Florida Supreme Court to ponder recount arguments

Monday, November 20th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (CNN) -- The race for the White House awaits a crucial decision from the Florida Supreme Court, after a hearing in which a lawyer for Texas Gov. George W. Bush argued against including manual recounts in Florida's final tally.

Lawyers for Vice President Al Gore, the counties conducting the recounts and Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth -- Gore's campaign chairman in the state -- argued that a hand recount would more accurately reflect the intentions of voters and should be allowed.

Recounts sought by Gore's campaign are under way in heavily Democratic Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Bush and Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris -- the Bush campaign's co-chairwoman in the state -- argue that the hand recount process came too late and is riddled with human error.

Harris is claiming the authority to certify state election results and refuse to accept any returns filed by Florida counties after November 14.

"You've got to keep to that deadline to have time to do the election contest after that," said Michael Carvin, the lawyer representing the Bush campaign.

Those results, and the absentee ballots counted Friday and Saturday, give Bush a lead of 930 votes in the presidential race in Florida, with the state's 25 electoral votes poised to provide the margin of victory in the Electoral College.

Joseph Klock, a lawyer for Harris, argued that the matter "is not really a legal problem, it's a political problem." Klock argued that Harris should be allowed to certify the results of Florida's vote and let the loser contest them -- perhaps using the results from the hand counts.

"The court is being brought into something that it does not need to be involved in," Klock said.

David Boies, the lawyer representing Gore before the high court, said nothing in state law prevents counties from amending their election returns after the November 14 deadline that Harris has tried to enforce.

Boies argued that votes may not need to be certified until December 12, six days before the Electoral College meets to choose a president. That would allow time for either candidate to challenge the results before the electors gather in their state capitals.

Boies tried to address the Bush campaign's arguments over recounts in selected counties by noting that "Wherever there has been a manual recount requested, the counties have gone forward." And he argued that the Supreme Court "has within its equitable power to have a statewide recount, if you concluded that that was necessary."

Neither presidential candidate currently holds the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. Gore's campaign hopes the full hand recounts in the three counties, where as many as 1.7 million ballots were cast, give him the votes needed to overcome Bush's razor-thin lead in Florida.

Paul Hancock, a lawyer for Butterworth, argued that Harris acted wrongly when she refused last week to recognize votes resulting from the manual recounts.

"Public officials have a responsibility to count and recognize the votes of all Floridians who voted in this presidential election," Hancock said. "Factors such as administrative inconvenience, expediency or the limitations of vote-reading machines pale in comparison to protecting the voting rights of our citizens."

Chief Justice Charles Wells opened the session by acknowledging the session's "vital importance to our nation, our state and our world." The justices will deliberate after the hearing, but it is not known how soon they might rule on the matter.

To see and read any of the briefs filed by Gore or Bush campaign teams, click here.