Editorial: Florida’s high court gets it right

Saturday, Dec. 9, 2000 | 2:02 a.m.

It was comforting that the Florida Supreme Court on Friday ruled that thousands of disputed ballots should be counted by hand immediately, which not only was a temporary legal victory for Vice President Al Gore, but it also was a reaffirmation of the cherished belief that every vote should count. In the same vein, then, it also was reassuring that two Florida judges on Friday rejected a Democratic lawsuit that sought to toss out absentee ballots in Martin and Seminole counties, a situation that could have thrown the election to Gore since George W. Bush won the absentee balloting in the two counties by more than 7,600 votes. In the cases involving the absentee ballots, even though no one suggested there was fraud or that votes were mistakenly omitted, Democrats cited a technicality in trying to get the absentee ballots tossed aside.

The case that drew the most attention, however, was the one before the Florida Supreme Court. Along with ordering a hand recount of the undervotes in all counties, the Supreme Court also said a trial court judge erred when he failed to include 215 votes for Gore from Palm Beach County and 168 votes for Gore in a partial recount of Miami-Dade County, a ruling that means a scant 154 votes separate Bush and Gore out of nearly 6 million cast in Florida. "Although in all elections the Legislature and the courts have recognized that the voter's intent is paramount, in close elections the necessity for counting all legal votes becomes critical," the court aptly noted in its 4-3 ruling.

Thousands of voters in Florida, through no fault of their own, may have been disenfranchised because an antiquated voting system mistakenly failed to count their votes. Whoever the next president is, the public should feel confident that the man sitting in the White House won fair and square -- and if the Florida Supreme Court's decision ordering a recount is upheld, that should go a long way in providing that needed legitimacy.