Lawsuit Filed Over Overseas Ballots
Nov. 24 -- A judge says he is unlikely to grant a Bush campaign request to order local elections officials to reconsider hundreds of overseas military ballots they ruled invalid last weekend.
“Without any proof that any of these canvassing boards have notcomplied with the law, this court is very hard-pressed to grant anyrelief,” Leon County Circuit Judge L. Ralph Smith Jr. said.
However, Smith said he wouldnot rule until after additional briefs were submitted onSaturday.
A Republican lawsuit, which covers at least a dozen predominantly Republican counties in Florida, asks Smith to declare ballots from armed forces personnel valid — even if they were disqualified for lacking valid signatures, dates or postmarks.
Republicans hope the court action will prompt county canvassing boards to reconsider perhaps 500 rejected military ballots statewide. Even without a ruling by the judge, some counties already have begun to do just that, unofficially netting at least 45 votes for George W. Bush.
Point of Controversy
Overseas and military absentee ballots have been a point of controversy in the Florida vote, in which Bush leads Democrat Al Gore by 930 votes in an unofficial tally by the Florida Secretary of State. That total includes votes cast on Election Day and overseas absentee ballot totals submitted to the state by last Friday, but doesn’t include the votes still being recounted.
Republicans have charged that Democrats unfairly sought to disqualify as many overseas absentee ballots from the military as possible, thinking the votes in question would favor Bush.
Democrats insist they only attempted to prevent illegal ballots from being counted, with no focus on the military.
Roughly 3,600 overseas ballots were received. Of those, 2,200 were accepted, while 1,400 were thrown out last week due to irregularities, including the absence of a postmark or signature. Of the total, about two-thirds were from civilians and one-third from the military.
Re-evaluations Favor Bush
At least five counties are already reconsidering disqualified overseas absentee ballots, and such assessments in Okaloosa, Clay, Nassau and Bay counties already have resulted in a net gain of 17 votes for Bush, Republicans told reporters in a conference call today.
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