Judge Sets `Tough Standard' for Democrats in Trial
(Update1)
By James Rowley
Tallahassee, Florida, Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) -- A Florida judge hearing a lawsuit
challenging thousands of absentee ballots set a ``tough standard'' for Democrats
to prove their case, an election- law expert said.
Circuit Judge Nikki Ann Clark said Democrats must show that Republicans
undermined the ``sanctity'' of individual ballots by correcting or filling in
voter-identification numbers on absentee ballot applications in Seminole County.
``The issue for the judge will be ``can tampering with the application process ever
amount to interference with the sanctity of the ballot?'' said Floyd Feeney, who
teaches at the University of California at Davis law school.
Seminole County election officials initially rejected about 2,000 thousand
absentee-ballot applications because the identification numbers were missing or
incorrect. Because it's no longer possible to isolate the voters involved, the suit
calls for throwing out all of Seminole's 15,000 absentee ballots. A similar suit
seeks to invalidate 9,773 absentee ballots in Martin County.
A Democratic victory in either case has the potential to swing the Florida
election, and with it the presidency, to Al Gore from George W. Bush, the
Republican nominee who was certified the winner of the state's 25 electoral
votes.
In a related development, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta
rejected Bush's bid to throw out the hand recounts conducted in several Florida
counties, finding that ``plaintiffs cannot demonstrate a threat of continuing
irreparable harm.''
``It is wholly speculative as to whether the results of those recounts may
eventually place Vice President Gore ahead,'' the 12- judge panel ruled.
Clark's Standard
As the trial of the Seminole County case got under way, Clark said her analysis
of evidence would focus on ``whether the addition or completion of voter
registration identification numbers is sufficient to invalidate ballots.'' The judge
said she would also determine whether ``the irregularity complained of affected
the sanctity'' of the ballot.
A Democrat who filed the lawsuit claims that election officials gave Republican
operatives unprecedented access to their offices to add the required information
to absentee-ballot applications. County election officials refused similar access
to Democratic campaign workers so they could correct absentee-ballot
applications they had collected, the suit charges.
Clark said she would also consider ``whether the Democratic and Republican
parties were treated differently'' to a degree that compromised the integrity of the
election.
Republican lawyer Daryl Bristow said the case ``has to do with the integrity of
the ballot cast.
``To punish 15,000 voters who had nothing to do with the issue complained of is
improper, disparate treatment,'' Bristow said.
`Disparity of Treatment'
Feeney said that if the case turns on the registration numbers, ``the Democrats
lose,'' Feeney said. ``If they are able to establish a disparity of treatment, then
it's arguable that would meet her standard.''
Democratic lawyer Gerald F. Richman said that while invalidating all 15,000
absentee ballots ``is the remedy under Florida law,'' he would propose invalidating
ballots in proportion to the number of illegal applications -- more than 2,000.
Tossing out all the absentee ballots in Seminole County would net Gore 4,800
votes; rejecting them in Martin County would net the vice president 2,815. A
machine recount put Bush's lead at 930 votes; he was certified the winner after
and further selected hand recounts put his lead at 537 votes.
Computer Flaw
The two cases are rooted in a computer software flaw that affected the ballots of
registered republicans.
The Republican Party sent computerized absentee ballot applications to every
registered Republican in Florida, according to the deposition of Todd Schnick,
political director of the Republican Party of Florida.
The applications were filled out in advance for the voters, but in thousands of
cases, the voter identification numbers were either missing or incorrect.
Democrats also sent out pre-printed absentee ballot requests, but theirs weren't
hit by a computer problem.
The flawed applications first surfaced in Seminole County in mid-October, when
local elections official Sandra Goard said she would reject them. A similar
problem arose in Martin County.
Richman said he would present evidence that for at least 15 days, a Republican
party worker culled through several thousand rejected absentee ballot request
forms, and filled in by hand the missing or flawed voter identification numbers on
about 2,130 forms, according to documents and testimony.
``You got a Republican party operative who has access to everything in the office
because he is unsupervised,'' Richman said in his opening remarks. ``No one
from any party had been allowed to come in and do what this gentlemen did.''
Gore's Interest
The two absentee-ballot suits gained significance when Gore suggested
yesterday that the fight over Florida's vote may extend past his own Florida
Supreme Court appeal contesting Bush's certified win.
``I do think it's likely that all of the current controversies will end up being
resolved one way or another in the Florida Supreme Court,'' Gore said.
Gore made his comments hours after Florida's Supreme Court agreed to hear his
appeal of a ruling yesterday by Leon Circuit Court Judge N. Sanders Sauls that
let stand Bush's 537-vote victory in the Nov. 7 election. Sauls rejected Gore's
request to hand count 14,000 disputed ballots from Palm Beach and Miami-Dade
counties. Arguments in the state high court are set for Thursday.
The Democrats' case in Seminole County is pressed on behalf of Harry Jacobs, a
lawyer whom Republican attorneys characterized as ``one of the most powerful''
Democratic activists in the county.
Depositions revealed details about Jacobs. He said he contacted a member of
Gore's legal team, Florida attorney Mitchell Berger, before he filed the lawsuit.
Jacobs contributed $50,000 to Gore's campaign and funded a $50,000 television
advertisement critical of Bush's running mate, Richard Cheney and his former
company Halliburton, according to Jacobs' deposition.
In addition, Jacobs said he ``made several telephone calls to friends and
encouraged them to contribute to the Democratic Party'' during the election,
according to his deposition. He also shook hands with Gore at a campaign event
in Florida. |
