Florida Supreme Court orders recount

December 8, 2000
Web posted at: 4:57 p.m. EST (2157 GMT)

TALLAHASEE, Florida (CNN) -- In a
4-3 decision, the Florida Supreme Court
on Friday ordered immediate hand
counts of 9,000 disputed presidential
ballots in Miami-Dade County and
undervotes "in any other county that has
not conducted a manual recount.

The court also ordered that 383 votes
added to the Florida totals of Democrat
Al Gore -- 215 from Palm Beach
County and 168 from Miami-Dade. The
votes were not included in the tallies
that were certified by the secretary of
state Nov. 26 and gave Republican
George W. Bush a 537-vote victory
margin.

Friday's ruling cuts Bush's lead to 154 votes statewide before any further
recounting begins.

The Bush campaign is expected to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
No comment was available from the Bush campaign in Houston, Texas.

The Gore campaign had asked the court to order hand counts of 14,000 disputed
ballots in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.Those ballots already have been
transported to Tallahassee, along with all the other ballots counted from those
two counties -- a total of 1.1 million.

The high court said the standard to be used to count votes "is the one to be
provided by the Legislature," which requires the ballot to show "a clear intent of
the voter." (More on the ruling)

Latest developments

• Earlier Friday, in separate cases, two Leon County, Florida, circuit court
judges refused Friday to throw out about 25,000 absentee ballots, many of
which were cast for Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush. Both
decisions were immediately appealed.

The cases were brought by Democratic plaintiffs -- one in Martin County,
another in Seminole County -- who claimed that the absentee ballots were invalid
because ballot applications were not properly filled out and Republican elections
officials allowed information to be added improperly.

The decisions were a significant blow to Gore,
who was trying to overtake Bush's lead in the
overall certified state vote tally.

• Bush attorney Ben Ginsberg told reporters,
"We are, of course, gratified with the two rulings.
On behalf of Gov. Bush and Secretary (Dick)
Cheney, we are satisfied that the right to vote has
been upheld today." The opinion of the courts, he
said, were "extremely strong and well-rooted in
fact."

In Austin, Texas, another Bush aide said, "Two
down and one to go," referring to Gore's
challenge of the election before the Florida
Supreme Court.

Mark Fabiani, a spokesman for Democratic
candidate Al Gore, said: "Our focus is where it
has been all along: Our case before the Florida
Supreme Court. We frankly had no great hopes
based on (the cases in Seminole and Martin
counties) and we never joined them. We remain
confident in our case before the Florida Supreme
Court." (More on the absentee ballot suits)

• Meanwhile, the Republican-controlled Florida
Legislature held a brief special session Friday.
The session, which reconvenes Tuesday, was
expected to decide whether to appoint the
Legislature's own slate of electors for Bush.

• The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights voted
unanimously Friday to conduct hearings on
alleged Election Day voting irregularities in
Florida.

The commission expects to hold hearings in at
least three sites in Florida beginning in January --
but only after Congress meets to count electoral
votes.

"What led me to believe that hearings are
necessary," said commission chairwoman Mary
Frances Berry, "is the broad array of complaints,
which is almost mind-boggling, that have
occurred in the Florida election -- such things as
voting machines (and) disparate treatment as to
who had what voting equipment."

• Speaking Friday to reporters in Austin, Texas,
Bush said he was unlikely to accept a Florida
Supreme Court decision against his campaign.
"We're prepared, if need be, to take our case back
to (U.S.) Supreme Court, but I hope that doesn't
have to happen."

• Bush attended a CIA intelligence briefing
Friday morning in Austin, Texas, and met with
key advisers including communications director
Karen Hughes, campaign strategist Karl Rove and
Andrew Card, who is widely expected to be
Bush's choice for White House chief of staff.

• Former Sen. Dan Coats, R-Indiana, is said to
be at the top of Bush's list for U.S. defense
secretary, a Republican insider tells CNN
correspondent Jamie McIntyre. Several members
of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff also said that
Coats tops the list.

• Bush running mate and transition head, Dick
Cheney, arrived at Bush's transition headquarters
Friday morning in McLean, Virginia. Cheney and
transition executive director Clay Johnson were
expected to join Bush's strategy meetings by
conference call later Friday. (Bush-Cheney
Transition)

• The Florida Supreme Court is working to
clarify a previous decision -- a ruling that allowed
hand recounts to continue past the state election
law certification deadline. The state court's
decision remanded for clarification last week by
the U.S. Supreme Court.

• Thousands of Gore supporters gathered in the
cold in Times Square during Thursday's evening
rush hour to protest the presidential vote in
Florida and endorse the vice president's legal
challenge. The Democratic rally was sponsored
by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. A smaller group of
Bush supporters gathered a few blocks
down,chanting "President Bush." (More on the
rallies)

What's at stake

Florida's 25 electoral votes are the balance that
will determine who wins a presidential contest still
in dispute one month after the November 7
election that gave Gore a 337,576-vote lead in the
popular vote.

Presidents are chosen by electoral votes, and the
states officially select their elector slates on
December 12, the first deadline that worries the
Gore camp. The Electoral College casts its votes
-- 270 are needed to win -- on December 18 in
the state capitols. The outcome will be reported to
the new Congress by January 6.

CNN National Correspondents Mike Boettcher, Gary
Tuchman and Tony Clark, CNN Correspondents Jeanne
Meserve, Susan Candiotti, Eileen O'Connor, and Mark
Potter, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to
this report.
SOURCE:
http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/12/08/president.election/index.html 

APFN