Florida Supreme court turns tables on election finale
TALLAHASEE, Fla. (CNN) -- Breathing new life into the presidential
hopes of Democrat Al Gore, the Florida Supreme Court Friday issued a ruling
that would immediately cut Republican George W. Bush's lead to 154 votes and
ordered a manual recount of at least 43,432 "undervotes" around the state.
The ruling came on a 4-3 decision of the seven justices, all of whom
were originally Democratic appointees. Included in the hand count would be
about 9,000 disputed ballots from heavily Democratic Miami-Dade County which
were never awarded to either candidate.
The new votes added to Gore's column include 215 from Palm Beach County
and 168 from Miami-Dade that were not included in the final totals certified by
the secretary of state November 26 that gave Bush a 537-vote victory margin.
Two of the dissenting justices voted against Gore's appeal on grounds
it was too late. Chief Justice Charles Wells said the case has reached the
point where "finality must take precedence over continued judicial process."
"The margin of error in this election is far greater than the margin
of victory, no matter who wins," Wells added, quoting a mathematics professor
from Temple University.
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