Florida secretary of state denies counties' requests to amend vote counts

[Michael]

Tee_Edwards - There is more to it than just that. The State of Florida feels that the manual count is only required in certain circumstances which have not been triggered. The deadline and waiving of the deadline appears to be under the control of the SoS. She has made a ruling. At this point, it is going to the Florida Supreme Court for a decision and they're the ones who will be interpreting the law.

Michael

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Michael:

Hmm . . . the issue, though, is that the law to which you refer, which provides for the deadline, appears to conflict with the law that provides candidates with the right to request a manual recount. I think you are not completely correct, in that the deadline is no longer substantively at issue, but essentially right in your characterization of the situation. The thing is, the law does not require the candidate to articulate any particular reason why there should be a recount, and that is where I think the SoS is overreaching. Once the county canvassing commission authorizes the manual recount, the law seems to provide that the count will go forward.

I am not a Florida lawyer, in all fairness (I am licensed in California), and this is not an area I have researched with any thoroughness. It does, however, strike me as problematic that a Bush partisan is making such a critical decision in the outcome of the election.

 

[Michael]

Tee_edwards - At this point, it is up to the Florida Supreme Court to decide. The County judge affirmed the SoS's right to use her discretion and confirmed that there is some type of conflict between the two statutes. The SoS feels that the criteria that the local canvassing boards need to have a choice of a manual count were not met and she therefore does not have to entend the deadline.

I've posted my thoughts on why I think that the SoS will prevail. Chess9 pointed out that the court is filled with appointee's from Democratic governors and he is betting they will allow the counts.

I have a sincere hope that the Supreme Court will rule before the absentee ballots are counted. The worst possible outcome would be Bush to be "certified" as the winner and then the hand counts reverse that and be allowed.

Michael

 

[wiin]

navy flying home lost absentee ballots. lost? How did that happen? Was this another trick of the OTHER team (hint: NOT Bush)? Read it LOST BALLOTS In the event that the page is no longer there, do a search or look in the archive. Come Saturday, Will Bush be the next President of the United States of America?. I hope so.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Wiin:

Jeez louise, do you work for worldnetdaily or do they just give you kickbacks? That place is not a reputable news source and, as a military member, I find that whole line of logic (i.e., that the Democrats somehow blocked the shipment of absentee ballots, even though most military leadership and members are Republicans) really silly.

As I told you via PM, that whole page is filled with partisan rhetoric, including the statement that "the modern Democratic Party is little more than a bastion for socialists, communist thinkers and usurpers of the Constitution."

 

[Shuxclams]

I am in 100% agreement with Red, not much of a surprise, as far as the S.O.S. denying the request......."OH big surprise there!" not.




SHUX

 

[DefRef]

To add to the manure pile: Affidavits have been filed charging the Democratic head of the Pam Beach Vote Fabrication Unit with...uh...fabricating votes. Would you like to know more?

 

[jobert]

I think if you folks take a quiet five minutes
to CAREFULLY READ both laws, you will find there
really is no conflict.

What these laws say is:
YOU CAN GET A RECOUNT, BUT THE JOB MUST BE DONE
BY A WEEK AFTER THE ELECTION, SO YOU HAD BETTER
TAKE IT SERIOUSLY AND MOVE FAST. THE LAW SUGGESTS
THAT YOU QUICKLY TEST A FEW PRECINCTS, WHICH CAN BE
DONE IN A MATTER OF HOURS, TO SEE IF ITS WORTH
GOING FORWARD WITH THE ENTIRE COUNTY. AND IF YOU DO
GO FORWARD WITH THE ENTIRE COUNTY, DON'T FORGET
THAT THE COUNTY HAS A DEADLINE FOR CERTIFYING WITH
THE STATE.
THE ONLY DEBATABLE QUESTION IS:
IS THE LAW UNCONSTITUTIONAL IN THAT IT REQUIRES
THE RECOUNT (ANY KIND OF RECOUNT... MACHINE or MANUAL)
TO BE ACCOMPLISHED IN A WEEK?

 

[ride525]

Has Kathleen Harris TOTALLY lost it?

According to CNN, today she filed something with the Florida Surpreme Court, saying that the high court doesn't have the authority to make decisions on hand counts.

Boy, that ought to get the court on her side. And I thought the Florida Supreme Court was the ultimate authority in deciding Florida's laws.

This just gets more and more interesting.....

 

[Aceman]

ride525,
Welcome to the checks and balances and divisions of powers in a democratic government. Ms. Harris is simply flexing her power reminding the court that as long as she is within the laws that she has been entrusted in executing, they have no say so in the matter until a law is brokken or misinturpreted.

 

[ride525]

She can certainly have her view of how to interpret Florida election law. But wouldn't you agree, the Florida Supreme Court is there to settle disputes in Florida law.

There is a dispute over Florida State law going on here, and I'd be shocked if the Florida Supreme Court doesn't have authority to settle it.

 

[Russ]

<< ?She noted that this incident did occur during the hand count of the presidential election and LePore stated she did not wish to pursue further this matter at this time due to extenuating circumstances,? it said. >>



&quot;Extenuating circumstances&quot; would, of course, be defined as: Well, he's a democrat and so am I.

Russ, NCNE

 

[HoopDogg]

when is the madness going to end??

:?

I know Bust won by a few votes
good enough for me!
he's the new president

 

[ride525]

<< ?She noted that this incident did occur during the hand count of the presidential election and LePore stated she did not wish to pursue further this matter at this time due to extenuating circumstances,? it said.
&quot;Extenuating circumstances&quot; would, of course, be defined as: Well, he's a democrat and so am I. >>



Russ, you have finally lost me on this one...is this in the right thread?

EDIT: oh...it's a quote from the Votomatic being borrowed.....
Russ, this doesn't seem much of story to me......I mean some guy is running around with a voting machine.......probably not the right thing to do.....perhaps he should have slight punishment...but what really does it have to do with who wins in Florida....

 

[Tripleshot]

>>>Drink up folks,it's not over yet. You might as well sit back and enjoy it. <<<

ROTFLMAO Thanks Red Dawn. You know Thats what I'm doing. Best high drama since the Luke and Laura adventures on General Hospital!!!

 

[Hulk]

If you stare at one of those voting cards long enough it'll confess!

 

[Michael]

I'm agreeing with all the court ruling so far. I thin kthat it is a local decision on whether or not to recount votes. All the Florida Supreme Court is saying is that they do not have the authority to tell the Counties to stop. I think that the SoS does have the right to decide, using her descretion, if the recounts will be accepted.

I can easily see Bush winning the &quot;certified&quot; election count. Then recount results are released showing that Gore had the most votes, if they were considered. Even if the Florida Supreme Court would back up the SoS, Bush will have to deal with the PR effect of the public knowing that the unofficial vote count showed Gore on top.

The best that Bush can hope for is that the court backs up Harris' right to call an end to the certification process and then the counties deciding to not finish their counts. That will be up to Gore. If he knows he will lose the legal battle, then releasing any handcount totals will simply be for PR purposes. If there is no rulinh by that time, then why blame him?

Bush was outmaneouvered on the hand counts, but I don't think that the type of voting machine used the more heavily Republican areas will have both the same error rate and as much room to &quot;interpret&quot; the ballots.

At the end of the day, both sides are fighting to win. I don't begrudge the &quot;partisan&quot; stands, if they did not believe in what the were fighting for, then both men should not have been running. Both are fighting for what they feel is right.

Michael

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Good little piece of analysis there, Michael.

 

[Michael]

It looks like we'll have the first real indication at 10 AM EST tomorrow.

Until the judge rules, we're all just guessing.

Michael

 

[cxim]

checks &amp; balances ? shiiiiit.... not one of the counties gave a reason as to why the amended count would be delayed...

they said the initial count was off.... not why nor how long it would take tp correct...

The whole point was that there was a deadline for a certified vote count....PB county in particular said that there were uncounted votes...

They gave no reason why they had not counted these votes earlier.. or why it would take extra time to count them....

kind of dead in the water... I thought 3% of the voters in PB county were dumb.... looks like it goes all the way to the Top in Pb county...

why did they not try to correct the count in the alloted time ???

 

[wiin]

In Palm Beach, you can get a hand recount only if you are a democrat. In a September primary for the florida house, Beverly Green lost by 14 votes. When she asked for a manual recount, the three person canvassing board(yes, the same three: Theresa Lepore, Carol roberts and county judge james burton) denied her that right. Their excuse? that the hand recount could only be authorized if there were proof of equipment failure or voter fraud.

 

[Zucchini]

Ick that republican B*tch! Her discression my a$$..

 

[wiin]

Gore Campaign threatens harris with &quot;Whitewater-style&quot; investigation. Found this Here

Tee_Edwards: see i don't depend on worldnetdaily.com only for the news.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Wiin:

That site is even more laughably partisan than worldnetdaily, and has roughly the same &quot;journalistic&quot; tenor as the Weekly World News. If these two constitute your only news sources, I am surprised you have not posted anything about Gore's alien love child, or how he was born a woman!

 

[etech]

Gore was born a women?, I didn't know that, got a link or a picture?