The Florida Supreme Court began deliberating yesterday over whether hand recounts in three counties will be included in the final vote total for the Sunshine State's 25 electoral votes.
After hearing oral arguments yesterday from legal teams representing Vice President Al Gore (D) and Texas Gov. George W. Bush (R), justices gave no indication of when they may hand down a decision, which will determine the winner of Florida and subsequently the presidency.
Bush attorneys argued the court should allow Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris (R) to certify the election results and stop the recounts in heavily Democratic Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Florida courts previously halted both of these processes.
Bush officials have decried the hand count, which they believe is unfair to both voters and their candidates.
The hand recount process "is entirely subjective, subject to mischief," Bush campaign attorney Michael Carvin said.
Because recounts are occurring in heavily Democratic counties, Bush officials said they think Republican counties are being treated unfairly.
The hand recount "violates the equal protection rights of all other counties in Florida," said Harold Mardenborough Jr., attorney for a Republican voter group.
Bush attorneys also contend that as secretary of state, Harris has the authority under Florida statute to certify election votes, and by refusing to accept late results she was trying to move the process along more quickly.
"The Secretary did not express any preference for machine recounts over manual recounts. She expressed a preference for timely completion," Carvin said.
Bush officials said they think the slow recounting process will hinder Bush from contesting votes once they have been certified. After all votes have been certified in the state, candidates are given an opportunity to contest votes. Bush contends that by the time the recounts are completed, the deadlines for contesting already will have passed.
But Gore attorneys say arguments of the Bush camp are irrelevant. They said as the counties certify results, Bush should be able to contest them.
Bush does not have to wait for the hand recounts because he should be able to contest votes in those counties that already had been certified, Gore campaign attorney David Boies said.
"We don't believe that there is just one and only one certification," Boies said.
Gore attorneys also argue that the legal battles have hindered the recounting process, causing the time delays to which Harris is referring.
"This is a process that if people will get out of the way and let it go on, then it would be completed in a matter of days," Boies said.
After the recounts and tallying overseas absentee ballots, Bush leads Gore in Florida by 930 votes.
Read More
New School of Data Science building opens with remarks and ceremony
By Cecilia Mould | 8 hours agoThe four-story, 61,000 square-foot building includes four classrooms and two seminar rooms, as well as a two-story central hub for hosting events.
Democratic Futures Project fellow Félix Maradiaga announces campaign to end arbitrary detention
By Caroline Hagood | 8 hours agoA public website for the campaign launched Friday, which Maradiaga says is the first step towards raising awareness.
HRL preassigns 25 percent of returning resident advisors for 2024-25 academic year
By Cecilia Mould | 12 hours agoSome SRs are upset with this change, with two SRs saying that it has somewhat reduced the relative autonomy they have had when choosing their staff in past years.
