-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/news/oregonian/00/11/ap_32 florid14.frame Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/news/oregonian/00/11 /ap_32florid14.frame">Oregon Live: 11-14-00 Court upholds Florida vot�</A> ----- Court upholds Florida vote deadline Tuesday, November 14, 2000 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >From the Associated Press � Latest news on Florida recount TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A Florida judge ruled Tuesday that state officials may cut off the vote recount in the state's fiercely contested presidential election at 5 p.m. EST. Your Vote 2000 The latest news on this year's historic election. Latest election news: � The AP's latest Florida recount news � The AP's latest Oregon election news � From The Oregonian 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 said they would appeal, but no details were available on the timing or what court might be involved. 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. 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. Lisa Bullion, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Florida, was kicked out of a convassing board meeting in Volusia County for complaining loudly that her party wasn't represented in the recount. Regardless of the fate of the contested deadline, absentee ballots from overseas will be counted at the end of the week; they are due by midnight Friday night. 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. In Tallahassee, judge Lewis repeatedly questioned Monday why the state had set the Tuesday deadline when absentee votes coming from overseas can continue to be counted through the end of the week. "What's the good of doing a certification ahead of time?" Lewis asked. He also questioned how a large county could ever get a hand recount done within seven days since voters have three days before they even have to request one. Lewis was expected to rule Tuesday. 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 Oregon Live. All rights reserved. ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, All My Relations. Omnia Bona Bonis, Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. 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