The Bigger Stakes

The bickering over who won the presidential election ran up to fever pitch Thursday. One of the dozens of battling examples could be seen on MSNBC, as Republican Sen. Connie Mack of Florida and Jack Quinn, a former staffer for Vice President Al Gore, went into verbal combat, exclamation points ending every sentence.

Great television. Great story. Bad for whoever becomes the next president.

The 2000 presidential election has shifted from the voting booth to the courtroom as Democrats seek judicial redress on their allegations of widespread polling place improprieties in Florida. At issue are more than 19,000 ballots that were thrown out in heavily Democratic Palm Beach County because voters, possibly confused by the ballot’s odd configuration, picked more than one candidate. At issue as well are claims of voter intimidation and errors in tabulating ballots that may have affected results in several other counties.

The irregularities appear to be too serious to dismiss as merely political sour grapes. With Florida’s 25 electoral votes at stake, there must be no miscounts. Next week the Democrats’ challenges will go to the state courts. What’s finally decided in Florida will decide who becomes president. And how the issues raised by the disputed votes are settled could determine whether a large shadow is cast over the electoral legitimacy of the next president.

The immediate recount of the nearly 6 million ballots cast in Florida has reduced but so far not eliminated Republican candidate George W. Bush’s apparent winning margin. There are also several thousand absentee ballots cast overseas that won’t be counted until next Friday. These are likely to be decisive in determining the winner unless the courts order reballoting in Palm Beach County. In that event the advantage would shift to Gore.

There’s no way to know how long the judicial process could take. William M. Daley, Gore’s campaign manager, suggests several weeks at least. Meanwhile, both parties have launched all-out public relations campaigns and Republicans are threatening to mount legal challenges in states narrowly won by Gore. Election day did not mark the end of the politicking. What had been a comparatively civil contest for the presidency now threatens to become not just ugly but enduringly divisive.

The Florida recount continues through Tuesday. The electoral college is not scheduled to meet until Dec. 18, and the new president is to be inaugurated on Jan. 20. There’s time to sort this out without resorting to some of the hysterics heard from partisans Thursday.

While the identity of the next president remains uncertain, the long-term consequences of mishandling this serious matter are evident. The Bush and Gore camps do a tremendous disservice to this country to suggest that the result of the election will be illegitimate unless their side wins. It’s not just the political fortunes of Bush and Gore that have to be considered but the trustworthiness of the electoral process.