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Politics : Why is Gore Trying to Steal the Presidency? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sandintoes who wrote (2098)	11/23/2000 10:12:08 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 3887

Overseas Ballots Add to Bush Lead VIERA, Fla. - Hours after it was named in a lawsuit filed by George W. Bush, the mostly Republican Brevard County election canvassing board reversed itself and broke the seals on 20 disputed overseas ballots Wednesday night and recorded their votes. The result: an additional 14 votes for Bush and six for Al Gore, giving the Republican Texas governor a net gain of eight votes over the Democratic vice president in this hotly contested and closely monitored election. "I'm relieved," said Cynthia Handley, a Republican Party elector from Brevard who wanted to make sure all overseas military personnel got their vote recorded. "This is a step in the right direction." The job was completed without canvassing board member and County Commissioner Sue Carlson, who complained of heart palpitations and called paramedics to examine her. They took her to Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne for further tests after doing an electrocardiogram. "She indicated her desire that we go on," said County Judge David Silverman, chairman of the canvassing board. The canvassing board previously disqualified the ballots because they failed to meet specific state guidelines for being postmarked. But the canvassing board used a recent Florida Supreme Court decision emphasizing that election officials follow the spirit of the law to ensure that every vote is counted as its basis to accept the ballots. Silverman said it was appropriate to reconsider the ballots in the wake of the state high court ruling rather than wait for the outcome of the Bush lawsuit. "My impression of the lawsuit is it doesn't vary our responsibility," Silverman said. "Saying we'll wait would be abdicating our responsibility." Brevard was sucked into the legal storms gathering over the results of the presidential election in Florida on Wednesday afternoon, when George W. Bush asked a state court to force 13 counties with large military populations to count hundreds of previously disqualified overseas ballots. About 75,000 military veterans call Brevard home. Elections officials throughout the state rejected more than 1,500 overseas absentee ballots when they were counted last week because they lacked postmarks or had other problems. Many of those rejected ballots were from military personnel serving overseas. Bush joined the state Republican Party in filing a lawsuit seeking to validate the military ballots "even if they bear an illegible or smudged postmark, a late postmark, or lack a handwritten date." To be valid, the ballots must have been requested in writing 30 days before the election and the outer envelope had to have an overseas or military postmark no later than Nov. 7, or a postmark from an express delivery service that shows the envelope was sent no later than Election Day. The Brevard canvassing board had rejected 31 of 104 overseas ballots. Of those ruled valid, 54 went to Bush and 17 went to Gore. But on Wednesday, board members accepted 20 ballots that either had no postmarks on the envelopes or were postmarked after Election Day with no certainty the ballots were sent on time. Greg Eisenmenger, a lawyer for the Democratic Party, said the decision was a reasonable one, but he had concerns about the election board's criteria for accepting ballots. "It's our position that standards in terms of timeliness should not be subjective," Eisenmenger said. "Their actions were in keeping with the spirit of the Supreme Court, but to the extent a subjective standard was used, it's a concern and could be challenged." floridatoday.com