Palm Beach Cty. Canv. Bd. v. Harris

[David Cruz]

As I have suggested to colleagues (and as you probably know by now), the
Florida Supreme Court has construed Florida election laws to REQUIRE the
Secretary of State to accept and count timely requested recounts except
under two narrow circumstances:  "the Secretary of State may reject a
Board's amended returns only if the returns are submitted so late that
their inclusion will prejudice a candidate from contesting the
certification or preclude Florida's voters from participating fully in the
federal electoral process."  Also, the injunction against Harris barring
her from certifying election results is continued until Sunday at 5:00 (or
Monday at 9:00 if her office isn't open Sunday to receive amended counts),
the amount of time counties have to finish their recounts.

The court's per curiam opinion says nothing, however, about the standards
to use to match various chads to voter intent.

-David B. Cruz, USC Law (Cal.)