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Gore campaign turns to Florida Supreme Court

Leon County Circuit Court administrator Terre Cass reads a ruling Friday by Circuit Judge Terry Lewis in Tallahassee, Florida

By Raju Chebium
CNN.com Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Lawyers for Vice President Al Gore said Friday they will appeal a Florida trial court order clearing the way for Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris to certify the statewide vote tally on Saturday after counting absentee ballots.

WHO'S WHO Who's who in the election recount   ALSO Challenge to Florida's November 14 deadline for election certification McDermott v. Harris

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The Florida Supreme Court Friday blocked any certification of the final presidential vote by the secretary of state until it can rule on a Gore campaign motion to allow recounted votes from Broward and Palm County to be included.

The high court scheduled a hearing at 2 p.m. Monday for oral arguments in the appeal.

David Boies, the lead lawyer for the Democratic presidential candidate, said in Tallahassee, Florida, the Gore campaign is filing appeals with the Florida Supreme Court and the 1st District Court of Appeal, the intermediate state appeals panel.

He said Gore's lawyers will ask the appeals court to label the case an issue of "great public importance." Under Florida law, the appeals court would have to attach that label for the state supreme court to decide whether to speedily consider the case.

The latest round of legal wrangling came on the day when absentee ballots were due and one day before Harris plans to certify the statewide total. She certified nonabsentee ballots on Tuesday, one week after Election Day, as required by Florida law.

The first certification showed Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush leading Gore by 300 votes.

Boies said Friday that Gore plans to challenge the Saturday certification.

"If Secretary Harris goes forward tomorrow ... we believe it will be a mistake and frustrate the will of the people of Florida," said former U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Gore's campaign official. "If she does goes forward, we will take steps to have her action set aside or reversed."

"What we are talking about is the presidency of the United States. It's of enormous importance for the people of Florida, the United States and the world," Christopher said.

Lewis' ruling siding with Harris

The Gore camp's appeals were prompted by Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis' ruling Friday morning that Harris "exercised her reasoned judgment" in deciding to reject manual vote recounts filed after a November 14 deadline.

All 67 counties submitted their vote totals by deadline. But the counties of Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward were manually recounting or considering manual recounts of some or all votes cast within their borders and told Harris they would file amended totals.

Lewis on November 14 said Harris has the authority to accept or reject such amended totals filed after the November 14 deadline. However, he told her to base her decision on proper "discretion," ordering her not to reject any amended total simply because they were filed after the deadline.

On November 15, Harris announced that she would reject the amended totals.

On Thursday, the Gore campaign told Lewis that Harris had violated his order by acting in an arbitrary fashion, asking the Democratic judge to declare the preliminary statewide vote certification "null and void."

Lawyers for Harris and Bush argued that Harris exercised proper discretion. They said the law requires counties to file by deadline unless natural disasters or malfunctioning balloting equipment prevented vote tallies. The counties did not raise such problems, therefore Harris rejected hand recounts, they said.

Lewis on Friday agreed that Harris had exercised proper discretion as required by his prior order, paving the way for the final certification of the statewide ballot this weekend.

Bush campaign observer and former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker praised Lewis' ruling, saying: "The rule of law has prevailed. The court applied the rule of law objectively and fairly."

Bush campaign spokeswoman Karen Hughes indicated Friday that the Texas governor awaits the absentee-vote tally to determine if he held on to his lead and won the race to the White House. She refused to comment specifically on Gore's appeals.

The winner of Florida's 25 electoral votes will likely occupy the White House come January 20.

Gore camp's legal strategy in the appeals

Boies said the Gore appeals, to be filed later Friday, will seek answers to two questions:

• When can Harris certify the statewide ballot?

• Should Harris wait for the manual recount tallies from Palm Beach and Broward counties, two Democratic strongholds, before deciding whether to accept or reject them?

According to Bois, Florida law says a statewide certification can be blocked if Harris rejects "a number of legal votes sufficient to change or place in doubt the outcome of the election."

The Democrats have long argued that the manual recounts could tip the balance for Gore, who currently trails Bush by 300 votes.

Boies and Christopher urged Harris on Friday to wait a few more days, allow the manual recounts to be completed and then tally the statewide votes to see if the final numbers change the election's outcome.

"We obviously would urge the secretary of state to wait the few days that is necessary to get those votes counted (by hand)," Boies said.

Once manual recounting is completed, Harris would be free to decide whether to accept or reject them -- and the Gore camp would then decide if her decision complied with state law, Boies said, leaving open the door for legal challenges after final certification.

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