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"The post-election mess is the result of the Gore campaign sidestepping Florida election laws in their vote recounting tactics. The undeniable partisanship that exists in the state's Court system and canvassing boards is what allows this illegal maneuvering to take place. By ordering hand recounts in the state's four most populous democratic counties alone, the Vice President broke the laws established by the Florida legislature on how manual recounts must be conducted.
If Gore really desired a "full, accurate, and fair" recount for the state of Florida, he would adhere to statutory election law and have the entire state's votes recounted. I find it a curious coincidence that I haven't heard a single Democrat mention the Florida Panhandle or Duval County (the state's Republican strongholds) during this entire debacle.
Another problem with the whole recount process is its failure to comply with the mandatory deadlines (also specified explicitly in Florida law) for when the tallies need to be submitted. When the recounts failed to be completed by 5 pm of the seventh day after the election, as the law holds, the new vote totals should not have been counted. The Democrats, however, pressed on. They took their challenge of the vote certification to the Florida Supreme Court, which consists of seven justices, all of whom are Democrats. Sadly, the Court decided to arbitrarily extend the deadline to the following Sunday at 5 pm, after which the recount must be certified.
Not only did the court's ruling (which will hopefully be reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court this week) reek of partisanship, but also the legislative branch overstepped its boundaries as defined by the Constitution. It is the legislature's job to create and enact laws, while the courts are there to interpret them. Instead of carrying out their rightful duty, the Florida Supreme Court justices played politics. The ruling created a dangerous precedent in common law that in effect allows judges to let subjective recounting continue for as long as they choose.
What's even worse is that the Gore campaign has gone back to court to decertify the Florida vote count again. Now they want the vote recounts that missed the arbitrarily established deadline to be counted. Will they ever give up? It doesn't look like it.
It's time for Al Gore to take a page out of Richard Nixon's book and hang it up. Gore lost on election night, then in the machine recount, and then in the manual recount his comrades (note the communist innuendo) in the judicial branch generously granted him. This is the United States of America, not a banana republic. Those who enforce our laws should not tolerate politicians trying to shape the outcome of an election. At least it's a "fair and accurate" expectation for them to do so. "
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