Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 7 · column 3 of 5 · from the scan, no model involved
on the doors of the recount room,
and intimidated the re-counters to
such an extent that they gave up.
3. Delaying Tactics. When Mr. Gore sought recounts in several counties, he noted that there were a large number of both under votes and over votes. The over votes (two votes for president) were caused by a butterfly ballot" that because of the placement of the candidates' names thereon, confused the Gore vote but not the Bush vote. The ballot, which was used in a county that was heavily Democratic, was inconsistent with Florida law. The under votes were caused by incompetent voting machines that used punched ballots to record the votes. Some 40,000 ballots, when run through the machines failed to show any vote for president. These incompetent machines were located in poor districts with Democratic majorities. The rich districts in the State had better machines. Nevertheless, the Bush campaign opposed the recounts in Florida courts and, having been successful before Judge Saul in the trial court, forced Mr. Gore to appeal all the way to the Florida Supreme Court for relief.
D. The Constitution provides that the Congress may determine the time by which the electors must have been finally certified and the day on which they give their votes. These dates were Dec. 12 and Dec. 18, respectively. Accordingly, the time available for recounts extended from Nov. 7 (election day) to Dec. 12, when the electors must have been finally certified. While this period of time was more than adequate for manual recounts, the strategy of the Bush campaign was, as noted above, to obstruct and delay the recounts until the first deadline (Dec. 12) made such recounts impossible.
E. Mr. Gore's initial efforts were intended to obtain a recount in several counties, where the under votes were substantial. The Florida Supreme Court, however, ordered that manual recounts be undertaken throughout the State, rather than in the several counties urged by Mr. Gore. When this opinion was handed down, there was adequate time to complete the recounts before the Dec. 12 deadline. The recounts began at once.
F. Mr. Bush's campaign appealed this decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which took jurisdiction and stayed the recounts on Saturday, Dec. 9. On the following Monday, Dec. 11, the court heard arguments in the case and issued a 5-4 decision reversing the Florida decision, thus handing the election to Mr. Bush. The reasoning of the majority was that the generalized test for recounts stated by the Florida Court (the "clear intention of the voter") was not specific enough to insure that all voters would enjoy the "equal protection of the law".
As a result, the decision was held to be unconstitutional. The Court did not address the question whether the thousands of voters whose votes were not counted because of defective voting machines were accorded equal protection of the law. Furthermore, two members of the majority had a conflict of interest. It was well known that Chief Justice Rehnquist wanted to resign from the Court during a Republican presidency so that his views of federalism, among other things, could be maintained. Justice Scalia, for his part,
95.7%