Gore Demands That Recount Restart

By Linda Deutsch AP Special Correspondent Thursday, Nov. 30, 2000; 12:47 p.m. EST

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. –– Racing against the clock in their challenge of Florida's presidential election, Al Gore's attorneys filed an urgent plea with the state's highest court Thursday to start hand-counting thousands of ballots.

With a trial court judge refusing to budge on the issue, Gore lawyers first asked the midlevel First District Court of Appeals to step aside and then filed their papers with the Florida Supreme Court just as it opened its doors.

"There is no reason to delay counting ballots even one day," they said. If there is not enough time to finish the counting before Dec. 12, the deadline for states to choose their electors, the brief said, "the resulting controversy about the legitimacy of the presidency would be destructive for our country."

The papers were being filed as a truck filled with ballots from Palm Beach County roared northward surrounded by police and press vehicles. It was to deliver the ballots to Tallahassee Circuit Judge N. Sanders Sauls by late afternoon. Miami-Dade County plans to deliver its ballots Friday.

Sauls also scheduled a hearing to deal with a suit filed Thursday by four private citizens arguing that if any votes are recounted then so should all 6 million votes of Florida's 67 counties.

Meanwhile, in a show-and-tell news conference, Gore lawyer David Boies exhibited color charts in an effort to show that votes had been seriously undercounted in parts of Florida where punch-card ballots were used.

Boies said "optical" ballots in the state had a no-vote rate of just 0.4 per cent while the figure in areas using the punch-card ballots was 3½ times higher.

An optical ballot is a paper ballot on which voters use a pencil or pen to shade a circle next to their candidate. The ballots are then fed through an optical scanner. No punching of paper is necessary.

"We're getting close to the end and we're trying to focus on the issues that can be resolved quickly and easily," Boies said. "We would like the votes to be counted as soon as they get here."

Boies also expressed concern about an expected intervention by the Florida Legislature.

"I hope the Florida Legislature is not going to try to substitute its will for the will of the people," he said.

Separately, lawyers for Gore filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the Legislature lacks authority to appoint its own slate of presidential electors – a move favored by some Republican state lawmakers.

Congress set Election Day as a uniform national date for selection of electors, Gore's lawyers wrote in the U.S. Supreme Court filings.

Florida voters made their choice on Nov. 7, "although by a vote so close and under a counting process so flawed that the state's courts are still attempting to ascertain ... what the choice was," the brief said.

Thursday's appeal in Florida to the state Supreme Court was the best move the Gore lawyers could make "because it's the place where they have been most successful," said Loyola University Law School professor Laurie Levenson. "And right now, they need to find a way to beat the clock."

Earlier this month, the seven state justices, all selected by Democrats, overruled Florida's Republican secretary of state and allowed manual recounting in a few counties to continue for 12 days beyond the original deadline. That extra tallying brought Gore to within 537 votes of his Republican rival, Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

Gore is contesting the vote in several counties, principally vote-rich Miami-Dade County. Pressure grows daily, because federal law requires that electors be designated by Dec. 12 to meet Dec. 18 and cast their state's votes for president.

Judge Sauls, the circuit court judge assigned to the Gore election contest, refused to decide on future recounts until he holds a hearing on the law Saturday.

So far, the judge's only action was to order parties to file papers and arrange for a convoy of police cars to transport about 1 million ballots to the state capital in case a recount is ordered.

Levenson said it would be unusual for the high court to take on the job of counting the ballots, an option suggested by Gore's lawyers. But she said the court could send the matter back to Sauls with an order to move more expeditiously.

"The strategies on both sides are very clear," said Levenson. "If the Republicans can run out the clock, they win. And the Democrats have to go to every court to try to get the ballots counted."

She said that unless Sauls speeds up proceedings, his very inaction will be seen as favoring the Republicans.

"By not deciding, he's really making a decision," she said. "If he doesn't take action, the inaction will doom the Gore camp."

Bush's lawyers, though arguing that no recounts are justified, also insisted that the more than 1 million ballots be taken to the state capital instead of the fewer than 14,000 requested by Gore's team. The action served to make a recount potentially more difficult and time consuming.

GIMMEEE! RIGHT NOW!!! C'MON PLEASE?!? I'M GONNA TELL!

-- Ain't Gonna Happen (Not Here Not@ever.com), November 30, 2000

Answers

BEAVER! SHUT THE F*CK UP!

-- Mrs. Cleaver (Mrs. Cleaver@LITBBBB.xcom), November 30, 2000.