Q. Now that Florida's secretary of state has announced the results of the voting there, is the end of the election tally finally in sight?
A. Only maybe. The Bush campaign won a round in court yesterday when a state judge declined to order Secretary of State Katherine Harris to postpone her certification of the Florida results. But Al Gore's campaign took heart in those parts of the judge's ruling that warned Harris not to act arbitrarily, and thus opened the door for the time-consuming manual recounts that Democrats have demanded.
Q. What was the basis for the judge's ruling?
A. The state Legislature would not have permitted manual recounts, the court ruled, without also allowing time for them to be completed.
Q. Could anything else change the Florida results?
A. The deadline for several thousand absentee ballots, cast by Floridians from overseas, is Friday. They will certainly be included in the final tally and could conceivably tip the outcome of the election.
Q. Will Harris amend her certification if the absentee ballots and recounts cause the results to change?
A. The secretary of state has promised to include the absentee ballots before giving her ''final'' certification Saturday, said her lawyer, Donna Blanton. But she has promised only ''to consider'' whether to include the results of the ongoing manual recounts.
Q. What would the Gore campaign do if Harris refuses to consider the results of the recounts?
A. If the recounts would give Gore enough additional votes to claim victory in the state, his lawyers would return to court, they vowed yesterday, and claim that Harris was acting in an arbitrary manner.
Q. Will the recounts continue in the meantime?
A. Probably. The Bush campaign lost its suit to stop them in federal court Monday, but has signaled its intent to appeal that ruling to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in AtlantA. The Florida Supreme Court, meanwhile, has not yet issued a ruling.
Q. What would the Bush campaign do if Harris does include enough recounted votes to award Gore the state?
A. The Bush campaign could appeal Harris's decision in the Florida courts and carry its federal appeal as far as the US Supreme Court. Or, the Bush campaign could call for recounts that might boost its totals in other Florida counties, or in other states.
Q. How far can the two campaigns appeal these court decisions?
A. The Bush campaign can appeal its federal case to the US Supreme Court. The Gore campaign can file an appeal of its state case to the Florida Supreme Court and then, if necessary, to the US Supreme Court.
Q. So this could take months?
A. Probably not. The courts recognize a special urgency in deciding questions that could affect an election.
Q. What are the political makeups of these courts?
A. Six of the seven justices of the Florida Supreme Court were appointed by Democrats, and the seventh was appointed with Democratic approval. The federal courts - the 11th Circuit Court and the Supreme Court - are dominated by GOP appointees.
Q. Would George Bush have the advantage in federal court?
A. Not necessarily. The Constitution and federal law grant considerable autonomy to the states when it comes to elections. And although seven of the nine US Supreme Court justices were appointed by Republicans the court has made a name for itself by trying to limit US intrusion in state's rights.
Q. Are there other legal challenges underway?
A. Some of the Florida counties have sued to ensure that the results of their manual recounts are included in the final certification. Some Democrats are challenging the now-infamous ''butterfly ballot'' in Palm Beach County, which allegedly caused many voters to vote for the wrong candidate.
Q. Will the Gore campaign join the challenge to the ''butterfly ballot'' or other election procedures?
A. That would be a political, as well as a legal, decision. At this point Gore has only fought in court for recounts. Challenging the election rules by attacking the Palm Beach ballot would be seen as an escalation of the legal warfare, and might spark a backlash.
Compiled by John A. Farrell.
