Back essay by Carl Pridemore
However, Florida law also required all counties to certify their election returns to the Florida Secretary of State within seven days of the election,[5] and several of the counties conducting manual recounts did not believe they could meet this deadline. On November 14, the statutory deadline, the Florida Circuit Court ruled that the seven-day deadline was mandatory, but that the counties could amend their returns at a later date. The court also ruled that the Secretary, after "considering all attendant facts and circumstances," had discretion to include any late amended returns in the statewide certification.[6] Prior to the 5 p.m. deadline on November 14, Volusia County completed its manual recount and certified its results. At 5 p.m. on November 14, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris announced that she was in receipt of the certified returns from all 67 counties, while Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties were still conducting manual recounts.[7]
Harris issued a set of criteria[1] by which she would determine whether to allow late filings, and she required any county seeking to make a late filing to submit to her, by 2 p.m. the following day, a written statement of the facts and circumstances justifying the late filing. Four counties submitted statements, and after reviewing the submissions Harris determined that none justified an extension of the filing deadline. She further announced that after she received the certified returns of the overseas absentee ballots from each county, she would certify the results of the presidential election on Sunday, November 26, 2000.[1] On that date, she certified Bush the winner and litigation ensued.
Now we have a certified, LEGAL election. No laws have been broken. What happens next? Al Gore, unwilling to accept defeat, does what Liberals do when they don’t get their way. He finds a sympathetic court and files a motion. A recount, of select counties was granted. I kept hearing, all votes should count but Gore only wanted four counties to be recounted. They were heavy leaning Liberal counties. Anyway, Team Gore made a big booboo. They didn’t just want a recount, they wanted the way a vote was counted to be changed. Uh-oh, you can’t change rules of the game, after the game is over. Team Bush files for an injunction to stop, what is in their opinion, an illegal act. Team Bush’s motion is granted. Team Gore then goes to the Florida Supreme Court to overturn Team Bush’s injunction. Team Gore, with the help of the Liberal leaning Florida State Supreme Court, has Team Bush’s injunction over turned. The recounts are permitted to begin. Do you remember that guy named Mr. Chad? He dominated the news cycle. He had a couple of siblings, Hanging Chad, Pregnant Chad and Indented Chad.
