Court rules Florida Secretary of State's rejection of hand recounts can stand

Court administrator Terre Cass announces Leon County judge's decision. TALLAHASSEE, Florida (CNN) -- Leon County, Florida, Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis ruled Friday

Friday, November 17th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Court administrator Terre Cass announces Leon County judge's decision.

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (CNN) -- Leon County, Florida, Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis ruled Friday that Republican Secretary of State Katherine Harris had exercised her judgment in deciding that recounted votes would not be counted. He rejected the plea by Democrats to require her to consider those votes.

Republican George W. Bush now has an official lead of 300 votes over Democrat Al Gore. Harris has said the only additional votes she'll accept in the final tally are from overseas mail-in ballots, a position supported by the Bush camp.

Democrats had asked Lewis to overrule Harris, who has sought to stop hand recounts.

Under Florida law, the state's 67 counties may count any overseas absentee vote received by midnight tonight. Harris says counties have until noon Saturday to report their new totals to her before she issues her final certification.

At issue are Florida's 25 electoral votes. Without them, neither candidate can have the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.

Latest developments:
â€¢ Broward and Palm Beach counties -- heavily Democratic areas around Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach -- on Friday resumed working their way by hand through hundreds of thousands of ballots. It is unclear how today's court ruling in Leon County will affect the ballot recount.

â€¢ A state judge is holding a hearing at this hour in Palm Beach County as he tries to decide whether, under the U.S. Constitution, he has authority to order a revote in a presidential election. Circuit Court Judge Jorge Labarga said he would not rule on the issue today but would issue a written order next week. (More on the constitutionality of the Palm Beach revote)

â€¢ Gore representative Warren Christopher told CNN Friday morning that Gore would "absolutely not" concede the election if Florida on Saturday declares Bush the winner. With hand recounts still proceeding "that would be a mistake," he told CNN.

â€¢ Bush camp spokeswoman Mindy Tucker predicted that any hand recounts would be inaccurate, no matter which candidate they favor. The reason, she told CNN, is because each county has different recounting standards.

â€¢ In Atlanta, Georgia, a U.S. appeals court considering constitutional issues in the recount battle has collected a new round of written arguments from the Bush and Gore camps. Each side responded to briefs filed by the opposition. As of Friday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has not said when, or if, a hearing for oral arguments will be held before the 12-judge panel.

â€¢ Election officials in all 67 Florida counties say they'll begin tallying their overseas ballots as soon as they receive Friday's mail delivery. The total could number roughly 2,300, according to data supplied to CNN by county officials.

â€¢ A state court hearing will be held Friday as Florida Republicans seek to stop the Broward recount.

â€¢ Election officials in Miami-Dade, Florida's largest county, are considering Friday whether to launch their own hand tally.

â€¢ Election officials in Collier County are not conducting a county-wide recount but they do plan to amend their official vote tally Friday after figuring in 25 previously uncounted ballots.

â€¢ A Florida Supreme Court ruling Thursday allowed hand recounts to continue. In a unanimous, one-paragraph order, the seven-judge panel did not address whether Harris should be required to accept the results, leaving that issue for another day.

CNN Miami Bureau Chief John Zarrella, CNN Legal Analyst Greta Van Susteren, Correspondents Mike Boettcher, Susan Candiotti, Eileen O'Connor, Bill Hemmer, Jeanne Meserve, Bob Franken, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report, written by CNN.com Senior Writer Jim Morris.