Bench Opinion Cite as 531 U S 2000 1 Per Curiam NOTICE This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the preliminary print of the United States Reports Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions Supreme Court of the United States Washington D C 20543 of any typographical or other formal errors in order that corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES No 00 949 GEORGE W BUSH ET AL PETITIONERS v ALBERT GORE JR ET AL ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE FLORIDA SUPREME COURT December 12 2000 PER CURIAM I On December 8 2000 the Supreme Court of Florida ordered that the Circuit Court of Leon County tabulate by hand 9 000 ballots in Miami Dade County It also ordered the inclusion in the certified vote totals of 215 votes identified in Palm Beach County and 168 votes identified in Miami Dade County for Vice President Albert Gore Jr and Senator Joseph Lieberman Democratic Candidates for President and Vice President The Supreme Court noted that petitioner Governor George W Bush asserted that the net gain for Vice President Gore in Palm Beach County was 176 votes and directed the Circuit Court to resolve that dispute on remand So 2d at slip op at 4 n 6 The court further held that relief would require manual recounts in all Florida counties where socalled undervotes had not been subject to manual tabulation The court ordered all manual recounts to begin at once Governor Bush and Richard Cheney Republican Candidates for the Presidency and Vice Presidency filed an emergency application for a stay of this mandate On December 9 we granted the application treated the appli 2 BUSH v GORE Per Curiam cation as a petition for a writ of certiorari and granted certiorari Post p The proceedings leading to the present controversy are discussed in some detail in our opinion in Bush v Palm Beach County Canvassing Bd ante p per curiam Bush I On November 8 2000 the day following the Presidential election the Florida Division of Elections reported that petitioner Governor Bush had received 2 909 135 votes and respondent Vice President Gore had received 2 907 351 votes a margin of 1 784 for Governor Bush Because Governor Bush s margin of victory was less than one half of a percent of the votes cast an automatic machine recount was conducted under 102 141 4 of the election code the results of which showed Governor Bush still winning the race but by a diminished margin Vice President Gore then sought manual recounts in Volusia Palm Beach Broward and Miami Dade Counties pursuant to Florida s election protest provisions Fla Stat 102 166 2000 A dispute arose concerning the deadline for local county canvassing boards to submit their returns to the Secretary of State Secretary The Secretary declined to waive the November 14 deadline imposed by statute 102 111 102 112 The Florida Supreme Court however set the deadline at November 26 We granted certiorari and vacated the Florida Supreme Court s decision finding considerable uncertainty as to the grounds on which it was based Bush I ante at slip op at 6 7 On December 11 the Florida Supreme Court issued a decision on remand reinstating that date So 2d slip op at 30 31 On November 26 the Florida Elections Canvassing Commission certified the results of the election and declared Governor Bush the winner of Florida s 25 electoral votes On November 27 Vice President Gore pursuant to Florida s contest provisions filed a complaint in Leon Cite as 531 U S 2000 3 Per Curiam County Circuit Court contesting the certification Fla Stat 102 168 2000 He sought relief pursuant to 102 168 3 c which provides that r eceipt of a number of illegal votes or rejection of a number of legal votes sufficient to change or place in doubt the result of the election shall be grounds for a contest The Circuit Court denied relief stating that Vice President Gore failed to meet his burden of proof He appealed to the First District Court of Appeal which certified the matter to the Florida Supreme Court Accepting jurisdiction the Florida Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part Gore v Harris So 2d 2000 The court held that the Circuit Court had been correct to reject Vice President Gore s challenge to the results certified in Nassau County and his challenge to the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board s determination that 3 300 ballots cast in that county were not in the statutory phrase legal votes The Supreme Court held that Vice President Gore had satisfied his burden of proof under 102 168 3 c with respect to his challenge to Miami Dade County s failure to tabulate by manual count 9 000 ballots on which the machines had failed to detect a vote for President undervotes So 2d at slip op at 22 23 Noting the closeness of the election the Court explained that o n this record there can be no question that there are legal votes within the 9 000 uncounted votes sufficient to place the results of this election in doubt Id at slip op at 35 A legal vote as determined by the Supreme Court is one in which there is a clear indication of the intent of the voter Id at slip op at 25 The court therefore ordered a hand recount of the 9 000 ballots in Miami Dade County Observing that the contest provisions vest broad discretion in the circuit judge to provide any relief appropriate under such circumstances Fla Stat 102 168 8 2000 the Supreme Court further held 4 BUSH v GORE Per Curiam that the Circuit Court could order the Supervisor of Elections and the Canvassing Boards as well as the necessary public officials in all counties that have not conducted a manual recount or tabulation of the undervotes to do so forthwith said tabulation to take place in the individual counties where the ballots are located So 2d at slip op at 38 The Supreme Court also determined that both Palm Beach County and Miami Dade County in their earlier manual recounts had identified a net gain of 215 and 168 legal votes for Vice President Gore Id at slip op at 33 34 Rejecting the Circuit Court s conclusion that Palm Beach County lacked the authority to include the 215 net votes submitted past the November 26 deadline the Supreme Court explained that the deadline was not intended to exclude votes identified after that date through ongoing manual recounts As to Miami Dade County the Court concluded that although the 168 votes identified were the result of a partial recount they were legal votes that could change the outcome of the election Id at slip op at
View Full Document
Unlocking...