Thankful for Democracy?
It was on this day in 2000 that the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments in the case of Bush Vs. Gore, to decide whether the hand recounts of the Presidential election in the state of Florida were lawful.
…As a result, 60,000 undervotes and 113,000 overvotes were never officially examined or counted…
The first recount had been done by machines, and in that recount George W. Bush’s lead had shrunk from 1,784 votes to only 327. But there had been problems with thousands of ballots in four counties: Volusia, Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade. Al Gore asked for manual recounts in three of those four counties, Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade, which also happened to be heavily Democratic counties.
What became so controversial was the fact that there were many so-called undervotes in these counties that had been disqualified and never counted. In the case of punchcard ballots, some of them simply hadn’t been punched properly, and election workers had to determine the voter’s intent.
The Republican Secretary of State Katherine Harris, who had helped campaign for George W. Bush, tried to stop all the manual recounts. She announced that she would certify the election for George W. Bush before the recounts were finished. After a series of court cases, the Florida State Supreme Court ruled that the Secretary of State had to give time for the recounts to be completed, and the court set the deadline for Sunday, November 26.
The day before Thanksgiving, the Bush legal team turned to Supreme Court to try to stop the recounts. The Bush lawyers claimed that the Florida State Supreme Court had violated an obscure law from 1887, prohibited states from changing the rules after the date of that election, and that the Florida Court had usurped the Florida legislature’s exclusive powers to set the procedures for selecting electors, as provided for by Article II of the United States Constitution.
At the time, most legal commentators believed that the Supreme Court would not get involved in the case, because a majority of the justices believed strongly in states’ rights. It was Justice Anthony Kennedy who made the initial decision that the court should hear the case.
The Supreme Court ultimately ruled twice. First, they ruled that the Florida State Supreme Court had to clarify its own ruling. But when the Florida Sate Supreme Court responded by ordering a statewide recount of undervotes, the Supreme Court intervened and stopped the recount from going forward. It eventually ruled in a 5 to 4 decision that a statewide recount would violate the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment, because there was no statewide standard for counting undervotes. The decision effectively decided the election for George W. Bush. As a result, 60,000 undervotes and 113,000 overvotes were never officially examined or counted.
From the Writer’s Almanac by Garrison Keillor
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Two facts that you do not mention, and indeed you may not have heard in Canada.
First - the basis for rejecting the request for the Florida recount requested by Gore was that he only wanted to recount certain counties (where he thought he’d win). Had he initially requested a straightforward statewide recount, there would have been no basis to deny his request. But because he wanted to recount only ‘his’ undervotes, the denial was upheld. So, Gore was defeated by his own impulse to be too clever.
Second - the ballots WERE recounted, by news organizations hoping for further scandal, so it is not correct to say that the ballots were never counted. Bush still won.
Interesting.. perhaps a rereading of the second paragraph of the article where is talks about Gore wanting to recount democratic districts is in order?
For the purposes of election, the ballots were not counted officially the “news” organizations notwithstanding.