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State supreme courts are generally the definitive interpreters of state election law, and in this case the Florida court declared that it had to resolve two conflicting legislative provisions. Section 102.111 states that county returns not received by the secretary of state by 5 p.m. of the seventh day following an election shall be ignored. But Section 102.166(1) provides that losing candidates have the right to ask for recounts up until the time the local board certifies its results. Many counties, particularly large ones like Miami-Dade, might not be able to conduct full manual recounts if the seven-day deadline were strictly enforced. Given this conflict, the high court ruled that it had to give precedent to determining accurately the will of the voters.
Among the issues the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to consider is whether the Florida court violated federal law by changing the state's election laws after the voting. Democrats insist that resolving the conflicting provisions did not amount to rewriting the law. Somewhat ironically, they also find themselves on the side of states' rights in arguing against the Republicans that state rather than federal courts should be the final arbiter of state election laws. Bush brought the case to the Supreme Court, and it might be considered moot if he's the top vote getter in the later as well as earlier tallies.
ABSENTEE BALLOTS
--Will uncounted absentee ballots now be counted?
The Republicans are fighting to reinstate absentee ballots, many from overseas military personnel, that were rejected on technical grounds. In this fight, the Republicans and Democrats have switched their usual positions. The Democrats want the election law applied strictly. The Republicans are arguing for more lenient rules.
At stake are perhaps hundreds of ballots sent in by military voters that lack a postmark. Florida law requires that ballots be postmarked no later than Election Day. But Republicans argue that military voters sometimes have no control over when and how their mail gets postmarked.
The Republicans filed a lawsuit last week in Leon County to compel 14 predominantly Republican counties to get these ballots counted. The Republicans contend that the Democrats had a systematic plan to disenfranchise military voters; the Democrats say they were only making sure that illegal ballots were not counted. The argument that military voters should not be disenfranchised because of factors beyond their control is a solid one, and it has great p.r. value. The Leon County judge listened patiently to the Bush arguments on Friday but then expressed skepticism about whether there was much he could do at this point. The next day the Republicans dropped that lawsuit and decided to sue several counties directly. The canvassing boards in some of those counties have re-examined their absentee ballots, giving Bush a net gain of dozens of votes over the weekend.