Back essay by Carl Pridemore
However, Florida law also
required all counties to certify their election returns to the Florida
Secretary of State within seven days of the election,[5]
and several of the counties conducting manual recounts did not
believe they could meet this deadline. On November 14, the statutory
deadline, the Florida Circuit Court ruled that the seven-day
deadline was mandatory, but that the counties could amend their
returns at a later date. The court also ruled that the Secretary,
after "considering all attendant facts and circumstances," had
discretion to include any late amended returns in the statewide
certification.[6]
Prior to the 5 p.m. deadline on November 14, Volusia County
completed its manual recount and certified its results. At 5 p.m. on
November 14, Florida Secretary of State Katherine
Harris announced that she was in receipt of the certified
returns from all 67 counties, while Palm Beach, Broward, and
Miami-Dade counties were still conducting manual recounts.[7]
Harris issued a set of criteria[1]
by which she would determine whether to allow late filings, and she
required any county seeking to make a late filing to submit to her,
by 2 p.m. the following day, a written statement of the facts and
circumstances justifying the late filing. Four
counties submitted statements, and after reviewing the submissions
Harris determined that none justified an extension of the filing
deadline. She further announced that after she received the
certified returns of the overseas absentee ballots from each county,
she would certify the results of the presidential election on
Sunday, November 26, 2000.[1]
On that date, she certified Bush the winner and litigation ensued.
Now we have a certified, LEGAL election. No laws have
been broken. What happens next? Al Gore, unwilling to accept defeat,
does what Liberals do when they don’t get their way. He finds a
sympathetic court and files a motion. A recount, of select counties
was granted. I kept hearing, all votes should count but Gore only
wanted four counties to be recounted. They were heavy leaning Liberal
counties. Anyway, Team Gore made a big booboo. They didn’t just want
a recount, they wanted the way a vote was counted to be changed.
Uh-oh, you can’t change rules of the game, after the game is over.
Team Bush files for an injunction to stop, what is in their opinion,
an illegal act. Team Bush’s motion is granted. Team Gore then goes
to the Florida Supreme Court to overturn Team Bush’s injunction. Team
Gore, with the help of the Liberal leaning Florida State Supreme
Court, has Team Bush’s injunction over turned. The recounts are
permitted to begin. Do you remember that guy named Mr. Chad? He
dominated the news cycle. He had a couple of siblings, Hanging Chad,
Pregnant Chad and Indented Chad.
