Delayed Curtain

Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, put into a damned-if-she-does-and-damned-if-she-doesn’t position on whether to delay a ballot reporting deadline in the presidential election, punted the decision into this afternoon while some counties continued a manual recount. Still, by announcing that as of 5 p.m. Tuesday Republican George W. Bush remained ahead of Democrat Al Gore by 300 votes, Republican Harris again called Bush the winner without actually saying it.

The spin was as ferocious as ever on both sides, yet at least in terms of momentum it appears that it could soon be all over but for the shouting and the pouting.

A circuit judge had ruled that state election law plainly mandates that all returns from last week’s election had to be handed in to the Florida Department of State by 5 p.m. Tuesday. Counties that miss the deadline “shall be ignored,” says the statute. But there was a sizable loophole in Judge Terry P. Lewis’ ruling. A county can notify the secretary of state of “any pending manual recounts” and file a revised return when its recount is completed. According to the ruling, however, the secretary may ignore those late-filed returns, provided that isn’t done arbitrarily but with discretion. Clear as mud, though widely seen as favoring Bush.

Harris, under immense pressure from both sides, finessed her decision by announcing the vote thus far and saying that counties must justify to her in writing by 2 p.m. today their reasons for correcting previous recounts--not much time in view of all the legal action in play. Then, she said, she’ll decide. Whoever wins Florida, with its 25 electoral votes, becomes the next president.

Gore’s campaign, searching for a silver lining in Lewis’ ruling, has focused on the possibility that the manual vote recounts in a number of counties could still be accepted in a final official tally. But the Democrats are all too aware that Harris is a Republican activist who co-chaired Bush’s state campaign. Her lawyer promised that she would use her discretion in evaluating late-filed returns, but that assurance came only after Judge Lewis admonished Harris for earlier saying she would reject any votes received after Tuesday’s deadline.

The legal challenges in this extraordinary election may not be over, but there is a growing weariness with the process and a sense that a definitive decision can’t be far away. Lewis’ decision was a balanced and reasonable interpretation of an unfortunately ambiguous law and seems likely to be upheld on appeal. So the pressure remains on Harris. Certainly she should find it difficult to reject legitimate late-filed results, no matter what vote total they show.

We continue to believe that time should be allowed for manual recounts of ballots in counties where there are plausible doubts about the validity of the recorded vote, and that those votes should be certified by the secretary of state. That is the surest way to get an accurate count and avoid the prospect of a decision that could be seen as tainted by an excess of partisanship.