-Caveat Lector-
Overseas ballots move to next step
By Karla Schuster
Tallahassee Bureau
Florida Sun Sentinel
Posted December 7, 2000
TALLAHASSEE -- Attorneys for Gov. Jeb Bush on Wednesday won a
bid to move into federal court a lawsuit that could disqualify
thousands of overseas ballots. The move keeps the case away from
a state judge who questioned the legality of overseas ballots in
another case.
The lawsuit, filed last week by several South Florida Democrats
in Leon Circuit Court, seeks to toss out overseas absentee
ballots in 10 counties because they were received after Election
Day.
Florida law states only those ballots received by Election Day
can be counted in the final results. But in a 1984 consent
decree with the U.S. Department of Justice, Florida agreed to
accept overseas absentee ballots for up to 10 days after an
election -- if postmarked by Election Day.
As a result, lawyers for Gov. Jeb Bush convinced U.S. District
Court Judge Maurice M. Paul that the case should be heard in
federal court because it involves a federal consent order as well
as the governor`s duty to certify presidential electors, which is
part of the U.S. Constitution.
Paul will hold a hearing on the lawsuit, and a similar one filed
Tuesday, at 1 p.m. today.
"Not only is it [the lawsuit] entirely controlled by federal law,
the specific relief requested is available, if at all, under
federal statutes and the United States Constitution," according
to a brief filed by lawyers for the Florida governor.
Jeb Bush was one of several defendants, including his brother,
Republican presidential hopeful George W. Bush, and Secretary of
State Katherine Harris. The first case had been assigned to Leon
Circuit Court Judge Ralph Smith. The second had not been
assigned to a state judge, and attorneys for Harris were expected
to file motions to transfer it to federal court by this morning.
If successful, the lawsuits would disqualify several thousand
overseas absentee ballots, most of which were cast for Texas Gov.
Bush, and give Florida`s 25 electoral votes -- and the presidency
-- to Vice President Al Gore.
However, that scenario is considered unlikely. The first
overseas lawsuit was randomly assigned by the circuit court to
Judge Smith, who commented in an earlier case that he could find
no law supporting the practice of accepting late ballots.
"Where did the 10 days come from?" Smith asked during a Nov. 24
hearing at which GOP attorneys were seeking a court order to
force several counties to include more overseas ballots in their
final election tallies. "There is no state or federal law that
provides for a 10-day extension. We`re not in a time of war
now."
Attorney Bruce Terris, who is representing the plaintiffs in the
second overseas-ballot case, argues that Florida should have
codified the federal consent decree in state law. Instead, the
state adopted the agreement as an administrative rule.
"A statute normally takes precedent over a state regulation, and
the state law is very clear that all ballots must be in by
Election Day," said Terris, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney who
was the district`s Democratic Party chairman from 1968 to 1972.
"And it`s particularly interesting," Terris said, "at the moment
when the Bush campaign is arguing in other cases that state
statutes of Florida must be literally construed that they would
be arguing the opposite in this case."
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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