Gore appeals to Florida SC

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, NOV. 30. With time clearly not on his side, the Vice- President, Mr. Al Gore, has appealed directly to the Florida Supreme Court to force another recounting of disputed votes. The Gore campaign sidestepped the Appeals Court process hoping that the seven justices of the top State court - six Democrats and one Independent, but all selected by Democratic Governors - will once again come to its relief.

Earlier this month, the State Supreme Court unanimously ruled for the Vice-President saying manual counting in a few counties be allowed beyond the stipulated deadline.

Public opinion divided

Meanwhile, the latest CBS News/New York Times poll shows the Americans evenly split on whether it is too early for either the Texas Governor, Mr. George Bush, or Mr. Gore to concede. The public is about evenly divided also on whether the Florida Secretary of State's certification last Sunday was ``fair and accurate''. Fifty-two per cent say they have lost patience, but 45 per cent are willing to wait longer.

Lawyers for the Vice-President, in asking the State Appeals Court to move aside, argued that the issues in appeal ``are of great public importance because they directly affect the outcome of the election of the President of the United States and determine the sanctity of the electoral process in the Florida law.''

Two days ago a circuit court judge refused to go by the seven-day schedule presented by the Gore campaign for another recount in Miami Dade and Palm Beach counties that were not included in the final tally of Sunday's certification. The judge instead called for a hearing this Saturday and ordered the movement of not just some 14,000 disputed ballots but nearly all one million of them from the two counties to Tallahassee. The Gore camp wants the Florida Supreme Court to take on the supervision of the recount or order the circuit court judge to begin counting immediately.

The Democrats insist that the Republicans are manoeuvring to run the clock out so that Mr. Bush will have his slate of 25 electors by December 12. But the GOP continues to argue that Mr. Gore had the votes counted thrice in Florida and came up short and that it makes no sense for yet another recount.

The legal battles are not limited to Palm Beach and Miami Dade; there is a battle in Seminole County as well, where Democrats allege that Republicans handled the absentee ballot applications. The Republicans want to know why the Gore campaign is keen on throwing out 15,000 votes after saying every vote counted.

The Florida wrangling is taking place at a time when both the campaigns are taking their issues to the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday. Mr. Bush wants the court to throw out the Florida Supreme Court ruling granting manual counting beyond the original certification deadline; but the Gore lawyers say the matter does not even belong before the U.S. Supreme Court.

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