And the lawsuit has been filed. http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB973731700780133282.htm # # November 9, 2000 # # Lawsuit to Recover Lost Gore Votes Overshadows the Recount in # Florida # # By GLENN R. SIMPSON, JACKIE CALMES and CHAD TERHUNE Staff # Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL # # Overshadowing a state ballot recount in the tightest presidential # election in memory, Democrats filed suit to help Al Gore recover # thousands of votes he may have lost because of a confusing ballot # in Palm Beach County. # # Democratic State Sen. Ron Klein and lawyer Jeffrey Liggio, # official observers in the Palm Beach County recount, said county # officials disqualified 19,120 presidential votes here on Tuesday # because voters selected more than one candidate. That is about # 4.14% of total votes cast in the county for president, an # unusually high figure, says Mr. Klein. # # The figures were confirmed by Carol Roberts, a county commissioner # and a member of the Palm Beach County canvassing board. She added # in an interview that ballots were rejected in the Florida Senate # contest at a far lower rate -- 0.82%. # # Democrats said they believe most of the disqualified votes were # cast for Al Gore and Pat Buchanan by confused voters who intended # to pick Mr. Gore, but inadvertently selected both men because # of the proximity of their names on the paper ballot. If they # are correct, the problem may have cost Mr. Gore a clear margin # of victory here statewide and could boost calls to overturn the # Florida results, which favored George W. Bush by less than 2,000 # votes. # # Late Wednesday, a suit was filed in Palm Beach County circuit # court by three local Democrats to force a new vote in the county # because of the allegedly confusing ballots. # # "It's pretty clear this ballot defect has thwarted the will of # the people in that county in an amount that would appear to be # in excess of the current margin between Bush and Gore statewide # -- well in excess," said Democratic ballot lawyer Chris Sautter, # an adviser to the Gore campaign who isn't involved in the suit. # # The layout of the ballot was intended to make it easier for # seniors to read. "Obviously, it didn't work that way," said Mr. # Klein. # # Democrats are exploring the possibility that the ballot design # violates state standards. An official in the governor's office # disputed the idea, saying the standards only apply to ballots # counted manually. # # Reeve Bright, a lawyer for the Republican Party of Palm Beach # County, conceded the 19,000 disqualified votes occurred. But # that doesn't mean the tossed-out votes were all for Gore, he # stressed. He added that he didn't know whether the total was # an unusually high one. # # "They're just blowing smoke," he said of Democrats' concerns. # "Are they trying to say the voters are that incompetent, that # they can't read and follow directions?" # # Complaints of ballot confusion and the lawsuit came as state # officials were outlining the process by which all 67 Florida # counties would recount the ballots cast Tuesday and help determine # which candidate wins the state's 25 electoral votes. As of # Wednesday morning, George W. Bush led by about 1,800 votes of # the nearly six million cast. # # "What happens here will determine the next presidency of the # United States," said Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth. # # Appearing with Mr. Butterworth was Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the # Republican candidate's brother. To avoid the appearance of a # conflict of interest, Jeb Bush said he won't serve on the # three-member state canvassing board that will meet to certify # final results after Florida counties complete their recount. # # State officials had set 5 p.m. Thursday as the deadline for the # recount, but the governor suggested a further wrinkle: An # estimated 3,000 ballots still arriving from Florida military # personnel abroad could further delay the outcome by as many as # 10 days. # # Florida's electoral votes would give either Mr. Bush or Mr. Gore # the election. Without Florida, Mr. Gore leads narrowly in the # national popular vote, and he carried enough states to compile # 260 electoral votes -- 10 shy of the 270 needed for an Electoral # College majority. Mr. Bush has 246 electoral votes. Besides # Florida, Oregon was also still too close to call Wednesday because # of delays in counting ballots in what was the state's first # mail-in presidential election. But Oregon's seven electoral votes # aren't enough to give either man the majority. # # Meanwhile, the two campaigns each dispatched a former U.S. # secretary of state -- Warren Christopher for Mr. Gore, and James # Baker for Mr. Bush -- to monitor events here. # # Locally, Florida's county officials were largely on their own # to figure out how to recount the votes in their areas. Many # expected the recount to take only a few hours, but scheduling # conflicts with their canvassing boards were causing delays. # # "Most of us were in at 5:30 a.m. and went home after midnight. # And now we're recreating yesterday. It will be a long night," # Marilyn Gerkin, supervisor of elections in Sarasota County, said. # # Democrat Kurt Browning, a Pasco County elections supervisor, # said a recount was almost certain to show differences from the # original count across the state, in part because of "hanging # chads." Those are bits of paper that sometimes cling to the punch # cards used in most of Florida's larger counties, filling in the # punch hole and effectively invalidating the voter's choice if # counted by machine. When counted by hand, it is easier to # distinguish the voter's selection and validate the ballot. # # In Orange County in Central Florida, Elections Supervisor Bill # Cowles was going through a few hundred rejected ballots by hand # with his canvassing board. The ballot-counting machines had thrown # out those ballots Tuesday because of stray pen marks or voters # choosing two candidates in the same race. They hadn't been counted # at all until Wednesday, so Mr. Gore and Mr. Bush stood to gain # a few votes. # # Once conducted, the ballot recounts will be submitted to the # state canvassing board, which, besides Florida Gov. Bush, includes # Secretary of State Katherine Harris and Division of Elections # Chief Clay Roberts. The secretary of state's office will name # a replacement for Gov. Bush. # # Any challenge of the results would likely require legal action, # for which both sides were preparing. Florida Democrats announced # a "voter fraud hotline" to collect complaints that could form # the basis of a challenge. # # Regarding the Palm Beach County lawsuit, local-elections # supervisor Theresa LePore said in a statement that her office # has an "unblemished record of public trust." We remain committed # to protecting this reputation," the statement continued. She # estimated the recount in Palm Beach County would take about six # hours after starting Wednesday afternoon. # # Others contend the ballot flap was nonsense. "This is a # manufactured controversy," says Rep. Mark Foley (R., Fla.), the # local congressman. Mr. Buchanan received 3,407 votes in Palm # Beach County yesterday and 8,788 votes there in the 1996 GOP # primary. So, Mr. Foley reasons, Tuesday's results aren't that # "out of whack." # # The problems in Palm Beach County echo the last statewide ballot # controversy in Florida, when Connie Mack beat Buddy MacKay for # a U.S. Senate seat in 1988. The design of the Palm Beach County # ballot was a major problem in that race as well. A recount did # not change the outcome, and though Democrats complained, they # did not take legal action. # # South Florida had a recent bout with voter fraud that triggered # tougher state laws in 1998 on voting by absentee ballot. # Investigations found rampant absentee-ballot fraud in the 1997 # Miami mayoral race, including vote-brokering and the buying and # selling of votes, and a court ordered a new election. The U.S. # Justice Department later rejected the state reforms, saying they # could discriminate against a high number of minority voters who # rely on absentee voting because of a lack of transportation or # the ability to get time off from work.