Palm Beach Recount Suspended
NewsMax.com Wires
Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2000
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Palm Beach County officials delayed a full hand recount of the presidential election results Tuesday until they decide what to do with conflicting legal opinions from state government.
Circuit Judge Terry Lewis is also considering whether to extend a 5 p.m. deadline for recounts. A decision is expected Tuesday.
The Palm Beach County Canvassing Board voted 2-1 to suspend a recount, scheduled to begin at 7 a.m., after receiving an opinion from Republican Secretary of State Katherine Harris that a hand recount is not required unless there is something mechanically wrong with the equipment.
After the vote, they received an opinion from Democratic state Attorney General Bob Butterworth saying that it does not have to be a mechanical problem, but simply errors in the count.
The next meeting of the canvassing board was set for 4 p.m. EST Tuesday.
In Broward County, election officials also voted 2-1 Monday night against a hand count, based on the Harris decision. The Gore campaign immediately sent a team of lawyers to begin a legal challenge in circuit court.
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Court Upholds Fla. Vote Deadline
By Jackie Hallifax
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2000; 1:22 p.m. EST
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. –– A Florida judge ruled on Tuesday that officials may cut off the vote recount in the state's fiercely contested presidential election at 5 p.m. EST, handing a victory to George W. Bush and a setback to Al Gore.
Judge Terry Lewis ruled that counties may file supplemental or corrected totals after the deadline, and Secretary of State Katherine Harris may consider them if she employs "proper exercise of discretion."
Democratic officials, who have initiated attempts to conduct manual recounts in a few counties, said they would appeal the ruling, as did local officials in Volusia County, where a recount was under way. No details were immediately available on the details of the appeals.
In his ruling, Lewis said, "Just as the secretary of state cannot decide ahead of time what late returns should or should not be ignored, it would not be proper for me to do so by injunction.
"I can lawfully direct the secretary to properly exercise her discretion in making a decision on the returns, but I cannot enjoin the secretary to make a particular decision, nor can I rewrite the statute, which by its plain meaning, mandates the filing of returns by the canvassing board by 5 p.m. on Nov. 14.
The ruling by the Leon County circuit judge marked the latest turn in a presidential election that remains unsettled one full week after the polls closed.
Harris, citing state law, announced on Monday she would not accept any county vote totals after 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Lawyers for Gore – who has pushed the recount effort – and some counties appealed.
In his order, the judge said, "I find that the county canvassing boards must certify and file what election returns they have by the statutory deadline of 5 p.m. of Nov. 14, 2000, with due notification to the secretary of state of any pending manual recounts, and thereafter file supplemental or corrective returns.
"The secretary of state may ignore such late-filed returns but may not do so arbitrarily, rather only by the proper exercise of discretion after consideration of all appropriate facts and circumstances."
The ruling came as a recount proceeded – in varying stages – in three counties. Volusia was nearing an end to it recanvass, but a spokesman said time beyond the deadline was needed.
The recount in Palm Beach County was on hold pending resolution of conflicting legal advice.
Miami-Dade County officials said intended to begin a partial recount later in the day.
Clay Roberts, director of the division of elections, issued an advisory opinion Tuesday to Palm Beach County, saying it does not have a right to conduct a hand recount of ballots.
"Unless the discrepancy between the number of votes determined by the tabulation system and by the manual recount of four precincts is caused by incorrect election parameters or software errors, the county canvassing board is not authorized to manually recount ballots for the entire county," Roberts said.
Attorney General Robert Butterworth immediately issued a conflicting opinion, saying the county has a right to hand count ballots.
"The (county) canvassing board has the authority to determine that the voter's intention is clearly expressed," Butterworth said.
The division of elections is under the office of the Republican secretary of state, who sent a letter to counties Monday saying each faced a 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline to report results.
Harris and Butterworth are both members of the Florida Cabinet, which also includes Gov. Jeb Bush, brother of George W. Bush. Each is elected statewide with equal standing.
The conflict over the Palm Beach count was likely to be settled in court.
"We've got two opinions, and a judge needs to tell us how to proceed," said County Judge Charles Burton, canvassing board chairman in Palm Beach County. A senior Gore strategist said the board's decision to delay the recount would be challenged immediately in Circuit Court, along with the Florida secretary of state's ruling on which that decision was based.
Palm Beach County is a Democratic stronghold where voters first complained that they were confused by their ballots. Their outcry unleashed a political tide that froze Florida's 25 electoral votes and left Americans waiting to see who their 43rd president will be.
With the deadline fast approaching, judges in three Florida cities were deciding the fate of recounted votes.
In Volusia County, where workers began hand counting 184,019 ballots Sunday, officials said they would be unable to finish by 5 p.m. The county was prepared to send partial results to the state.
On other legal fronts:
–The Democratic Party filed a motion Tuesday in Circuit Court arguing that Broward County should be ordered to conduct a full hand count of its 588,000 ballots. The motion says the county canvassing board's decision not to conduct such a recount was based on an erroneous opinion by Harris, who said a manual recount can only be conducted if the board finds a problem with the computer that counted the ballots.
–Democrats sued the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board on Monday evening, challenging the board's method of reading the ballots. The party wants "pregnant chads" – dimpled fragments not detached from the card – counted as votes.
–In West Palm Beach, a judge considered the lawsuits of voters seeking a new vote in their county. The voters argue the punch-card ballots they were given on Election Day may have confused them enough to mistakenly vote for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan when they intended to vote for Gore.
"We intend to file litigation seeking judicial relief from this decision, which we think was based on an erroneous legal decision sent down by the secretary of state," Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Jenny Backus said.
A federal judge who turned away Bush's initial effort to stop the recounting said Monday the stakes couldn't be higher.
"I believe these are serious arguments. The question becomes who should consider them," said U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks, who declined Bush's request for emergency federal intervention and ruled the issue was best left to local courts.
Republicans argue the manual recounting should be ended because the process is prone to abuse and political bias. Democrats hope the recounts will help Gore pick up enough votes to overcome Bush's narrow lead in the state, which an informal Associated Press tally put at 388 votes.
With six of seven of Florida's Supreme Court justices appointed by Democrats, Bush lawyers signaled their strategy was to play defense in the state courts. The seventh was picked by Democrat Lawton Chiles and seconded by Bush's brother, Jeb, the Florida governor.
© Copyright 2000 The Associated Press
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Tuesday November 14, 2000; 1:14 PM ET
Text of Statement from Judge Lewis
Upholding Certification Deadline
At 12:55 p.m. Tuesday, Terry Cass, court administrator for the second judicial circuit in Tallahassee, read the following statement on behalf of Florida state judge Terry Lewis regarding today's 5 p.m. deadline for vote certification:
"For the reasons set forth below, I find that the county canvassing board must certify and file what election returns they have by the statutory deadline of 5 p.m. of Nov. 14, 2000. With due notification to the secretary of state (of) any pending manual recounts, (they) may thereafter file supplemental or corrected returns.
"The secretary of state may ignore such late-filed returns but may not do so arbitrarily, rather only by the proper exercise of discretion after consideration of all appropriate facts and circumstances.
"It is ordered and adjudged that the secretary of state is directed to withold determination as to whether or not to ignore late-filed returns, if any, from plaintiff's canvassing boards until due consideration of all relevant facts and circumstances consistent with the sound exercise of discretion.
"In all other respects the motion for temporary injunction is denied."
"Done and ordered in chambers at Tallahassee Leon's County, Florida this 14th day of November, 2000."
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Tuesday Nov. 14, 2000; 8:55 a.m. EST
Clinton-Gore Dirt Diggers Go After Harris
The reputation of Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris came under further attack Tuesday morning as "Today Show" host Matt Lauer began airing her dirty laundry before a national television audience.
In an interview with Gore campaign manager Bill Daley, Lauer noted that "neat packages" of information on Harris were being distributed to reporters, including claims that she'd missed a filing deadline for her own campaign in 1998 and hints of financial irregularities.
Harris has been under attack since Monday morning, after she announced her intention to enforce the Florida state law mandating that all election results be filed with her office by 5 p.m. Tuesday, a move that could doom the Gore team's strategy to overturn the Florida election results.
Daley told Lauer that his report was the first he'd heard of the information and insisted the Gore team had nothing to do with spreading it.
But the Gore team didn't have to. Lauer and his "Today Show" crew had just done their dirty work, by disseminating the information more widely than Daley could have ever hoped to by himself.
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Posted Monday, Nov. 13, 2000 6:09 p.m. EST
Mean-Spirited Democrats
Want to Lynch Their Own Elections Chief
Oh, those intolerant, Neanderthal, mean-spirited Democrats. The small minority of aged Palm Beach County liberal Democrats that claims to be too incompetent to vote correctly is ready to kill the county elections supervisor - a Democrat.
The pro-Democrat Palm Beach Post on Sunday painted a glowing portrait of embattled Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore, who approved the infamous "butterfly ballot" - which of course has been used elsewhere in America without any hysteria.
But the Post also included comments from the nasty condo commandos who want to throw the election to their precious Al Gore.
"I'd like to string her up," one voter told the Post.
"She should be shot," another raged.
Goodness gracious. Imagine if LePore were a Republican.
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Tuesday November 14, 2000; 11:23 AM ET
Baker Offers to Accept Hand Recounts Till Deadline
In a dramatic bid to end the election crisis standoff, Bush campaign representative James Baker announced Tuesday morning that the Texas governor would accept all votes already counted in four heavily Democratic Florida counties if the Gore campaign accepted today's 5 p.m. certification deadline.
Speaking to reporters in Tallahassee, Fla., Baker said:
"We have objected to the manual recount in Florida. The Gore campaign has objected to the statutory deadline in Florida. We are offering to accept the manual recount up to the time of the statutory deadline if the Gore campaign will accept that deadline.
"If the Gore campaign accepts this proposal and drops its litigation, we will dismiss our lawsuit. And then, ladies and gentlemen, the courts will not decide this election."
At last count, Bush led Gore in the state by a razor-thin margin of 388 votes, which, as Baker pointed out to reporters, could be easily erased by hand recounts already under way.
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