, Harris asked the justices to order Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward counties to end manual recounts until the courts reach a final decision as to whether election results certified by all of Florida's counties on Tuesday can be amended. While Palm Beach suspended its hand recount on Wednesday, Broward voted to start its own hand count. Miami-Dade, Florida's most populous county, decided on Tuesday not to hold a full recount but this decision could be challenged by the Democrats. "As in Broward County, the canvassing board in Dade got bad information from the secretary of state saying they couldn't do a hand count unless the machines malfunctioned and that's not true," said Gore spokesman Doug Hattaway, who has accused Harris of sowing confusion. "So we believe if they get clarity they will vote to move forward...We may take legal action to do that," he said. In her petition, Harris appeared to seek to harness the frenzy of legal action which has erupted in Florida appealing to the supreme court to bring the suits under one roof. Citing at least 11 lawsuits filed in state courts, three more in federal courts and the likelihood of "a multitude of additional lawsuits" being filed, Harris said the Supreme Court needed to establish jurisdiction over the electoral process. "The multiplicity of actions also creates the spectacle of the judicial system in Florida running in myriad directions, all while the citizens of Florida and the nation await the final tally of votes to determine who will be the next president of the United States," the petition said. Gore's campaign accused Harris of creating "legal murkiness" and blocking the presidential vote-counting process through her petition. "If you look at the situation, she's created most of the legal murkiness and created all the problems for the local (election) boards. If she wanted to simplify things she should stop that and let the counts go forward without further delays," Hattaway said. LEGAL WRANGLING VERGES ON THE BIZARRE In addition to the recount issue, Democrats and their supporters say thousands of votes meant for Gore were wasted because of confusing ballot sheets that led some people to vote mistakenly for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan and others to double-punch their ballot sheets and invalidate them. Judge Jorge Labarga on Wednesday ruled on a motion brought by local Democrats on "dimple" ballots. In the arcane terminology of ballot-counting that is fast becoming familiar to Americans waiting to know who their next president will be, "dimples" are indentations made in ballot sheets -- where holes have not been fully punched out. The motion argued that such "dimples" should be counted as a vote. The judge said such markings should not necessarily be ruled out, but added it was up to the county Canvassing Board, supervising the elections, to count or discard them. Further down the line, the outcome of the election will also be decided by absentee overseas ballots which must be returned by Friday. USA Today on Wednesday quoted county election officials as saying they had already received 4,039 absentee ballots in 65 of Florida's 67 counties, a big increase from the 2,300 mail-in ballots counted in the 1996 presidential election. ((Miami newsroom 3050-374-5013))