Wrong. This should clarify the status if recounts. What is in question is who will do the counts and will they be certified by the State of Florida. Looks to me as though the law clearly states anyone can recount as many times as they want. Funny though, ...the only two counties to attempt to circumvent the law are Democratic. I thought they wanted recounts!
Private inspection
expected
By PAIGE ST. JOHN
Tallahassee Democrat
One county at a time, a conservative political
watchdog group is quickly gaining legal access
to Florida's contested election ballots --
with the intention of doing its own count.
"We're assembling volunteers; we're getting
organized," said Larry Klayman, the chairman
of Washington-based Judicial Watch, which also
has an office in Miami.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Klayman said,
Judicial Watch had received permission from 32
of Florida's 67 counties, including
Miami-Dade, to review all ballots in the Nov.
7 election. Only two have said no. Leon County
has not yet responded.
Beginning with the most contested counties,
and the most contested ballots, Klayman
intends to launch his own independent hand
count. He wants to "find out what's going on"
and deliver a vote tally independent of
political gamesmanship.
"What we're doing is a call to action to get
volunteers -- we have 140 so far -- and hiring
a Big Eight accounting firm, and we're going
to count them," Klayman said. "We're very
skeptical of both the Democrats and the
Republicans."
Judicial Watch last weighed in against the
Clinton administration on behalf of
Republicans who claimed illegal FBI scrutiny.
It holds itself to be nonpartisan, and Klayman
said the organization has more in common with
Ralph Nader and the Green Party than with
Democrats or Republicans: "We're both
anti-establishment."
Getting access to the ballots is the easy
part.
Under Florida law, ballots, which do not
contain voter names, are public record. They
may only be touched by elections personnel,
but they can be viewed and copied by anyone.
The real hurdles are labor and money.
"My attorney sent their attorney a letter
saying they could have access, but there is a
reasonable special service charge," said
Beverly Hill, elections supervisor for Alachua
County.
Hill said Judicial Watch would have to pay the
wages of clerks assigned the special duty of
holding up each of the county's 86,000 ballots
one at a time for public viewing.
Undaunted, Klayman said he wants to start the
process by Thursday, focusing first on
controversial counties like Volusia, Broward
and Miami-Dade.
Volusia is one of the two counties, however,
to tell Klayman no. The other was Osceola.
"We were denied on the basis of getting
'immediate access,' which presumes that we can
get later access," Klayman said.
Counties that continue to deny access can
expect lawsuits, Klayman has promised.
Among the counties granting immediate access
is Miami-Dade. "Ballots are public records,"
wrote back county Elections Supervisor David
Leahy. "Please send a request as to when you
would like to inspect the ballots."
RESPONDING COUNTIES
Thirty-two counties have agreed to let
Judicial Watch review ballots:
Alachua, Bradford, Charlotte, Clay, Columbia,
Duval, Escambia, Flagler, Franklin, Gilchrist,
Gulf, Hendry, Hernando;
Hillsborough, Holmes, Jackson, Lee, Levy,
Madison, Manatee, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe,
Nassau, Orange, Pasco;
Pinellas, Putnam, St. Lucie, Santa Rosa,
Sumter, Union.
Two counties have denied "immediate access"
to the ballots:
Osceola, Volusia.
-- SOURCE: Judicial Watch |
