EST PALM BEACH, Fla. - It was like one of the old ''How many lawyers does it take ... '' jokes, but no one was laughing.
The hearing yesterday at the Palm Beach County Courthouse was to determine what rules the board overseeing the county's elections should use in determining the validity of a ballot. But there were so many lawyers crowding the courtroom that many of the hired guns had to crowd the jury box and cram into the two rows of seats usually reserved for visitors.
Soon, another problem became evident. Shortly after Judge Jorge Labarga, the sixth circuit court judge to be appointed to preside over a slew of election-related cases, entered the marble-tiled chamber, he had to call a brief recess. ''I can't believe out of all the lawyers here,'' he said, ''no one called a court reporter.''
Demonstrating the difficulty of finding anyone who could preside over such extraordinary cases without at least some conflict of interest, Labarga yesterday disclosed that he had served on the county's Republican Executive Committee and was a former president of the Cuba-American Republican Club.
Despite his political past, he promised it would not prevent him from fairly hearing as many as 12 election-related lawsuits filed in circuit court.
Approached by a reporter during one of multiple recesses called during the 90-minute hearing, Labarga dismissed questions about whether he should recuse himself from the case.
After a barrage of arguments from half a dozen teams of lawyers representing Gore, Bush, Palm Beach County, and local residents, the judge issued a quick ruling that may have put to rest any concerns about his partisan leanings.
''No vote is to be declared invalid or void if there was a clear intention of the voter,'' Labarga said, allowing for ''pregnant'' or ''dimpled'' chads to be considered valid.
After further legal exchanges, Labarga agreed to hear arguments tomorrow about the legality of the notorious ''butterfly'' ballot, and whether it is possible for there to be a re-vote in Palm Beach County. The confusing ballot is alleged to have led thousands of residents to vote for Reform Party candidate Patrick J. Buchanan instead of Gore and to have led others to double-punch their ballots, invalidating them.
Ron Lichtman, 44, of Boca Raton is one of several people who have filed a lawsuit questioning the legality of the butterfly ballot.
He sat next to six election specialists from universities who were prepared to support his case. The professors plan to present evidence that a statistical analysis shows the poorly designed ballot caused Gore to lose more than 10,000 votes in Palm Beach County - more than enough to tip the election in his balance.
''This is the most important case to be heard,'' Lichtman said. ''This is not about chads and dimples. It's about the people here being robbed of their votes. We should have a re-vote. That's the only fair way to ensure the full enfranchisement of the people.''
