-Caveat Lector-
OPINION
December 6, 2000
The Sideshow Over Absentees
At a time when the presidential contest seems to be grinding
toward resolution by the Florida Supreme Court, the last thing
the nation needs is a disruptive ruling from trial courts over
the absentee ballots in Martin and Seminole counties. But the
argument against throwing out a total of 25,000 votes in the two
counties does not depend on the fact that discarding them would
be politically disruptive. It would be a gross distortion of
Florida election law and basic fairness to dismiss so many votes
that were cast in good faith by Florida citizens on the grounds
that county officials used bad judgment in letting party workers
fill out some absentee application forms.
It was unfortunate that Vice President Al Gore equivocated
yesterday when pressed as to how he would react if Judge Nikki
Clark, in the Seminole County case, and Judge Terry Lewis, in
Martin County's, disallowed the absentees, steps that could give
him a net gain of 7,600 votes. Heretofore Mr. Gore has been right
on principle, arguing that state election laws ought to be
generously interpreted to permit the fullest possible count of
all votes. He feels that such a count would not only represent a
triumph for democracy, but have the additional benefit of winning
him the presidency.
But the Democratic plaintiffs in Seminole and Martin are
asserting a different principle based on a mistaken
interpretation of election law. The plaintiffs argue that
Republican county officials improperly allowed G.O.P. party
workers to fill in missing voter identification numbers on some
forms and denied the same opportunity to Democrats. But the only
way to reject the votes cast by people whose application forms
were altered in Seminole would be to reject all of the county's
15,000 absentee ballots, since there is no way to tell the two
groups apart. This remedy is extreme and aimed at the wrong
offenders. If the county officials who allowed the alterations
broke the law, they can be punished. But it twists the law to
invalidate the votes of thousands of absentees whose forms were
properly filled out and whose ballots were correctly cast.
As we have said many times, the error-riddled Florida election
can never be made perfect. Even so, to seize on technical
violations to wipe out the absentee vote in two counties is a
remedy far in excess of the error. The vice president
acknowledged as much by originally opting not to join the
lawsuits brought by local lawyers with strong ties to the
Democratic Party. Now his refusal to forcefully call on his local
supporters to drop the suit, or to rule out benefiting from its
outcome, represents a failure of statesmanship on his part. We
have supported his quest to overtake George W. Bush's lead by
adding votes that were unfairly set aside in Palm Beach and
Miami-Dade counties. But Mr. Gore should not win by subtracting
votes legitimately cast for his opponent.
For one thing, the Florida Supreme Court has already ruled that
ballots must be in substantial non-compliance with election laws
before being rejected. Clearly, the majority of these absentee
votes were in substantial compliance. The state's highest court
cannot allow thousands of voters who cast those ballots to be
disfranchised. To do so would only give the Florida Legislature
an additional excuse to disrupt the process of choosing electors.
The Florida Supreme Court should announce by Friday whether it is
going to overrule Judge N. Sanders Sauls and order a recount in
Miami-Dade County. Such a ruling would give Mr. Gore a legitimate
chance at winning. But he should not be counting on or
encouraging an aberrant, unfair ruling on absentee ballots from
Seminole and Martin counties.
=================================================================
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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