ECRETARY OF STATE Katherine Harris's decision last night to certify the Florida presidential vote with only partial recounts - giving the state to Texas Governor George W. Bush by 537 votes - did not close the entangled case of the 2000 election. Indeed, court challenges continue apace on both the Democratic and Republican fronts, with Vice President Al Gore contesting the certification, and Bush taking his appeal of the hand recount to the US Supreme Court, which won't hear the case until Friday. Ironically, the complexion and philosophy of the Supreme Court, an issue that didn't gain much traction in the campaign, could be paramount to the outcome.
Harris appeared to be acting within her rights when she denied a request from Palm Beach County to extend yesterday's deadline for the hand recount until 9 a.m. today. The Florida Supreme Court gave her discretion over any extension when it ruled last week that the recounts should go forward. But to deny all of the Palm Beach manual recounts flies in the face of the entire ruling, which blocked her authority to precipitously certify the vote in the first place.
This regrettable act only adds to the grounds upon which the Gore campaign will be contesting the certification. Also disturbing are the 10,000 ballots that were recorded as having no vote for president in Miami-Dade County. Without a manual recount there, it will never be known whom those voters intended to elect as president, or even whether they really intended to blank the race.
Gore is expected to address the nation today to explain his decision to contest the certification. This is necessary if he is to continue to hold the good will of the American people, who so far seem fairly patient with all the political and legal skirmishing. With so much at stake, Americans should indulge the process a bit longer so that the best effort can be made to count the votes that were actually cast.
Historians have compared this campaign drama to the 1876 election of Rutherford B. Hayes or, more recently, John F. Kennedy's slim victory over Richard Nixon in 1960. But one thing this display enjoys that the others lacked - regardless of who eventually becomes president - is sunshine. In an era of smoke-filled rooms, citizens probably never would have learned of the disruptive protests in Miami-Dade County that spurred the premature shutdown of the recount, or the machinations in Nassau County, where one of the canvassing board members was replaced at the last minute, or the tinkering with thousands of absentee ballots in Seminole County.
Voters may be confused or weary about this morass, but at least it is on view for everyone to see. In a democracy, ignorance is not bliss.
