by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright November 12, 2000
All Rights Reserved.

ore powerful than Hurricane Hugo are the political riptides now buffeting South Florida and Palm Beach County in the wake of Tuesday’s razor-close election, leaving a mere 327 votes separating Democrat, Vice President Al Gore from Republican, Texas Gov. George W. Bush for Florida’s grand electoral prize. With the presidency hanging in the balance, the political rhetoric and posturing are heating up. "For the good of the country, and for the sake of our standing in the world, the campaigning should end and the business of an orderly transition of power should begin," said former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, Bush’s point man, imploring the Gore campaign to give it up. Despite only 327 votes separating the candidates in Florida, Baker urged Gore to step aside, even before the final absentee ballots were counted. "Calls for a declaration of victory before all the votes are accurately tabulated are inappropriate," insisted Gore campaign chairman Bill Daley, cautioning that it’s premature to jump the gun, despite GOP declarations of victory.

       While all eyes are on the impending legal battle in the Sunshine State, the GOP turned up the heat, "At some point . . . Florida’s voters, and indeed all Americans, are entitled to some finality," said Baker, spearheading efforts to secure the election. After the recent mechanical recount shrunk Bush’s margin from 1780 to only 327 votes, Baker insists that there’s no reason for ordering further hand recounts. Taking exception, another former Secretary of State and Gore emissary Warren Christopher disagreed, "The importance of getting it right outweighs the importance of rushing to judgment." Opposing the hand recount, the GOP creates the impression that they have something to hide. With the election still too close to call, hand recounting is regarded as a perfectly legitimate remedy. "This procedure is authorized under Florida law, under Texas law and under the law of many other jurisdictions," remarked Christopher, challenging Baker’s comments that hand counting would permanently taint the results.

       Both sides have a lot to lose and a lot to gain by digging in their heels on hand recounting. With Bush still out in front, the GOP fears that their narrow margin is evaporating. Democrats already think they’ve been robbed of over 20 thousand votes in Palm Beach County due to double-punched ballots and ballot confusion. Much has already been made of Palm Beach County’s notorious "butterfly" ballot causing widespread confusion and errant choices. Even candidate Pat Buchanan, and his sister and campaign manager Bay Buchanan, admitted that the 3400 votes they received in Palm Beach County seemed disproportionately high, and probably resulted from a confusing ballot listing Buchanan—not Gore—second. With most people agreeing that redoing the election is unfeasible, the current focus remains on hand recounting. While Americans seem to be growing impatient, a Newsweek poll indicated that they, in fact, prefer by a 72%-25% margin, to resolve the vote discrepancy by accurately and thoroughly recounting the ballots.

       Narrowing the gap in the last recount, Democrats believe that quirks with punch-card ballots, leaving so-called "chads" or paper perforations still attached to the ballots, may have prevented mechanical counting machines from properly registering voter choices. Supporting the hand recount, some Republicans, like GOP strategist and former White House aid James Pinkerton, don’t concur with Baker’s efforts to obtain a court order to block the hand recount. Opposing a new election in Palm Beach County, Pinkerton insisted, "But no one can argue against a fair recount of the election you already had." Well, apparently Bush’s operatives believe that hand counting might prove fatal to their cause. "If Gov. Bush believes that he has won the election in Florida, he should not have any reason to doubt or to fear to have the machine count checked by a hand count," said Daley, urging Bush to drop his lawsuit in federal court trying to block the hand recount. While Mr. Baker claims that hand recounting opens up a can of worms, Mr. Christopher insists, "Machines can sometimes misread or fail to detect the way ballots are punched, particularly if there is a design flaw in the ballots themselves."

       Florida law and legal hurdles still hamper recounting efforts, since certification of election results is supposed to meet Florida’s Tuesday deadline. Recounting could take several weeks, casting doubt on whether U.S. District Court Judge Donald E. Middlebrooks could extend Florida’s deadline, should he rule that a hand recount should proceed. Most legal analysts fear the slippery slope of unending litigation challenging the closest presidential election in recent memory. Even Kennedy’s narrow victory in 1960 against Richard Nixon didn’t hinge on a single crucial electoral college victory. While Gore’s popular vote margin is nearly double Kennedy’s, the electoral margin is infinitely closer. Given negligible votes—at least at this point—separating Gore and Bush, it’s hard to imagine any scenario that doesn’t involve a patient, methodical and thorough recount. Though rushing to judgment certainly favors one of the candidates, lingering uncertainty would cast an irreversible pall on the results. Given both side’s opposite agendas, it’s clear that only an impartial hearing can resolve sticking points.

       Preserving a fair election, both sides need help resolving remaining discrepancies leaving the American public in the dark about the outcome of their presidential election. Because Florida’s election is still too close to call, every effort must be made to determine who really won the contest. If the outcome can’t be determined by automated counting, then Florida law permits hand recounting. Whether that favors one side or the other, it’s ludicrous to argue that hand counting is subject to fraud, abuse and therefore should be prohibited. To date, there’s far more credible evidence that verifiable failures with Florida’s punch-card system inaccurately counted pivotal votes. Before automation, yes, human beings were responsible for tallying up the results. No one claimed fraud and chicanery then, why should they now? Both sides need to stop blowing smoke, hold the bickering, and begin the constitutional duty of fairly counting the votes. When the count’s finally in, both sides will have to face the music. Until then, the job’s not done.

About the Author

John M. Curtis is editor of OnlineColumnist.com. He’s also the director of a West Los Angeles think tank specializing in human behavior, health care and political research and media consultation. He’s a seminar trainer, columnist and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

©1999-2000 Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.
(310) 204-8300
All Rights Reserved.