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Gore v. Harris, 772 S.2d 1243 (2000), was a Florida Supreme Court case heard on 2000-12-08. The parties to the case were Al Gore and Katherine Harris.
Gore's appeal cited several instances claimed to involve the rejection of legal votes or the receipt of illegal votes, which are as follows, along with the Florida Supreme Court's disposition:
- The rejection of the results of a full manual recount completed by Palm Beach County only after the deadline set by Secretary of State Harris. The court ordered the results included.
- The rejection of the results of a partial manual recount carried out by Miami-Dade County. The court ordered the results included.
- The inclusion of the results of the original count from Nassau County, rather than the results of a later machine recount, which the county considered clearly erroneous. The court declined to overturn the county's decision.
- The rejection of Palm Beach County ballots which were determined in the manual recount not to contain votes. The court declined to overturn the county's decision.
- The rejection of "undervote" ballots in the portions of Miami-Dade County not included in the partial recount. Bush argued, first, that no further recounts were appropriate under state law, and, second, that any recounts should cover all ballots statewide and should be conducted as far as possible using a uniform standard. Gore argued that as the party filing the contest he was entitled to specify groups of ballots to be manually recounted, and that the law required such recounts to be performed if there was a reasonable chance that the election results would thereby be changed. The court split the difference: requiring a manual recount of undervotes, but not extending the order to other ballots, both as requested by Gore; extending the order to all counties, as requested by Bush; but providing that each county's canvassing board should conduct the recount under its own standards, rather than imposing uniformity.
[edit] References
[edit] Further reading
- "Transcript of Decision by the Florida Supreme Court: ALBERT GORE, JR., and JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Appellants, vs. KATHERINE HARRIS, as Secretary, etc., et al., Appellees.", National Public Radio, 2000-12-08.
- William J. Terry. Evaluation: Gore v. Harris, 12/08/2000. Retrieved on 2005-12-14, 2000-12-08.
