Election 2004: Vote Early and OftenNovember 18, 2000
Saturday, October 23, 2004, 10:58 PM
NYT Headline: "Florida Court Bars Naming a Winner; Bush Lead Grows With Overseas Tally".
And one of the subheadings: "Manual Count Goes On in a Day of Confusion and Court Rulings".
Hre's the entire text of the Florida Supreme Court's order:
"In order to maintain the status quo, the Court, on its own motion, enjoins the Respondent, Secretary of State and Respondent, the Elections Canvassing Commission from certifying the results of the November 7, 2000, presidential election, until further order of this Court. It is NOT the intent of this Order to stop the counting and conveying to the Secretary of State the results of absentee ballots or any other ballots."
Because of the overseas votes, Bush's lead grew in the last day. The numbers:
Officially certified vote, as of Nov. 14: Bush, 2,910,492 and Gore 2,910,192 with Bush leading by 300 votes. Overseas ballots counted the previous day: Bush, 1,057 and Gore, 597, with a gain of 460 for Bush. Unnoficial hand recounts showed a gain of 48 for Gore, which works out to a net lead of 712 for Bush.
Officials in Miami-Dade Counry voted to conduct a full manual recount after the Florida Supreme Court order came down. They had about half a million votes to examine.
The full 11th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Bush campaign's request to block further hand recounts.
In the meantime, officials in different counties were counting absentee ballots differently. Katherine Harris issued instructions that a ballot, if signed by Election Day but postmarked afterwards, should still be counted. So, some counties counted them if they were postmarked at all, some counted them even without a postmark, and some refused to count them unless the postmark was by Election Day. I guess that about covers all the options, doesn't it? Here's an excerpt from the coverage:
"Counties applied vastly different standards in deciding whether to throw out ballots. A few county officials openly defied the Florida secretary of sate's instructions to accept otherwise valid ballots from overseas that were postmarked after Election Day. Others freely admitted that they did not understand those instructions.
...
'It seems like everybody's been changing the rules to suit their satisfaction,' Fred Galey, the Brevard County supervisor of elections, said dryly. 'This certainly has been educational.' "
Oh, yes, and the same day, Judge Lewis in federal court denied a motion to force Harris to accept the recounted votes tallied after Nov. 14th. Harris argued that only "proof of fraud, noncompliance with election procedures, or a natural disaster could justify accepting the late returns". The Dems argued that this was not an exercise of her discretion but was instead an abuse of that discretion.
You know, I remember when we were living through this that it all sort of made sense to me at the time. That is, I could tell you what lawsuits were going on, in what order, and which ruling depended on which bizarre behavior by which government official(s). But, looking back on this now, I haven't got a f*cking clue.
I'll close with a thought about lawsuits from Judge Burton, talking about the ongoing recount in Palm Beach County:
" 'It's both sides,' said Mr. Burton of the constant challenges that have bogged down the process inside the Palm Beach County Emergency Management Center. 'I'm not blaming anybody. Lately, every time someone coughs or sneezes, it results in another lawsuit.' "
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