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Florida court: Board has discretion to count partially punched ballots

Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Jorge Labarga listens to the arguments of Bush campaign attorney Barry Richard made via telephone

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Florida (CNN) -- A Florida court ruled Wednesday that the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board could count ballots with so-called "dimpled or pregnant chad."

Election officials had delayed continuing the manual recount of ballots in the county because of confusion over whether to count ballots that have been punched, even if the tiny piece of paper next to a candidate's name was not detached.

After hearing arguments, Judge Jorge Larbarga of the 15th Judicial Circuit for Palm Beach County said in an oral order that the "election process says that no vote is to be declared invalid or void if there is a clear indication of the intention of the voter."

WHO'S WHO Who's who in the election recount  DOCUMENTS • Complaint from Volusia County Canvassing Board challenging November 14 deadline for election certification - McDermott v. Harris - November 13, 2000 (FindLaw)(PDF format) • Judge Middlebrooks' ruling denying injunction sought by Bush campaign • Federal complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief filed by the George W. Bush campaign (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) More related documents PDF documents require Adobe Acrobat Reader

Attorneys representing the Democratic Party said some Palm Beach County voters would lose their right to vote if election officials do not count ballots with dimpled or pregnant chad.

Labarga agreed, ruling that the present policy of a "per se exclusion" of ballots without a "partially punched or hanging chad" is not in compliance with the intention of the law.

He ruled that the West Palm Beach County Canvassing Board has the discretion to rule on the validity of individual ballots.

Attorneys representing Gov. George W. Bush had argued that state and county election officials, not the courts should decide the issue. They said it was an issue of separation of powers.

"It's not the place of the court to stand over the shoulder of the canvassing board," said Bush attorney Barry Richard who attended via telephone.

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