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Gore Pulled Back From Brink By Florida Supreme Court Ruling
by Patrick Moser
TALLAHASSEE, Florida (AFP) - Florida's Supreme Court brought Al Gore's White House bid back from the dead Friday with a stunning order for recounts of thousands of disputed ballots in the crucial state.
The ruling, a dramatic 11th hour victory for Gore, dashed Republican rival George W. Bush's hopes of being all but confirmed president-elect on Friday after a month-long battle in the courtrooms of Florida - a state both men need to win the presidency.
In a 4-3 split decision, the Supreme Court justices reversed a lower court ruling and ordered that a hand count of more than 9,000 ballots from Miami-Dade County begin immediately.
The court also said other Florida counties that have not done so must conduct a hand tally of their so-called "undervotes" - ballots on which no vote for president was deciphered by a machine reading. The figure was likely to reach the tens of thousands.
Democrats believe this would more than cancel out Bush's razor-thin lead in the southeastern state and send Gore on the road to the White House.
That lead, once about 1,000 votes, was down to just over 150 votes after the justices also ordered the inclusion of previous recounts that were rejected or incomplete.
The Bush campaign immediately announced it would appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court, saying it had no alternative. "We have already put into motion the process to do that," said Bush's legal adviser James Baker.
"Governor Bush is in fine spirits and quite prepared to see this through to its ultimate conclusion, because he feels very confident that he has won this election," the former secretary of state said.
The Gore team, on the other hand, hailed the judgment as a "victory for fairness, accountability and democracy."
"This is an important victory for what has been Al Gore and [running mate] Joe Lieberman's basic principle since Election Day, and that is a full and a fair count of all the votes," said William Daley, Gore's campaign chairman.
Late Friday, Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis held a hearing in the presence of top lawyers from both sides, to determine when to start the recount and how to conduct it.
The Gore team filed a motion asking for the recounts to start Friday night.
Thirty-two teams of two persons each were on call to start tallying the Miami-Dade ballots, which have been in Tallahassee since December 1st after being impounded by the court.
While accepting a recount in Miami-Dade, the justices rejected a request for 3,300 Palm Beach votes to be reexamined.
Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Wells filed a scathing dissent in the ruling, arguing the recounts would result in "confusion and disorder."
Despite Gore's victory, the vice president still faces a string of legal hurdles and a desperate race against time.
By December 12th, Florida must have chosen the 25 electors it will send to the Electoral College, which formally elects the president.
With that date looming, Florida's Republican-dominated legislature Friday named 25 Bush supporters and said they would send them to the college if the legal wrangling is not wrapped up by that date.
Such a move would be sure to ignite a firestorm of controversy.
Under the U.S. system, the winner of the popular vote in a given state is awarded electors equivalent to the number of lawmakers the state has in the U.S. Congress.
Neither candidate can win the 270 votes needed to become president without Florida's 25 electors.
In a declaration read at the session, lawmakers said Florida risked losing its representation at the Electoral College.
"I will not allow six million Florida voters to be disenfranchised," said Senate President John McKay.
But Democrats in both houses said the move would represent a violation of the U.S. constitution.
"I believe this procedure is illegal, unconstitutional and just plain wrong," said Florida Senate minority leader Tom Rossin.
He said Republicans "instigated this special session, not to ensure that Florida's electoral are counted, but to make sure George W. Bush's results are certified, even if in the end it turns out Vice President Al Gore was the people's choice in Florida."
The Florida Supreme Court decision completely overshadowed another ruling earlier in the day that was seen as a serious setback for Gore.
Two Florida judges rejected demands filed by Democratic voters for thousands of votes to be disqualified because Republicans allegedly tampered with applications for absentee ballots in two Florida counties.
The judges ruled that "despite irregularities in the request for absentee ballots, neither the sanctity of the ballots nor the integrity of the election has been compromised and that the election results reflect a full and fair expression of the will of the voters," a court spokeswoman said.
The plaintiffs in both cases immediately appealed the decision.
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