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Gore Welcomes Florida Supreme Court's Ruling
US Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore Tuesday night welcomed the Florida Supreme Court's ruling that hand-recounted ballots can be accepted by the state for another six days in the US presidential election.
In a brief statement, Gore said that he and Republican Texas Governor George W. Bush must both focus on transition to power while awaiting tally.
The decision announced by the Florida Supreme Court to allow continued hand counts of disputed ballots would allow a full, fair and accurate" vote tally, he said.
Gore repeated his offer to meet with Bush and said he would not accept any Electoral College votes pledged to Bush.
He asked the Bush camp to tone down their rhetoric and said both camps should refrain from comments, including those on Tuesday's court ruling.
The US vice president also called for the two camps to focus on transition so that a US administration, no matter under him or Bush, should be ready to rule.
The unanimous 42-page ruling by the seven-judge court said the hand-recounted vote tallies must be accepted by the state until November 27 at the latest.
The court's decision could be key to determining the victor in the November 7 election. Gore needs 931 more votes to move ahead of Bush and claim the 25 Electoral College votes from Florida that will determine which candidate wins the presidency.
Three largely Democratic counties are still hand recounting votes, but unofficial results from the hand recounts have so far yielded fewer votes for Gore than his campaign had predicted on the basis of sample recounts last week.
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