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Courts may determine whether election satisfied 'will of the voters'

Demonstrators rally near the Palm Beach County, Florida, elections office

(CNN) -- A question Florida courts will examine if the dispute over Palm Beach County's presidential vote continues in court is whether confusion over the county's ballot interfered with "the will of the voters."

The courts have the authority to overturn election results in cases where "gross negligence" is found, even if there is no evidence of intentional wrongdoing or fraud, according to the 1997 Florida Supreme Court opinion in Beckstrom v. Volusia County Canvassing Board.

"The burden of anyone seeking to overturn an election is incredibly high. It's a very tough matter to ask a court to overturn the results of an election," Constitutional law expert David Cardwell said.

Even if plaintiffs prove negligence in their lawsuits filed since the election, the courts do not have to overturn the final results, the Court said Beckstrom. The court found that election officials made substantial mistakes when counting absentee ballots in a sheriff's race, but allowed the results to stand because the mistakes did not change the outcome of the election.

ALSO Judge grants injunction to freeze Palm Beach vote certification

RELATED CASE Beckstrom v. Volusia County Canvassing Board (FindLaw)  DOCUMENTS • Florida statute concerning the appearance of general election ballots (FindLaw) (PDF format) • State court complaint seeking a new election in Palm Beach County, Fladell v. Palm Beach (FindLaw) • Palm Beach County voters' class action civil rights complaint, Horowitz v. Lepore (FindLaw) (PDF format) Withdrawn federal complaint seeking a new Palm Beach county election, Miller v. Harris • Section 102.168 of the Florida Electors and Elections Code (FindLaw) (PDF format) PDF documents require Adobe Acrobat Reader

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A court could void an election only if "substantial noncompliance resulted in doubt as to whether a certified election reflected the will of the voters," the Beckstrom opinion says.

Establishing the "will of the people" in Florida is already a subject of debate.

Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty, a Republican, told CNN Talkback Live participants that any confusion the ballot may have caused did not change the outcome in her county.

"Al Gore won Palm Beach County by a landslide," she said. "The people's will was done."

Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Florida, said the results must be considered in the context of the national election.

As of Friday, at least eight lawsuits had been filed in Florida claiming voters were confused by the format of the Palm Beach County ballot causing voters to cast ballots for Reform Party Candidate Pat Buchanan instead of Vice President Al Gore.

One lawsuit, filed Thursday by three plaintiffs, seeks class action status to represent the more than 600,000 voters who voted in the Palm Beach County general election. Plaintiffs in the case are Kenneth A. Horowitz, Catherine A. Bowser and Sylvia Szymoniak. The lawsuit names Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore as the defendant.

That lawsuit alleges that County election officials acted arbitrarily and capriciously in the design and use of the ballot format. It claims "this arbitrary and capricious act of the Defendant resulted in the loss of the Plaintiffs' fundamental right to vote."

The plaintiffs' ask for another chance to vote for president and for the court to block officials from using similar ballots in the future.

Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris announced Friday that the Palm Beach County ballot "fully conforms to Florida law."

Harris said there had been a misconception that Florida law requires voting squares to be to the right of the candidate's name. She said the statute allows that but does not require it.

CNN Correspondent Brian Cabell contributed to this report.

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