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

To: calgal who wrote (87074)	11/25/2000 12:45:11 AM
From: calgal	Respond to of 769667

GOP Fights in Circuit Court For Inclusion of Military Ballots Friday, November 24, 2000 By Andrew Hard Republicans pleaded their case before Circuit Court Judge L. Ralph Smith Jr. in Tallahassee on Friday, in an effort to make 14 counties reconsider their rejection of overseas military ballots because of disputed postmarks. Two counties complied with Republican wishes Friday — Duval and Clay — and counted military ballots that had earlier been rejected, adding to George W. Bush's lead over Al Gore by 32 votes. Even so, Judge Smith announced that he was unlikely to force the other 12 counties to reconsider. "Without any proof that any of these canvassing boards have not complied with the law, this court is very hard-pressed to grant any relief," Judge Smith said. The military ballots were thrown out by local election canvassing boards for a variety of reasons, mainly because postmarks were missing or were too late to meet the state deadline of Nov. 7. Other reasons for nullification included smudged postmarks, domestic postmarking and signatures on ballots that did not match those on file at election-registration offices. Judge Smith commented from the bench after listening to lawyers for Bush argue that Democrats confused county boards on the standard to use in counting absentee ballots from soldiers abroad. The Bush attorneys also argued that federal rules mandate that overseas military ballots must be delivered free of postage and as rapidly as possible. They insisted that more evidence could be presented Saturday, and the judge withheld any final ruling. The GOP asked Judge Smith to order elections officials to reconsider about 500 disqualified ballots according to estimates by the Associated Press, although estimates by both campaigns place that number at closer to 800. The earlier count of absentee military ballots favored George W. Bush, with 1,380 going for the Texas governor and 750 his rival, Vice President Al Gore. The Texas governor currently officially leads Gore in Florida by 930 votes. Unofficial tallies factoring in continuing hand recounts from largely Democratic Broward and Palm Beach counties narrow the margin to about 700. 'No Gore People in This Courtroom' The Republicans hope to convince Judge Smith to order the canvassing boards to include the military ballots in their amended totals prior to the Sunday 5 p.m. recount deadline ordered by the Florida Supreme Court After that deadline passes, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris is expected to certify the state totals. Having heard oral arguments Friday afternoon, Judge Smith said he would go home Friday evening, look over all the information, and possibly offer his ruling as early as Saturday. Judge Smith — a Democrat — has some experience presiding over election matters. In 1994, he ruled for a new election in a statehouse race after a Republican complained about ballot irregularities. Bush campaign lawyers said no attorneys for Gore were offering any arguments against including disputed military ballots, because they would be ashamed to insist that American soldiers' votes should be thrown out altogether. "There were no Gore people in this courtroom," said Bush campaign attorney Fred Bartlit. "Nobody wants to come to court and make any argument saying that military people's ballots shouldn't be counted. "Instead of coming to court and standing up and making their points — there's armies of Gore lawyers right now in all of these precincts, all of the counties — arguing that the very kinds of ballots that are now being accepted, ought to be rejected." The Republican-appointed director of state elections said earlier this week the state cannot legally count the previously rejected ballots. But with hand recounts underway elsewhere, the Bush campaign took the position that these new Bush votes would be valid. The military ballots issue has been politically volatile, with Republicans accusing Democrats of trying to deny votes to soldiers abroad, a claim prominent Democrats have sought to deflect. "If they didn't have a postmark but were signed and dated, we believe they should be counted," Gore campaign spokesman Doug Hattaway said prior to the hearing. But Tucker said Democrats in Florida are still filing protests to challenge those county boards that are now counting some of the previously discarded overseas ballots. "Clearly they're saying one thing and doing another," she told reporters. Despite Judge's Reluctance, Many Counties Agree to Reconsider Lawyers for other canvassing boards in other counties said those boards planned to meet again to reconsider military ballots — as Clay and Duval had already done. The canvassing board in Clay County decided to count 14 of 17 overseas ballots that it had earlier not certified. Bush got 13 votes, while Democrat Gore received one vote. The canvassing board in Duval County — the site of a major military base — struck a deal with Republicans under which the GOP dropped the county from the lawsuit and the county counted 76 of 81 overseas ballots that had been rejected. Bush got 44 of the votes, Gore got 24 and eight ballots were disqualified because the voter either picked more than one candidate or made no presidential selection. Three other counties agreed to meet and reconsider their nullification of military absentee ballots, Bush spokeswoman Mindy Tucker told Reuters. According to Tucker, both Nassau and Bay counties are considering a review. Officials in Okaloosa county are much more obstinant about considering their previous decision, despite Bartlit's urging the judge "that another look be taken." Attorney for the county's election supervisor Mike Chesser insisted that the judge should deny the request. "In Okaloosa County, all the votes that could be counted were counted," Chesser said, according to Reuters. "We think we have done everything that we were required to do." Another four county canvassing boards have scheduled meetings on the matter for this weekend, Reuters reported — Collier County on Saturday and Escambia, Leon and Santa Rosa counties on Sunday. — Fox News' Brett Baier and the Associated Press contributed to this report foxnews.com