November 15, 2000
FLORIDA
VOTERS FILE APPEAL
AT U.S.
COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE 11TH CIRCUIT
TO
DEFEND THE INTEGRITY OF THE BALLOT
Three Florida voters this morning asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to stop the manual recounts currently underway in Florida, arguing that these recounts violate their rights under the U.S. Constitution.
The three voters from Brevard County, Florida, all of whom attest that they voted for Governor George W. Bush for president, are represented by James Bopp, Jr., the General Counsel of the James Madison Center for Free Speech, a public interest legal defense fund headquartered in Washington. In the past, Mr. Bopp has won numerous legal challenges to election laws that violate federal constitutional guarantees.
"The Florida recount law is fundamentally unfair, and violates federal constitutional guarantees of one-person-one-vote and equal protection of the laws," Bopp said. He said that the Florida election law, Fla. Stat. § 102.166(4), "unconstitutionally establishes an election recount procedure that dilutes the votes of my clients and all others who voted for Governor George W. Bush, and thereby deprives them of equal protection of the laws."
The suit requests that county officials be enjoined from conducting the manual recounts requested by the Gore campaign, or in the alternative, that state officials be enjoined from certifying the results of the election for President which contain the results of any manual recounts.
Yesterday (Tuesday), the voters filed a request for an injunction in the U.S. District Court in Orlando, naming members of the county canvassing boards of Volusia, Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, and Secretary of State Katherine Harris and other members of the state Elections Canvassing Commission, asking that the court declare the Florida law unconstitutional and order an end to the manual recounts. Late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John Antoon II denied that request.
This morning at about 9:00 a.m., the voters filed a motion for an injunction pending appeal and/or an expedited appeal at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta. It is expected that the court of appeals will ask the defendants to respond promptly to these requests.
The suit maintains that Florida’s manual recount procedure, as authorized by Florida Statute § 102.166(4):
allows the manual recount to be conducted only in selected precincts and counties at the insistence of only one candidate, Vice President Albert Gore, Jr., or the county canvassing board;
allows using different standards for counting votes by automation and by manual counts;
employs vague, subjective, arbitrary and capricious standards to count votes when a voter has not completed the casting of his or her vote by punching out the chad on the ballot -- such as counting as valid votes ballots on which only one tiny corner of a chad has been detached; and
precludes opposing candidates from protecting the integrity of the vote from these manipulations.
This case is being brought by the James Madison Center for Free Speech, a public interest organization that defends the rights of citizens to participate in our democracy. James Bopp, Jr. is the General Counsel of the James Madison Center and a member of Bopp, Coleson & Bostrom, 1 South Sixth Street, Terre Haute, Indiana 47807; (812) 232-2434 (phone); (812) 235-3685 (fax).