Florida Supreme Court to Hear Arguments on Hand Recounts, Election Workers Resume Manual Counting in Broward and Palm Beach Counties

Strategic Insights -

The Florida Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on the fate of hand recounts of the presidential vote, as election workers in Broward and Palm Beach counties resumed manual counting today. The Republicans harshly criticized the process as unfair, pointing particularly to the decision by the Broward County Canvassing Board to adopt a broader standard when determining what constitutes a vote.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Broward County Canvassing Board, made up of two Democrats and a Republican, voted unanimously to consider dimpled or one-corner chads as possible votes for either Vice President Al Gore or Gov. George W. Bush.
  • The change in the standard was made after advice from Andrew J. Meyers, the county's chief appellate counsel, who told the board that the two-corner chad standard was too restrictive and would probably not be upheld in a court challenge.
  • In Palm Beach County, workers have completed 31 of the 531 precincts and have come up with a net gain of 12 votes for Mr. Bush.
  • The hand recounts have yet to produce the huge surge of additional votes for Mr. Gore that the Democrats had hoped to see by the time the Florida Supreme Court convened.
  • The winner in Florida will receive the state's 25 decisive electoral votes.
  • The Republicans accuse the Democratic-controlled canvassing board of bowing to political pressure and manufacturing additional votes for Gore.
  • Democrats say that the hand recounts are the fairest way to get an accurate count of all votes cast in the presidential election.
  • The process is expected to be completed in both Broward and Palm Beach counties, but officials in Miami-Dade County acknowledged that it would be extraordinarily difficult to meet their deadlines.
  • The hand recounts are a chaotic and unruly process that is vulnerable to evolving standards, workers' subjectivity, wear and tear of the ballots, and even outright mischief.

Statistics:

  • 428 of Broward County's 609 precincts have been manually counted by tonight, with Mr. Gore having a net gain of 108 votes over the official tallies.
  • 31 of 531 precincts have been completed in Palm Beach County, with Mr. Bush having a net gain of 12 votes.
  • The hand recounts in Broward and Palm Beach counties have yet to produce the huge surge of additional votes for Mr. Gore that the Democrats had hoped to see.
  • The Broward County Canvassing Board has estimated that hundreds of votes could be affected by their decision to review the ballots in the "undervote" category.
  • The Democrats have accused the Republicans of challenging one in five ballots in Palm Beach County as an attempt to delay the process.

Sources:

  • The New York Times, November 17, 2000
  • Palm Beach Post, November 17, 2000
  • Miami Herald, November 17, 2000