*EPF208 11/14/00
Judge Rules in Florida Vote Counting Case
(Says State Can Cut Off Recount at Deadline) (450)
By Stuart Gorin
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The legal wrangling in Florida over presidential balloting took another twist November 14 when Leon County Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis, who had only been on the case less than a day, ruled in Tallahassee, Florida, that state officials may cut off the contested vote recount at 2200 GMT.

Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris stated earlier that according to state law, 2200 GMT November 14 was the absolute deadline for certifying vote counts in the state's election -- except for mailed in absentee ballots, which have until November 17 to arrive at voting headquarters.

In question is the voting in four counties where the Democrats are supporting hand recounting of the ballots.

The circuit court challenge was on behalf of Palm Beach County, which had been scheduled to start recounting more than 460,000 votes by hand but had suspended the action when Harris said she would not accept any results past her deadline.

Judge Lewis said in his order that the county canvassing boards "must certify and file what election returns they have" by the statutory deadline, "with due notification to the secretary of state of any pending manual recounts, and thereafter file supplemental or corrective returns." He said the secretary of state "may ignore such late-filed returns but may not do so arbitrarily."

Vice President Al Gore's legal representative in Tallahassee, former Secretary of State Warren Christopher, said after Lewis' announcement that despite the ruling, the judge's assessment of the use of descretion on the part of the state secretary of state was tantamount to the results the Gore campaign had sought.

Another Gore attorney, David Boies, said that when someone has discretion it has to be exercised "reasonably."

Their implication was that the counties in question should continue their tallies after the deadline and that Harris should still count those votes.

Boies also said it was possible that the vice president's campaign might file another lawsuit if it was dissatisfied with the disposition of any vote tallies submitted after the deadline.

After the November 7 vote, more than 19,000 ballots in Palm Beach County were invalidated and hundreds of Gore supporters said they miscast their votes because of a confusing ballot design.

Texas Governor George W. Bush was holding on to a lead of just over a few hundred votes in Florida and the outcome of the final tally determines who will win the state's 25 electoral votes and thus the presidency.

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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