Court hands Gore a reprieve in election battle

1:30 PM

TALLAHASSEE - Florida's Supreme Court gave Democrat Al Gore a momentous last-minute reprieve by barring the state from certifying election results which could have propelled Republican George W. Bush into the White House.

Late in a day of fast-moving legal and political thrust and counter-thrust, the court, all of whose seven members were appointed by Democrats, ordered Florida's Republican Secretary of State, Katherine Harris, to hold off finalising the tally at least until the court hears further arguments on Tuesday (NZ time).

This paved the way for continued manual recounts in Democratic-dominated counties and kept alive the possibility that Gore could pull ahead of Bush - currently ahead with a razor-thin margin of 300 votes out of 6 million cast in Florida on November 7 in official figures.

It also further delays the moment of truth when the winner of Florida's 25 electoral college votes, and therefore the next president of the world's most powerful nation, will be known after one of the closest elections in U.S. history.

Bush's lead in what has become the kingmaker state was expected to widen as the counting of absentee ballots began on Friday. The deadline for absentee ballots to be received is midnight (6pm Saturday NZ time).

Gore hailed the Supreme Court decision overturning a lower court ruling just hours earlier which had paved the way for Harris to certify the results without taking late hand recounts into account.

"We need to get a fair and accurate count to resolve this election," Gore said. "The American people want to make certain that every vote counts, and that every vote is counted fairly and accurately."

At Bush headquarters in Austin, Texas, cheers broke out after the first ruling. The second was met with disbelief. Aides had no immediate public reaction.

Miami-Dade County said on Friday it would launch a full manual recount of all its 700,000 votes from the election 10 days ago, joining Broward and Palm Beach counties, which had continued their own hand recounts despite the legal rulings.

In Atlanta, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday rejected another case, brought by Florida Republican voters, seeking to block the manual recounts.

The verdict that "states have the primary authority to determine the manner of appointing presidential electors" was the latest of about half-a-dozen rulings in recent days rejecting Republican bids to halt the manual recounts.

The recounts have generally resulted in higher figures for Gore than he achieved after machine counts and have been fiercely opposed by the Republicans, who say the re-examination of the punchcards used in the election is being conducted in an arbitrary and partisan way.

In a further complication in Palm Beach, Circuit Court Judge Jorge LaBarga said he would rule on Monday whether the southeast Florida county should hold a completely new vote.

The county's "butterfly ballot" design caused a furore among Democrats, who said it had confused some would-be Gore voters who mistakenly voted for right-wing Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan.

An attorney for the Bush campaign said LaBarga had no authority to order a revote.

In the first key court ruling of the day on Friday, Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis, himself a Democrat, ruled that Harris - the state's top election official - had acted within her rights in deciding on Wednesday not to include hand recounts which had failed to meet a statutory deadline on Tuesday.

The Democrats had argued that Harris had not complied with Lewis' previous order that she should at least consider including the hand recount results.

But Lewis said Harris had apparently "exercised her reasoned judgment to determine what relevant factors and criteria should be considered", and rejected the Democrats' motion.

A member of Harris's staff said she would abide by the Supreme Court ruling quashing Lewis's judgment.

"Tomorrow we'll count the overseas ballots. They will not be certified and we'll wait for the court on Monday," the aide said.

- REUTERS

Florida Dept. of State Division of Elections

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