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Gore Camp Seeks Court's Help in Florida Hand Recount Effort
The Camp of US Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore went to state court in Florida on November 13 to seek an extension of Tuesday's deadline for vote certification.
Gore's legal team launched the first legal action since the November 7 election and joined the lawsuit filed by Florida's Volusia county against the deadline of 5 p.m. on Tuesday set by Florida's Republican Secretary of State Katherine Harris.
"The county filed the suit in state court and we joined it," Gore's communications director Mark Fabiani said.
Volusia county has sought a court order to allow the hand- recounting to continue until finished and be included in the official tally.
Earlier on Monday, Harris gave the state's 67 counties until 5 p.m. on Tuesday to certify the vote results.
Former Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Gore's representative in Florida's vote recount effort, said Harris' decision "looks like a move in the direction of partisan politics and away from the nonpartisan" administration of election law.
"There's no reason why the full, fair and lawful" hand recount should not continue, said Christopher at a news conference in Tallahassee, capital of Florida.
The camp of Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush dismissed Democratic charges of "partisan politics."
"If anyone is acting political it's those who seek to overturn the result of an election by disregarding the laws that are on the books," Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said from campaign headquarters in Austin, Texas.
With more than 6 million votes counted, Bush led by only a few hundred votes in the state, with some absentee ballots still to be counted.
Democrats have requested hand recount in four heavily Democratic counties in Florida: Volusia, Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade.
Gore on Monday called for patience in handling Florida's vote recount, saying it is important to "spend the days necessary" to determine the next president.
In his first public comments since the election on November 7, Vice President Gore told reporters at the White House that while time is important, it's even more important that each vote be counted accurately.
"I would not want to win the presidency by a few votes cast in error or not counted or misinterpreted, and I don't think Governor Bush wants that either," he said.
"What is at stake is more important than who wins the presidency," he said. "What is at stake is the integrity of our democracy, making sure that the will of the people is well and accurately" heeded.
In a victory for Gore, a Miami federal judge on Monday rejected the lawsuit filed by Bush's campaign requesting to halt a manual recount of ballots in Florida counties.
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