Florida Law on Deadlines and recounts

[Chris SCHROEDER]

And what is the effect of the section immediately following the one that
Michael excerpts?  102.112 says that "If the returns are not received by
the department by the time specified, such returns may be ignored and
the results on file at that time may be certified by the department."
This seems permissive whereas 102.111 seems mandatory.

In any event, is the fight over whether the hand count will stop
tomorrow, or just over whether the votes will be certified tomorrow?  If
the Sec. of State's decision does bar counties from continuing the
count, it seems to me that the completion of that count would - if it
contains sufficiently many new Gore votes - provide grounds to challenge
the election of electors, even if the votes have been certified.  If
that is right, it raises the possibility of two sets of electors being
appointed - shades of 1876 to be sure.

Chris Schroeder

>>> lesl at UDEL.EDU 11/13/00 09:02PM >>>
to Michael--when they recounted the whole state by hand for Connie Mack
twelve years ago, did they meet this deadline?
Leslie

Michael MASINTER wrote:

> For those interested, here is the Florida statute upon which the
Florida
> secretary of state relied for her insistence upon the 5:00 Tuesday
> deadline for certification of the vote from each county.  The
statute
> governing recounts is too long to post; here is a link:
>
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=Ch0102/SEC166.HTM&Title=->2000->Ch0102->Section%20166
>
> 102.111  Elections Canvassing Commission.--
>
>                           (1)  Immediately after certification of
any
> election by the county canvassing board, the results shall be
forwarded to
> the Department of State concerning the election of any federal or
state
> officer. The Governor, the Secretary of State, and the Director of
the
> Division of Elections shall  be the Elections Canvassing Commission.
The
> Elections Canvassing Commission shall, as soon  as the official
results
> are compiled from all counties, certify the returns of the election
and
> determine and declare who has been elected for each office. In the
event
> that any member of the Elections Canvassing Commission is unavailable
to
> certify the returns of any election, member shall be replaced by a
> substitute member of the Cabinet as determined by the  Director of
the
> Division of Elections. If the county returns are not received by the
> Department of State by 5 p.m. of the seventh day following an
election,
> all missing counties shall be ignored, and the results shown by the
> returns on file shall be certified.
>
> Michael R. Masinter                     3305 College Avenue
> Nova Southeastern University            Fort Lauderdale, Fl. 33314
> Shepard Broad Law Center                (954) 262-6151
> masinter at nova.edu                       Chair, ACLU of Florida Legal
Panel