-Caveat Lector- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14091-2000Nov13.html Judge Hints At Extension For Recount Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, November 14, 2000; Page A01 TALLAHASSEE, Nov. 13 � A state judge today expressed doubts about the Florida secretary of state's contention that local election officials must deliver their final results by 5 p.m. Tuesday, indicating that he may grant them more time to conduct their ballot-by-ballot recounts. Volusia County, where election workers are racing to examine 184,000 ballots, filed the lawsuit in an effort to overturn the Tuesday deadline. It was joined by Palm Beach County, the Gore campaign and the Florida Democratic Party. The Bush campaign entered the case on the side of the Florida government and went one step further, asking the judge to stop manual recount results from being included in the final statewide totals, even if they are completed before the deadline. But Leon County Circuit Court Judge Terry P. Lewis repeatedly questioned the conclusion of Secretary of State Katherine Harris that state law gave her no flexibility in applying the one-week deadline. Lewis noted that Harris intends to certify the results available by Tuesday's deadline but cannot declare a final winner until the remaining absentee ballots are counted on Friday or Saturday. "So you do a certification and you don't say who the winner is?" asked Lewis. "What's the good of doing a certification ahead of time?" State lawyer Deborah Kearney, seemingly caught off guard, said state election law requires that results be certified seven days after a vote and was not intended "to allow recounts to go on and on and on." She asked, "Where's the ending of it?" Lawyers for Volusia County, which has nearly completed its hand count, asked Lewis to extend the deadline until Saturday. Dexter Douglas, representing Gore, asked for an extension until Nov. 21. A third lawyer said the counting should end "when the court thinks it should end." At issue are several sections of Florida's election law that seem in conflict. In one section setting out the deadline for officially certifying election returns, the law says county returns must be filed by 5 p.m. of the seventh day, and � if they are not � the missing results "shall be ignored." But another section of the law, enacted later, uses more permissive language, saying that if county board fail to file their results, those returns "may be ignored." A separate part of the law sets out the laborious procedure for requesting and conducting a hand recount, including first conducting a test of at least three precincts and then, if needed, redoing the full county. But that section does not specify how conducting the recount fits into the deadline for certifying the vote. Harris said her study of state election law tells her she has no discretion over today's certification deadline except in cases of natural disaster. An elected Republican active in the Bush presidential campaign, Harris said in a statement that the electoral process is a balance between a voter's right to be heard and the public's right to a "clear, final result within a reasonable time." But Lewis, asking Harris about the "may be ignored" language, said, "It doesn't mean it has to be ignored?" "That's right," Kearney replied. The judge wondered aloud about the schedule, set out in the election law, that gives a disappointed candidate 72 hours after polls close to request an automatic recount. That recount, as in this case, can trigger reviews, preliminary recounts and a series of options that can easily take more than a week to play out. "How could you ever envision a large county having a manual recount if anyone asks for it?" Lewis asked at one point. Lawyers for the state and the Bush campaign argued that Lewis would be wrong to intervene in a local question. At the same time, they said, the four counties lack the authority to grant a manual recount because the alleged irregularities in the vote were not serious enough to warrant such a review. They also contended that counting four counties out of 67 in Florida would be unfair. The lawyers also said the election laws clearly reflect the legislature's desire to bring elections to a timely conclusion. "The public interest is in resolution. The public interest is in restraint," said John Sjostrom, a private lawyer retained by Harris's office. Democrats contended that the election laws provide room for a manual recount and said that certifying the election results without waiting for the manual vote counts would "cut everybody off at the knees," as Gore lawyer Douglas put it. Lawyers cited a series of legal opinions where Florida courts concluded that the importance of the public's right to be heard trumped the details of state law. "It is not only unjust, but it flies in the face of these cases. It flies in the face of common sense," said Douglas. He urged Lewis not to yield to a "super-technical interpretation of Florida law." In a 1975 case cited by Democrats, the Florida Supreme Court warned that "absolute strict compliance" with state law could reach "absurd proportions." "In short," the court said, "a fair election and honest return should be considered as paramount in importance to minor requirements which prescribe the formal steps to reach that end." At one point, Lewis asked whether there is a deadline for the three-member Florida state canvassing commission to complete its work, the final step in the election process. Florida government attorneys said certification by the state commission should come immediately after Harris relayed the totals to them. The Democrats suggested that the commission had until Dec. 12, six days before the Electoral College meets. As the lawyers argued, the recounting proceeded. In Broward, the count of about 4,000 ballots in three test precincts got underway around 3:30, with officials adopting a "two-corner test" for determining whether ballots that were not counted as registering a presidential vote on the machine review had actually been punched through. Under that test, the rectangular "chad" would have to be released from at least two corners. By contrast, in Palm Beach, a single corner detached was enough evidence for a ballot to be counted. Election workers, toiling in six teams of two each � overseen by a Republican and Democratic outside observer � went through their stack of ballots with Gore posting a net gain of four votes. Eventually, the county canvassing board voted not to proceed with a review of the full county, prompting vows from Democrats to take the matter to court. In Volusia County to the north, a two-day review of all votes county-wide produced little change. With 140 of 172 precincts completely counted and reviewed, the canvassing board had awarded Gore 278 more votes than he had in the initial count, and Bush 254 more, a net gain of 24 votes for the vice president. Palm Beach County plans to begin the enormous process of counting all 460,000 ballots by hand Tuesday morning, while Miami-Dade officials will take up the Democrats' request for review at that time. � 2000 The Washington Post Company ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: *Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends ================================================================= <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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