Green Light For Hand Recounts
Florida High Court Says Manual Recounts Can Resume
State Judge To Rule Friday On Adding Late Ballots To Official Tally
Republicans Won't Seek Recount In Iowa
Nov. 16, 2000
CBS/AP
CBS In an apparent victory for Al Gore's presidential campaign, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday that manual recounts can go ahead in the state's disputed election.
Democrats had argued that the recounts are allowed under Florida law, while Republicans said they were illegal and should be stopped.
CBS News Legal Consultant Andrew Cohen says the high court's ruling essentially says, "There is no reason why those recounts can't go forward."
Within minutes, officials in Palm Beach County, the epicenter of the election controversy, announced they would swiftly begin a manual recount as requested by Gore's campaign. Palm Beach had held off on its recount, pending the court's decision.
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Still unresolved is whether the hand recounts will mean anything, since Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a Republican and Bush supporter, has said she will not accept any ballots counted after a deadline last Tuesday. Judge Charles Burton, a member of the Palm Beach County canvassing board, told a news conference the high court did not appear to have ruled on that question.
"I would imagine that's going to be the next round of litigation," he said.
More answers could come Friday morning, when Leon County Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis rules on a Democratic request to overturn Harris' decision not to accept the late ballots. Earlier this week, Lewis said that she could not simply reject all late vote counts beyond her Tuesday deadline without considering the circumstances under which they were delayed.
Cohen said it is "not inconceivable" that Judge Lewis would order Harris not to certify the final election results without further consideration of the hand recounts.
Bush spokeswoman Mindy Tucker termed Thursday's high court ruling "an interim status quo decision. And to our knowledge it appears that it does not address the legality of Secretary Harris' decision."
Gore campaign chairman William Daley said, "We hope the secretary of state will not try to impose other obstacles in the path of this count, and we hope that the counties will complete these counts as fast as is humanly possible."
Democrats believe a hand recount could turn up votes a machine count missed and overturn Bush's scant lead of 300 votes out of 6 million cast in the state. That shift would deliver Florida's 25 Electoral College votes - and the presidency - to Gore. About 2,600 overseas absentee ballots remain to be counted, but so far, at least, there is no dispute about them.
As Florida's recount dispute rages on, the Bush campaign announced Thursday that it will not ask for a recount in Iowa - a state that Gore narrowly won.
Bush campaign chairman Don Evans announced the decision a few hours before the 5 p.m. ET deadline for seeking a recount in the Hawkeye State.
Drawing a contrast to vice president's efforts to continue a hand recount in contested Florida, Evans said that in Iowa, Bush had decided to "do his part to ensure the fairness, accuracy, and finality of this election."
Before Democrats sought a legal remedy in Tallahassee, Gore vowed Thursday to "fight all the way" to ensure that every vote in Florida got counted.
"The choice really is whether the voters are going to decide this election by having every vote count or whether that process is going to be short-circuited without all the votes being examined," the vice president said in an interview on Tom Joyner's radio show in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.
Gore's comments came as three Florida counties - all considered largely Democratic areas - grappled with the latest chapter of the hand recount saga.
In one striking development, when officials in Broward County arrived to resume their hand counting of 588,000 votes, they found a manila police envelope emblazoned with the words: "Crime. Found Property." Inside were 78 "chads," the bits of paper produced when holes are made in punchcard ballots, found on the counting room floor when the recanvassing stopped Wednesday night.
"We go with the saying, 'Let the chads fall as they may,'" said County Elections Supervisor Jane Carroll, a Republican member of the canvassing board. "Chads are not partisan."
Important Deadlines
Friday, November 17
Overseas absentee ballots are due at Midnight Eastern. These ballots had to be postmarked no later than Election Day, November 7. State officials estimate 4,000-6,000 of the ballots.
Saturday, November 18
Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris is expected to certify the Sunshine State's election results - including its presidential winner - in the afternoon.
Tuesday, December 12
Florida's deadline to certify its 25 presidential electors.
Monday, December 18
The Electoral College meets across the country to select the nation's next president.
Up the coast in West Palm Beach, about 100 demonstrators turned out to rally support for recounts. Some held signs that read "Honk for Dimples," a reference to indentations made in punchcard ballots.
And in yet a third county, Miami-Dade, officials there disclosed plans to meet Friday to reconsider their earlier refusal of Gore's request for a hand recount of all 654,000 ballots there.
Thursday's events unfolded after both White House wannabes took their struggle over Florida's vote count to the national airwaves the night before.
Gore promised to file no more lawsuits if he and Bush both could agree to be bound either by the hand recounts in the disputed counties, plus the remaining overseas absentee ballots still trickling in - or by a hand recount of the entire Sunshine State.
Rejecting both proposals, Bush said the vote totals certified by Florida's Secretary of State should be added to the overseas absentee ballots and tallied up, so she can certify the presidential winner in the state as planned on the afternoon of Saturday, November 18.
"This process must have a point of conclusion," Bush said. "This is precisely why the laws of Florida have deadlines."
The governor deplored the hand-counting process for introducing "human error and politics into the vote-counting process."
As for Gore's offer to meet with Bush "personally, one on one," the governor said he'd be "glad" to meet with Gore "once this election is over."
CBS News Chief White House Correspondent John Roberts reports that sources with the vice president's campaign say Bush's rejection of Gore's offer to drop all legal action in exchange for an agreement on hand recounts means that all legal options are now back on the table.
One possibility is that the Gore camp could sue for a new election in Palm Beach County, and perhaps Broward County. It's an option that the Gore camp would rather not use. But as one source put it, "If the Bush campaign continues to use Florida's Secretary of State" to block the ongoing hand count, then it's an option that Gore's legal team would consider.
On a separate legal front, Bush looked to a federal appeals court in Atlanta to shut down the canvassing altogether, calling manual recounts inaccurate and prone to political mischief.
"Eight days after Florida's presidential vote, the entire nation is witnessing the disintegration of a process that was designed to elect America's president," reads the Bush brief in the federal appeal. "The Florida manual recount process is being used to eliminate any possibility of an orderly, rational and final end to the election."
The federal court also agreed to consider a related case filed by three Bush supporters from Brevard County. They claim their rights are being violated because their counties are not recanvassing votes by hand.
Copyright 2000, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press and Reuters Limited contributed to this report.
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Two S.C. delegates say they have been asked to change vote to Gore
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By LEE BANDY
Staff Writer
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Two South Carolina Republican electors say they have been approached about changing their votes to Democrat Al Gore.
Both said they would not go back on their pledge to support George W. Bush.
"I'd cut my arm off first before voting for Al Gore," said Cecil Windham of Manning, a retired farmer.
Air Force retiree Dan Richardson, of Greenwood, said there is "absolutely no way" he could vote for the vice president.
Both assumed the unidentified callers were associated with the Gore campaign, which denied making such overtures.
Eight South Carolinians are part of the Electoral College.
On Dec. 18, they are, by law, required to give the state's votes to Bush. They will meet at the S.C. secretary of state's office to cast their ballots.
They were chosen by the state GOP executive committee. One is a Bob Jones University graduate. There is an orthodontist, a professor and a real estate broker. Others are retired.
Bush carried the state with 57 percent of the vote to Gore's 41 percent.
Under state law, an elector could face possible criminal prosecution if he violates his signed pledge. Also, if word were to leak out that a member was going to change his vote, the state GOP could replace the elector.
Richardson said he has received about a half-a-dozen calls. But he never asked the callers to identify themselves. He said he wasn't worried about the S.C. electors switching their votes.
Windham said he had received about three calls, "all asking the same thing. Would I change my vote?" Again, the callers refused to identify themselves.
Said Windham, "I don't see how anyone could violate the trust of the people."
Many of the state's GOP electors expressed disgust with the tangled vote count mess in Florida.
"This is what the Democratic Party is all about," said Horry County real estate broker Bill Prince. "This is a classic example of the kind of people they are. Nothing is ever settled with the modern-day Democrats. I can see a Democrat in hell for two years still sitting there with yellow legal pad, shaking his finger at St. Peter, saying 'These are my mitigating circumstances.' They're always negotiating."
The Gore campaign denied it was making such calls or attempting to pressure Bush electors to change their votes.
Danny Faulker, a professor of physics at the University of South Carolina-Lancaster, accused the Democrats of "trying everything they can to steal the election. ... It's ridiculous."
"I'm committed by conscience," said Greenville Republican Doug Wavle, who works in the information technology department at Bob Jones University.
He called the Democrats' actions to reverse the Florida vote count, "the epitome of arrogance. ... I hope when we finish counting we can go on and elect a president."
Tom McLean, a home repair expert from Irmo, said he couldn't imagine any scenario under which he would change his vote to Gore.
"I'll be happy when this whole thing is settled," he said. "I just hope it's done by the people, not a bunch of lawyers or the courts."
Lee Bandy covers politics. You can reach him at (803) 771-8648 or by e-mail at lbandy@thestate.com.
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Observers say ballots manipulated by examiner
By Steve Miller
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Visit our Election 2000 page
for daily election news and analysis
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Five observers to Saturday's hand count in Palm Beach County have filed affidavits in federal court charging that a Democratic county commissioner manipulated ballots so Al Gore would receive more votes than George W. Bush. Top Stories
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Carol Roberts, a de facto appointee to the three-member elections canvassing board, is accused in the filings of asking a Democratic observer to the count whether ballots should count and that she "twisted the ballots and poked her finger directly in sections of, and aggressively handled, the ballots."
On one occasion, observer John Grotta said in a sworn statement, Miss Roberts looked at a ballot and said " 'Unfortunately, the corners aren't detached,' as she was referring to a ballot that would have been a vote for Vice President Gore."
The most pointed charges in the affidavits were cited in a request by the Palm Beach Republican Party that Miss Roberts, a longtime Democrat, step down from the board because of her partisan behavior in last week's sample count of 4,600 ballots.
When the count found that Mr. Gore netted 19 more votes, Miss Roberts was adamant about a full recount, asserting that Mr. Gore could claim as many as 1,900 more votes based on the sampling.
Miss Roberts refused to remove herself from the panel, saying in a public statement — read by canvassing board chairman Charles Burton to a press gallery that is now an encampment outside the Emergency Operation Center here — that the count was done "in full view of public observers from both parties and cameras from all over the world.
"All board members examined and voted on all questioned ballots and nearly all votes were unanimous. . . . I will continue to be fair and impartial and will not recuse myself."
Yesterday, Miss Roberts publicly challenged the election powers of Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a Republican, in the recount dispute, saying Attorney General Robert Butterworth, a Democrat, had the proper authority. Mrs. Harris has been the target of Democrats, who claim she is partisan and must recuse herself.
The partisan rancor has completely divided the sides in the manual recount debate. Palm County's hand count was delayed yesterday pending the state Supreme Court's opinion on the legal standing of the process.
The charge against Miss Roberts "is not a witch hunt," said Mark Hoch, administrator for the county's Republican Party.
"We have complaints coming out of the woodwork, and most of the things we look at are unsubstantiated," Mr. Hoch said. "Carol Roberts, though, can be seen as truly partisan."
Miss Roberts arrived at the emergency center around 6:15 a.m. yesterday with a sheriff's deputy bodyguard and a personal assistant. As a vocal advocate of the manual count in both Palm Beach County and three other surrounding — and Democrat-dominated —counties, Miss Roberts has thrived on the controversy surrounding the recount.
At one point this week, Miss Roberts said she would go to jail to have the manual recount accomplished. In Palm Beach County, recounts by hand and machine have added 787 votes for Mr. Gore to an extra 119 for Mr. Bush — a net Gore pick up of 668.
The affidavits filed yesterday also include charges that elections workers were reluctant to reassess votes despite the protests of observers.
In one case, a worker refused to recount a stack of ballots that contained Bush votes, according to observer Mark Klimer.
Mr. Klimer's statement included the accusation that Miss Roberts picked up ballots from a stack that was to be evaluated later by the entire board and interspersed them with a stack of Gore votes.
He also said the ballot evaluation was inconsistent. Some ballots judged as Gore votes did not meet the agreed standards for a valid vote, the West Palm Beach banker said.
Mr. Klimer said yesterday he was in the counting room for 4 and 1/2 hours on Saturday. A Republican, Mr. Klimer said his interest was not partisan: "I was there to make sure it was fair."
"Beyond a shadow of a doubt, what I saw is the absolute truth," Mr. Klimer said.
Miss Roberts is one of three Democrats on the seven-member County Commission. She was elected in 1986 after serving 11 years on the West Palm Beach City Council.
When she became president of the Florida Association of Counties in 1996, Miss Roberts took some heat for marking the occasion with three days of festivities paid for with $55,000 from her business friends.
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Military Didn't Get Ballots, Plan Class-Action Suit
David M. Bresnahan
Thursday, Nov. 16, 2000
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Attorneys for disenfranchised military personnel plan to ask a judge to either let them vote late or allow them to refuse to pay taxes for the next four years. Large numbers of military personnel have complained that they did not receive absentee ballots in time to vote, and now they are taking action in court.
"What we would like to do is ask for injunctive relief and ask for these people to have their ballots flown to them immediately and allow them to vote and be counted in this election, regardless of what state they’re in," attorney Philip E. Jones told NewsMax.com in a phone interview.
"It’s not a principle of Democrat or Republican. It’s the principle of the right to vote. "In the alternative, if the judge doesn’t allow that, we’re going to ask for injunctive relief in the form of allowing these people not to have to pay their taxes for four years because they’ve been disenfranchised from the political system by denying them their right to vote for the next four years. That’s taxation without representation," said Jones.
Jones said he would file the class action suit on Monday, initiated by three members of the military serving in Japan. Two are from Florida and one is from Oklahoma.
He is inviting other members of the military to join in the suit, which he is handling without cost to participants. He said he was eager to document as many cases as possible of members of the military who were denied their right to vote.
"It is our position that denial of the right to vote constitutes not only a violation of one's fundamental constitutional rights, but taxation without representation," Jones explained.
"We’re getting in reports and allegations of widespread cases of this," said Jones.
Florida Servicemen Were Shipped Out Before Election
He is investigating complaints that a large number of military were suddenly, and without advance warning, sent on a training mission the day before the election. The large contingent was stationed in Florida and did not request absentee ballots because they were supposed to be in Florida on Election Day. The sudden orders prevented them from voting.
"Of course, that can probably be explained off as ‘needs of the Army, or Air Force,’ or whatever the case may be, for training purposes. But it certainly looks suspicious,” said Jones.
He said many other complaints by servicemen and servicewomen were being received. Parents are also sending in reports of requesting absentee ballots for a son or daughter in uniform and the ballots not being received. Jones is asking these people to complete a sworn affidavit and fax it to his office as soon as possible.
Was there an organized effort to prevent the military from voting?
"It certainly seems like there’s been a lot of service members who did not get their ballots worldwide who requested them," said Jones.
The case will be filed in federal court on Monday, and Jones is calling for military around the world to notify him if they have been prevented from voting so he can demonstrate to the court the full extent of the problem.
There is no expense for members of the military to participate in the legal action because Jones is doing the work pro bono through Campbell & Jones, Attorneys at Law, San Antonio.
"We need all parties to this suit to fax us a notarized statement stating they applied for their ballot through the appropriate channel and did not receive the ballot in time to vote, or did not receive it at all.
"If any parties saved a certified receipt showing when they requested their ballot, it will be very helpful. Also, if there are any military orderly room records annotating service members' requests for ballots, we could use copies of those, or sworn affidavits from the appropriate supervisor," Jones explained.
Affidavits may be faxed to Jones' office at (210) 227-4229, 24 hours a day. Jones can be reached at (210) 224-1923. E-mail: philipejones@earthlink.net.
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David M. Bresnahan is a free-lance journalist who also hosts "Investigative Journal," http://InvestigativeJournal.com, a nationally syndicated radio program. E-mail: david@investigativejournal.com.
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