Nathan Newman wrote:
> But it really just reduces back to the basic argument that everyone's vote
> should be counted to the best we can discern them.
-In such a close race, should this mean that all of Florida's votes that -went uncounted by machines need to be hand counted?
What it does mean under the law is that candidates have the right to ask for a hand count in every county where they think there is a problem. There are deadlines under the law for formal requests for hand counts, deadlines that Bush for strategic reasons decided to let pass in GOP counties. So a tough line would be to say, he had his chance and blew it - much as he's blown the whole legal challenge this week. (If his conduct of the recount campaign is any indication, he really has proved that he is as stupid as the Leno jokes make him out to be.)
That said, it is possible courts might reopen the issue after certification and Gore has offered a statewide recount as a solution to quiet all lawsuits. But the reason Gore can offer that is for a simple strategic reason -- and the reason Bush didn't push recounts in his areas generally -- which is that the flawed punch ballots were mostly used in Democratic counties. In most GOP counties, they used optical scan or other variations, which do not have the same degree of undercounting problems. The one Dem county that used optical scanning -- filling in ovals - was Volusia County and Gore picked up relatively few votes on the recount because of that.
If Gore ends up with a lead of a 300 votes or more after recounting his counties, I doubt recounting the rest of the state will yield a win for Bush. And after all of Bush's rhetoric of ending the election quickly, a lot of people will probably go with the line that he had a chance to ask for recounts initially and turned it down, then had Gore offer a statewide recount deal and rejected it, so three strikes and he's out.
We'll see and Gore still has to get enough votes out of the recounts, but given the low number of absentee ballots getting counted, it is actually looking like the smart money is now on Gore to be the next President.
Which means I may be paying up to Seth soon.
-- Nathan Newman