Day 31: A Summary

Developments Friday in the unsettled presidential election:

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COURTS

* In Tallahassee, Florida’s Supreme Court ordered an immediate hand recount of more than 40,000 votes that machines could not read. The 4-3 decision also allowed previously disqualified tallies that brought Al Gore within 154 votes of George W. Bush.

* Bush and Gore camps immediately appealed to the courts--Gore’s side to start the recounts right away, Bush’s to block them.

* Two county judges in Tallahassee ruled against Democrats seeking to throw out 25,000 absentee ballots in Martin and Seminole counties. While the judges said there was evidence of irregularities in ballot applications, “neither the sanctity of the ballots nor the integrity of the elections has been compromised.”

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LEGISLATURE

* In Tallahassee, a heated special session of the 160-member Legislature got underway. Republicans are seeking to ensure that Florida’s electors are Bush loyalists.

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THE CANDIDATES

* In Austin, Texas, Bush talked to reporters in the morning about his transition. Aides at headquarters cheered the Florida rulings that went in their favor, but the state Supreme Court decision dampened their spirits. Bush and his wife, Laura, held a holiday party at the Governor’s Mansion in the evening.

* At his home in Washington, Gore watched the Florida Supreme Court’s ruling with his wife and daughter Kristin. Gore campaign chairman Bill Daley hailed the decision as “a victory for fairness and accountability and our democracy itself.”

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Sources: Associated Press, Times staff