Florida appeals court refuses to
order Miami-Dade to recount
ballots
November 22, 2000
Web posted at: 9:41 p.m. EST (0241 GMT)
MIAMI, Florida (CNN)
-- Florida's 3rd
District Court of
Appeals tonight
denied a request by
Democratic officials
to force Miami-Dade
County officials to
resume a manual
recount of
presidential
ballots.
Democrat Al Gore's
campaign will appeal
that ruling to the
Florida Supreme
Court, said Jenny
Backus, a
spokeswoman for the
recount effort in
Florida.
Democrats had filed
a motion for a writ
of mandamus in the
appellate court,
seeking to force
local election
officials to resume
the hand count in
Miami-Dade, the
state's most
populous county and
a Democratic stronghold.
The canvassing board announced earlier in
the day it would stop the manual recount
because it could not possibly complete it
by the Sunday deadline.
The board's decision earlier Wednesday
was seen as a huge blow to Gore's bid to
win more Florida votes, and with them the
White House. It meant no recounts at all
would be added when Miami-Dade County
submits its final tally.
The board also voted unanimously to use
the original election returns compiled
immediately after the November 7
balloting. The stunning action reversed a
decision made just a few hours earlier
when the panel said it would limit the
county recount to 10,750 "undervotes" --
ballots on which no vote was registered
by counting machines.
Democrats blamed the setback on what they
called intimidation by Florida
Republicans who had furiously protested
the board's original decision to count
only undervotes. Republicans had said
that would unfairly benefit Gore.
The Miami development came shortly after
Bush filed two petitions with the U.S.
Supreme Court, accusing Florida's highest
court of overreaching its authority by
allowing the hand recounting of votes in
three counties to continue.
One of the actions deals directly with
Tuesday night's state Supreme Court
ruling in Tallahassee, Florida, a
decision the Gore campaign counted as a
victory. The other asks the U.S. Supreme
Court to bypass the 11th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals in Atlanta in a case
pending before it on the recounts.
For the U.S. Supreme
Court to consider the
case, the Bush campaign
must show that there's a
constitutional issue at
stake. To that end, the
petition argues that
because the manual
recounts are taking place
only in select counties
it violates the 14th
Amendment, which
guarantees that each
citizen's vote be counted
equally.
A senior Gore legal
adviser said he believes
the Supreme Court would
quickly dismiss any
appeal by Bush on grounds
the Florida recount fight
is a matter for state
courts.
"It is certainly
appropriate and within
their rights to appeal,"
said Gore campaign
adviser Ron Klain, who
said he thinks it is
unlikely the federal high
court would accept a case
involving a unanimous
ruling by a state court
on a state law.
Klain said, "I would be
interested in seeing when
the Supreme Court rules
against them if they will
criticize that court in
the same fashion in which
they attacked the Florida
Supreme Court."
Seven of the nine U.S.
Supreme Court justices
were appointed by
Republican presidents.
Ballot counters in both
Broward and Palm Beach
counties have gone home.
Broward County's
canvassing board
officials will be back at
9 a.m. Thanksgiving Day
to review some 2,000
challenged ballots. Palm
Beach County's canvassing
board will reconvene
Friday morning at 9 a.m.
to hear arguments from
both Democratic and
Republican attorneys on
how dimpled ballots
should be counted or not
counted.
Earlier Wednesday, the
11th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals set a Monday
noon deadline for
attorneys for the Bush
and Gore campaigns to
file briefs in a federal
lawsuit over Tuesday's
ruling by the Florida
Supreme Court.
The appeals court planned
to announce at 3 p.m.
Monday if it will hold
oral arguments on the
case. If it does decide
to go ahead with oral
arguments, they would be
held at 1:30 p.m. on
Wednesday.
Bush also went to court
in Florida, seeking to
force 13 counties to
count hundreds of
previously disqualified
overseas ballots, most
filed by the military. It
was the first time the
Republican had asked for
recounting after days of
trying to block requests
from Al Gore's side for
recounts.
For the two other Florida
counties still
recounting, the Florida
Supreme Court ruling,
issued Tuesday night, did
not resolve the debate
over thousands of
contested votes, such as
dimpled ballots, where
punch-card holes were not
pushed hard enough to
make the chad fall off. That leaves it up
to counties to decide a voter's
intention. (More on the ruling)
The state Supreme Court decision said
Florida Secretary of State Katherine
Harris must accept amended vote totals
until Sunday at 5 p.m. -- if her office
is open on Sunday -- or else Monday at 9
a.m.
Bush holds a 930-vote margin in official,
but uncertified returns.
Latest developments:
• In Washington, Gore and his wife,
Tipper, planned to make their traditional
pre-Thanksgiving Day visit to a local
food bank that feeds the homeless.
• With most of Broward County's recount
already completed, work today focused on
judging voter intent on contested
ballots. Election officials said work
would have to continue through the
Thanksgiving holiday weekend to make the
Sunday deadline.
In another ruling Wednesday, Circuit
Judge Jorge Labarga ruled that the Palm
Beach County Canvassing Board must
consider thousands of indented or dimpled
ballots in its hand recount and could not
automatically exclude them.
He stopped short of ordering local
officials to include those ballots in
their final tabulations if they could not
determine the voter's intent "fairly and
satisfactorily." But he described the
will of the people as "paramount" and
said officials should try to determine
the voter's intent when possible.
Gore attorneys hailed the decision
setting a voter intent standard for
judging ballots in Palm Beach county.
"We are very happy with Judge Labarga's
ruling," Klain said. "It articulates the
right legal standard. It is a step
towards a full, fair and accurate count
of votes here in Florida consistent with
the Supreme Court of Florida ruling of
last night that pointed the way toward an
intent of voter test."
He said the campaign would be watching
closely to make sure the county
implements the standard.
But Tucker Eskew, a Bush campaign aide,
said Republicans also liked the ruling
and would review it for further comment.
"There's much to be pleased with," Eskew
said.
• A crowd of Republican protesters yelled
for police to arrest Miami-Dade County
Democratic Chairman Joe Geller, accusing
him of walking out of the vote tabulation
room with a ballot in his pocket. Police
surrounded Geller and led him to safety.
Geller said he had merely been given a
"training ballot'' by officials.
Responding to the incident, Gore campaign
attorney Kendall Coffey accused
Republicans of "baseless accusations."
(More on the Miami recount)
• In Miami, Republican recount observers
protested briefly today as an attempt was
made to move recount operations to a new
room in the Miami-Dade County courthouse.
The new room is smaller than the area
that had been used up to now. As
Republican observers tried to enter the
new ballot-counting room, they were not
immediately allowed in, prompting some to
chant "Let us in." The Miami-Dade
canvassing board, which had ordered the
room change, later reversed itself,
meaning it will continue the recount in
the original room. There were no arrests.
The morning disruption occurred before
the board's decision to skip recounts
entirely.
• Palm Beach County continued vote
counting today and election officials
predicted they would meet the Sunday
deadline. Vote counters won't work on
Thanksgiving, a holiday in the United
States, but will resume their count at 9
a.m. Friday.
• Written arguments must be submitted to
a Florida appeals court today on the
question of whether Palm Beach County
should have a revote. The appeal follows
a ruling earlier this week from a state
judge who said he didn't have the
constitutional authority to order a
countywide revote. Voters who say they
found the county's ballot design
confusing back the revote effort.
• Florida's Republican-controlled
legislature, no w in adjournment, has
considered a special session to deal with
the election dispute but has taken no
action.
The possibility exists under federal law
that state lawmakers could appoint a Bush
slate for the Electoral College, even if
Gore wins the state.
Speaker of the Florida House Tom Feeney,
a Republican, said that he had consulted
legal experts about what the legislature
can do but he said he recommended that
everyone "stand down" during the
Thanksgiving holiday.
• Republicans on Tuesday pressed their
case to reverse the disqualification of
hundreds of absentee ballots from
overseas military personnel, a move that
could produce votes for Bush. Defense
Secretary William Cohen, a Republican
himself, was urged to ensure that ballots
sent in by military personnel overseas
were counted in the presidential
election. ( More on the military ballot
controversy)
• Sen. Bob Kerrey, a veteran of the
Vietnam War, Tuesday called Republicans
"irresponsible" for alleging that the
Gore campaign is trying to keep military
ballots from going into the Bush column.
"If you have a legal case, bring it,"
Kerrey challenged Republicans. (More on
recount reactions)
What's at stake
Gore narrowly leads in the nationwide
popular vote and holds a slight edge over
Bush in the all-important Electoral
College tally. But neither candidate will
reach the required 270 electoral votes to
be declared the nation's 43rd president
without Florida's 25 electors. |
