-Caveat Lector-
Palm Beach County Missed Deadline Due ot Bad Advise and Bad Decisions
By David Lawsky
Reuters
WASHINGTON -- Several missteps caused Palm Beach County in
Florida to miss a deadline by hours to get its hand count
accepted, contributing to Democrat Al Gore's failure to surpass
George W. Bush's lead by Sunday night's certification.
On Sunday, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris refused to
accept Palm Beach County's hand count when it was delivered in
the wrong form and only 91 percent complete. She certified
George W. Bush the winner by 537 votes of nearly 6 million cast.
Charles Burton, the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board chairman,
called Harris' decision a "slap in the face." But a review of the
board's actions shows that a series of missteps by itself and
others were to blame for wasting precious days.
Throughout the process, the board was under ferocious pressure
from Democrats who wanted to push ahead and Republicans who
argued the hand count was illegal and poorly administered.
Neutral decisions were nigh impossible in the highly charged
situation.
Here are key missteps:
* The task is underestimated. On Nov. 13, Elections Supervisor
Theresa LePore says the hand count will take six 14-hour days in
two shifts and should be completed by Nov. 19. In fact, the
board needed far longer than this to assess voter intentions on
thousands of punch cards and in any case faced several legal
hurdles as well.
* Board seeks advice it doesn't need. At Burton's insistence,
the board sought legal guidance from Harris and State Atty. Gen.
Robert Butterworth. The two are of opposite parties and give
conflicting advice on Nov. 14 about the legality of the count.
The board follows Republican Harris' advice that the count is
illegal and delays its start.
* Indecision over Harris ruling. Harris's ruling is contested by
Democrats in a local court, which rules in their favor on Nov.
15. Even so, Burton and LePore on the county lawyer's advice put
off starting the count. They want to await a ruling by the state
Supreme Court. The manual recount finally begins at 7:14 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 16.
* Count is incomplete. On Wednesday, Nov. 22 more than two
dozen teams of counters finish the hand recount. By then the
board has plowed through only 4,000 of 14,000 questionable
ballots, which were set aside at the insistence of party
observers. Burton blames Republicans for challenging thousands
of ballots that had no problem.
* Thanksgiving recess. Despite now facing a Sunday deadline from
the Florida Supreme Court to deliver its votes, the board takes
off the Thanksgiving holiday. It fails to realize the magnitude
of the task awaiting it Friday, Saturday and Sunday because it
has no good count of the number of questionable ballots.
* Late getting help. By Saturday night, the board realizes it is
in trouble. It seeks help from two bipartisan teams to cull out
ballots where the voter's intentions were clear. the board works
all night but the task is now too large to accomplish by the
deadline.
* Fluctuating standards. Throughout the tortured recount
process, the board changed its standards for counting ballots
with partially attached chad, using several different guidelines.
A judge twice gives guidance. Democrats argued hundreds of
legitimate votes are never counted for Al Gore and planned to go
to court because partially punched ballots are ignored.
Republicans say the changing standards are "chaotic."
* The end. In the end, the board sends Harris figures that show
Al Gore improved his total by 172 votes. Then it goes back to
finishing its task even though its work no longer counts.
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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
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