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| FLORIDA RECOUNT | |
 November 14, 2000  |
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Betty Ann Bowser reports on today's developments in Florida. |
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JIM LEHRER: This was a deadline day in Florida. The state's 67 counties were to have their recounts submitted to the state by 5 PM Eastern Time. A state judge earlier in the day declined to grant an extension but said Secretary of State Katherine Harris could use discretion in counting returns submitted after 5. And there remained a Friday deadline for absentee ballots to arrive from overseas voters. Officials of one Florida county, Volusia, completed their hand recount today. Palm Beach County resumed its manual recount late in the day, and Miami Dade County the canvassing board voted to begin a hand tally, but officials in Broward County voted not to, a decision that Democrats appealed. Betty Ann Bowser chronicles today's events. BETTY ANN BOWSER: Early this morning the Palm Beach County canvassing board was supposed to begin hand counting all of its 460,000 ballots cast last week, but the office of Florida's secretary of state, Katherine Harris, a Republican, issued an advisory saying that unless there were voting machine errors, the county is not authorized to manually recount ballots. Then, less than an hour later, Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth, a Democrat, issued the opposite opinion, saying Harris' view was at variance with the existing Florida statute and case law. So the canvassing board voted two to one to stop the hand count and decided to ask the Florida supreme court what to do. That action is pending. Charles Burton is chairman of the Palm Beach board. JUDGE CHARLES BURTON: We've got to rely on our government officials, and I've - as difficult as it may have been just trying to stay out of - between the Democrats and the Republicans yelling in your year - you know, we're trying to follow the law here, and we're not trying to make this a partisan issue in any manner whatsoever. BETTY ANN BOWSER: Late this morning, former Secretary of State James Baker, Governor Bush's point man in the election controversy, offered a compromise and a warning. JAMES BAKER: The American people want the parties to find a way to bring this election to an end; therefore, we make the following proposal to the Gore campaign: Both sides should agree to accept the vote count of all the counties at the statutory deadline today 5:00 PM. In addition, both sides should agree to accept the overseas absentee ballots as of midnight Friday in accordance with the law. We have objected to the manual recount in Florida; the Gore campaign has objected to the statutory deadline in Florida. We are offering to accept the manual recount up to the time of the statutory deadline if the Gore campaign will accept that deadline. If the Gore campaign accepts this proposal and drops its litigation, we will dismiss our lawsuit; and then, ladies and gentlemen, the courts will not decide this election. You know, in every election you have to balance, I think, the interests in making sure you have a recount, if necessary, to make certain that the result is accurate and fair. We've had all those, but you've got to balance that against the interests of finality. Why are the markets disturbed? Because they don't see any finality here. Why are some of our friends and indeed probably some of our adversaries overseas looking on this with great interest on the one hand and apprehension on the other? Because they don't see any end to this process. And you all out there don't see any end to it either. BETTY ANN BOWSER: Gore Campaign Manager William Daley, back in Washington to brief Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill, dismissed Baker's proposal as no proposal at all. WILLIAM DALEY: I saw with interest my friend Secretary Baker's proposal, which was really just a reiteration of what the secretary of state had laid out yesterday which, as you know, is in court right now. And I think any further comment on that would be inappropriate until the court rules other than to say that it truly was not proposal. It was strictly, in my opinion, an inaccurate description of the laws of Florida. And, again, the laws of Florida will be determined by the courts not by representatives of these two campaigns. So we should wait until the court rules shortly and then move forward. The goal of all of us is to get to a fair and accurate count, one that confirms the opinions and the decisions of the people of Florida. This is not about, as the Vice President has stated repeatedly, not about the individuals but about upholding the system of democracy which is based upon the right to vote and have our votes accurately counted. And that's what's going on in Florida and we should allow that process to move forward. BETTY ANN BOWSER: And Daley said Baker's worries about international financial markets were exaggerated. WILLIAM DALEY: I think that was probably -- in the calm of day - maybe my friend, Jim Baker, would d reconsider that statement. The only people who have indicated that there was some impact of this on the markets were probably somewhat partisan investment bankers who have made the case. "The markets go up..." As former Secretary Bob Rubin used to say, "the markets go up, the markets go down." I think most honest observers of the market today would say that if there are changes in the market, they're a result of some of the earnings statements that have been put out by the companies, having nothing to do with what's going on in the last week with the political world. BETTY ANN BOWSER: The decision to hold to the 5:00 PM deadline came from a state court in Tallahassee, but the judge said the secretary of state could not arbitrarily ignore returns filed after the deadline. Court administrator Terre Cass read Judge Terry Lewis' decision. TERRE CASS: "I found that the county canvassing board must certify and file what election returns they have by the statutory deadline of 5:00 PM of November 14, 2000, with due notification to the secretary of state, any pending manual recount and may thereafter file supplemental or corrective returns. The secretary of state may ignore such late-filed returns, but may not do so arbitrarily, rather only by the proper exercise of discretion after consideration of all appropriate facts and circumstances. It is ordered and adjudged that the secretary of state is directed to withhold determination as to whether or not to ignore late-filed returns, if any, from plaintiff canvassing boards until due consideration of all relevant facts and circumstances consistent with the sound exercise of discretion. In all other respects, the motion for temporary injunction is denied." BETTY ANN BOWSER: The Democrats immediately declared victory and told the counties to finish their counts as quickly as possible. WARREN CHRISTOPHER: We're pleased by the decision of the circuit court that the secretary of state was wrong in setting a deadline of 5:00 PM today for ending the tabulation of votes. Under this decision, we now have a vehicle for the full, fair, and accurate tabulation of the votes of the citizens of Florida. The court has held, as you probably all know from looking at the decision, that the secretary of state cannot arbitrarily declare that she will not permit votes to be counted after 5:00 PM today. The court holds that she must receive and be prepared to consider vote counts that are reported after that time. That was our principle objective in bringing the case, and indeed the court's opinion on this point is tantamount to the injunction that we sought. DAVID BOIES: We would all hope that the secretary of state, having received this guidance from the court, would do the right thing. We would all hope that she would. Some years ago, the Republican Party sued to get a special election held. And the Supreme Court of Florida ruled that they were entitled to have a special election, but said "we're not going to order it because we're confident that the Governor, who had the ability to call that special election... once the Governor sees the court's opinion, will do the right thing." And I think that we all hope that the secretary of state will do the right thing. Now, if the secretary of state arbitrarily refuses to accept the amended returns based on the recount and violates what this court has ruled is her duty, which is to accept those results unless she has a good reason not to, then we may be back in court. But we all hope... we all hope that what is going to happen here is that the will of the people is going to be heard. The Supreme Court of Florida has said many times that the purpose of an election is to let the people vote and let those votes be counted and to determine who voted for whom and let the winner win. BETTY ANN BOWSER: An attorney for the secretary of state spoke to the press this afternoon. DONNA BLANTON: The secretary is pleased with the decision by Judge Lewis today, but not surprised. The judge recognized that the law requires any county canvassing board to certify their returns by 5 o'clock today. The secretary expects all 67 canvassing boards to do so. But as Judge Lewis indicated in his opinion, if any county canvassing board subsequently desires to amend the return, the secretary will evaluate that request on applicable facts and circumstances. REPORTER: "Facts and circumstances" don't mean anything to most people who are watching us. What specifically would cause the secretary of state to allow some manual ballots to come in, and do you still anticipate that on Saturday you'll know who won Florida? DONNA BLANTON: We do anticipate at this time that we'll be able to certify the election after the overseas absentee ballots are in. Obviously we can't predict. This has been a very strange process we've all been a part of, but we can't predict everything that might happen. But we're not going to speak to what facts or what circumstances would constitute her to exercise her discretion in a particular fashion, because we don't know at the moment what counties may say to us after 5 o'clock today. We anticipate they'll all get their results to us. If they don't, I'm sure they'll have an explanation as to why they cannot. And at that time she'll evaluate each of those requests on their merits. SPOKESMAN: Two more questions. REPORTER: Is what you're saying essentially, these counties may have perhaps until Friday to get their manual counts in if the secretary deems that appropriate, but on Saturday we're going to know who won this state? DONNA BLANTON: We anticipate knowing on Saturday who won this state when all the absentee ballots are in. BETTY ANN BOWSER: Meanwhile in Palm Beach County, as the canvassing board voted to resume its hand count, officials there estimated it could take five 14-hour days to complete. And litigation continued on another front. A group of West Palm Beach voters has asked the courts to order a new county-wide election because of a confusing ballot. JIM LEHRER: Now, obviously the 5:00 PM deadline has passed, and as of 6:13 Eastern Time, Florida's secretary of state still has made no announcement. In a non-Florida development today, the lead in New Mexico swung back to Vice President Gore. He added 500 votes there after officials in one county found they had misread an absentee ballot total. That put him ahead of Governor Bush by 375 votes. At issue are five electoral votes, not enough to affect the outcome of the race for President. |
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