Recount Page #6

- we have in the boxes?

- Excuse me.

Judge Burton?

- Yes, can I help you?

- Hi, I'm Kerey Carpenter, DOE.

Thank God.

This is a nightmare.

We're under a microscope here.

The laws are vague

and they contradic each other...

- Dimple, no dimples, sunshine standard.

- I know.

The division's position is that

dimpled chads should not be counted.

Ultimately, though,

it's the canvassing board's decision.

You just need to remember

that whatever you decide,

you're going to have

to testify about it someday.

Listen, we can't offer help unsolicited,

and you'll have to resolve

the dimple issue on your own,

but the state can offer clear guidance

on almost everything else.

- Really?

- Yeah.

All you have to do

is ask us for an advisory opinion.

"Dear Judge Burton, this is in response

to your request

for an advisory opinion.

"A 'vote tabulation error'

"is an error in which

the vote tabulation system fails.

"Since no such error has occurred,

county canvassing boards

"are not authorized

to hand-recount their ballots.

"Sincerely yours, L. Clayton Roberts,

Director of elections."

- What are Chris and Daley thinking?

- Daley's gone back to D.C.

We're getting pressure from our people

to concede. He's going to the hill

and shove the democrats back in line.

That's not gonna make any difference

if we don't deal with this AO.

Wait a minute, why don't we get

our own damn advisory opinion?

"Dear Judge Burton,

"since the DOE's advisory opinion

is so clearly at variance

"with the existing Florida law,

I am issuing this advisory opinion..."

The Palm Beach canvassing board

is listening to arguments

from both parties

on how to proceed

with two conflicting advisory opinions.

The ballots punched

for both Gore and Buchanan

counted in the 1% recount

show that the butterfly ballot

cost Al Gore a minimum

of 6,000 votes!

Under these circumstances,

we feel Palm Beach County

must proceed with the hand recount.

I represent the people

of Palm Beach County,

and I believe

that hand-recounting our ballots

is the only way to find out

who won this election.

The Secretary of State has told you

that you cannot hold

a hand recount.

It would be illegal for you

to disobey her advisory opinion.

What happens?

Do we go to jail?

Because I am willing to go to jail.

All right, we'll have a vote.

All those in favor

of suspending the recount

until we have received

further clarification?

Aye.

Aye.

All those opposed

to suspending the recount?

Nay.

All right, the motion carries,

two to one.

The canvassing board has voted

to suspend the recount.

They've gotten an opinion

from the director of elections...

The Secretary of State. Her opinion

is that because there is no error

in vote tabulating system...

There's nothing wrong

with the equipment...

This "tabulation systems"

they've come up with

is complete bullshit, Chris.

It is...

Thank you.

It has never been interpreted this way

in the history of Florida law.

They made it up two days ago.

If we don't take Katherine Harris

to court right now, it's killing us.

We've got to get this count up

and running again.

I'm afraid I have some bad news.

- Chris is going back to L.A.?

- His daughter is sick.

I don't blame him for bailing.

This whole thing is rather hopeless.

And with Daley gone it means there

isn't a senior Gore campaign official

in the entire state

of Florida right now.

Bob Dole beat Bill Clinton in 1996.

- So what do you gonna do?

- Honey, you gotta turn on "SNL."

It's on right now.

Bush took himself out of the Florida

recount process noting,

"Look, I already threw out

"and confused the old jews.

My work here is done."

That's good.

Honey, if you want to leave,

no one would blame you.

No, Monica, I'm not going

anywhere, and you know why?

Because I think Gore won this thing,

and I think he thinks so too.

He's like a changed guy.

He's got this fire in him now,

like before the campaign even started.

He's even started calling me back.

- I'll have to call you back, honey.

- Okay.

What the hell

are you doing in Tallahassee?

Early Hanukkah gift.

- Good morning, team.

- Good morning.

I want to read you

something very interesting

from another state's election code,

courtesy of Mr. Whouley.

"A hand recount shall be conducted

in preference

"to a machine recount."

It also says that dimpled chads

should be included in any hand recount.

That's great, Ron, but we can't use

another state's election code.

I know we can't,

but what if that state is Texas

and it was signed into law

by its current governor,

George W. Bush?

Yes! All right, pass those out.

This is talking point number one.

Point two...

Donna Brazile is down in D.C.

following up on allegations

of black-voter suppression.

Jeremy is gonna hit the streets

on that same issue.

And point three...

As you can see,

we've got some new lawyers in town.

I'd like to introduce

my former colleague

at the Justice Department,

Jeff Robinson.

Thanks, Ron.

It's great to be on the team.

I've started with the difference between

optiscan and punchcard ballots.

The punchcard failure rate

is double that of optiscans.

And of course minority neighborhoods

get stuck with the punchcards.

I am shocked.

And, everyone, this is Mark Herron,

a Florida election law specialist.

He's going to write a memo

detailing exact standards

by which absentee ballots

can be counted. It's my gut feeling

that some of these were sent

after election day.

- And maybe more than just a few.

- I think so too.

And you should also know

that Mark's law firm has fired him

- for coming onboard with us.

- On his birthday.

Another piece of decent news...

Volusia County ignored

Katherine Harris's advisory opinion

and they are almost completed

with their recount.

We should pick up about 100 votes there.

The bad news is that Madam Secretary

is insisting on her deadline...

Unless, of course, there is a hurricane.

Which means that it's gonna be

impossible for the counties

to complete their recounts in time.

So our strategy is two fold:

one... we continue to insist

that hand recounts are legal;

and two... we argue that

regardless of any deadline

every votes has a right to be counted.

Where do we argue? On C.N.N.?

Volusia County is going to sue Katherine

Harris to accept their late returns

and we are going to join that lawsuit.

I thought Gore was against lawsuits.

I spoke to the Vice President

and he says

since Bush is dragging our ass

into Federal Court,

we can drag his ass into state court.

And this is Volusia County,

everything about it.

Get busy, boys and girls.

I gotta call The New York Times.

Thank you.

Looks like Christopher just joined

the lawsuit to extend the deadline.

Christopher went back to L.A.

Ron Klain is running Tallahassee now.

- Who's Ron klain?

- Gore's former chief of staff.

Former?

Can someone please explain this to me?

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