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Florida Legislature to Hold Special Session to Name Electors
The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature of the United States will hold a special session on Wednesday to name the state's 25 electors, the state's House Republican leader Mike Fasano announced on Saturday, December 2.
The Republicans decided to call the session as a hedge against court action that could overturn the certified victory of Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush.
Fasano said Florida Senate President John McKay and House Speaker Tom Feeney will make a formal decision on the special session on Monday.
He said the leaders decided that Florida lawmakers need to act to guarantee that the state won't lose its 25 electoral votes in choosing the country's next president.
Republican lawmakers argued that the Constitution requires the legislature to name electors if the state's vote might be in jeopardy.
A special committee of the Legislature voted 8-5 on Thursday, recommending to hold a special session to appoint electors in the state's contested presidential election.
Florida Governor Jeb Bush, brother of Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush, has indicated that he will sign the bill to name the 25 electors if it is passed.
Meanwhile, a Florida circuit court judge in the United States heard arguments on Saturday from lawyers of Vice President Gore and Texas Governor Bush in a case contesting the state's certified election results.
After the hearing, Leon County Circuit Court Judge Sanders Sauls is expected to determine whether some 14,000 contested ballots in the U.S. presidential race should be counted in the state-certified tally.
Over one million ballots from Palm Beach and Maimi-Dade counties, including the 14,000 disputed ones, were shifted to the court in Florida's state capital Tallahassee on orders from Sauls.
Gore's lawyer David Boies argued that the hand recount of disputed ballots in the two counties could "place in doubt" the certified presidential election results in Florida.
But Bush's attorney Barry Richard argued that no further recounting should be allowed, calling Gore's request "contrary to the long-standing and clearly established law of the state."
On last Sunday, Florida's Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a Republican, certified Bush the winner of the state with a margin of 537 votes out of over 6 million cast.
Gore contested the state's certification, and Saturday's proceedings could be crucial to determining the outcome of his case before the state's December 12 deadline for appointing presidential electors.
Sauls, a registered Democrat appointed by a Republican governor, has the power to order a correction to Florida's election results.
However, whatever happens in Sauls' courtroom was expected to be appealed to the Florida Supreme Court which gave Gore a blow on Friday by rejecting Gore's request for immediate recounts of the disputed ballots.
Sauls said he expected the trial, which opened at 9 a.m. (1400 GMT), would be over in 12 hours.
Texas Governor Bush met with Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and House Speaker Dennis Hastert to review his domestic agenda at his ranch in Texas.
Vice President Gore spent a quiet day in Washington, where the nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court worked in the weekend to determine whether to overturn a Florida Supreme Court ruling and disqualify hand recounts in Florida as requested by Bush.
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