Shifting Tides

Florida’s Supreme Court stirred up a monumental legal and political muddle Friday even as it revived Al Gore’s dimming prospects for the presidency.

On a 4-3 vote the court ordered immediate manual recounts of 9,000 votes in Miami-Dade County as well as perhaps tens of thousands of additional so-called undervotes--ballots cast but not recorded for a variety of reasons--in other counties. It further awarded Gore 383 votes earlier recorded in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, shrinking George W. Bush’s statewide lead to 154 votes. At the end of a tumultuous week in which everything seemed to go Bush’s way, including Friday’s lower-court decisions denying challenges to the votes in Seminole and Martin counties, the vice president secured a major victory. Florida, with its decisive 25 electoral votes, remains in play.

It would be foolish to predict what might come next, though an appeal by Bush to the U.S. Supreme Court is already in progress. The Florida court’s recount order specifies that a vote shall be “legal” if there is “clear indication of the intent of the voter.” That standard, which the high court carefully noted was established by the state Legislature, puts the whole matter back into the twilight zone of inferring the meaning of indented chads.

Certainly the recount will extend beyond the Tuesday deadline for states to report their electoral votes, giving the Republican majority in the Legislature the opportunity to name its own pro-Bush electors. If a recount ultimately puts Gore ahead, the state Supreme Court could order that he be certified as the winner of Florida’s electoral votes. Competing slates of electors would put the issue before Congress. If the House and Senate differ on which slate should be accepted, the matter goes back for decision to Florida’s governor, Jeb Bush, brother of the Republican candidate.

Elation in the Gore camp is matched by frustration among Bush partisans. Both sides must make every effort to avoid fueling rancor and discord. For the moment the stakes are political, but ultimately they are about sound governance. This unprecedented electoral battle will finally end, but the imperative to have an effective government will go on.