Florida Certifies Bush as Winner; Gore to Challenge Result in Courts

Nineteen days after the election, George W. Bush proclaimed himself the nation’s next president and revealed plans Sunday night for his prospective administration after being certified the winner of Florida’s 25 crucial electoral votes.

Even as Al Gore prepared to address the nation at 9 a.m. PST today, pressing the case to keep his legal fight going, the Texas governor assumed an air of inevitability by announcing the appointment of running mate Dick Cheney as head of his transition team.

Bush called on the Clinton administration to help in handing over the White House, even as partisan passions boil, saying he looked forward to “a constructive working relationship throughout this transition.”

Bush spoke about two hours after Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris declared him the winner over Gore by 537 votes out of about 6 million cast statewide. Her announcement capped a final day of frenzied hand counting in Palm Beach County and a last-minute tally of scattered overseas votes in 10 other counties.

Within minutes, Gore’s running mate, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, was on television denouncing the results as “an incomplete and inaccurate count” and asserting that he and Gore had no choice but to contest the results in court.

“What is at issue here is nothing less than every American’s simple, sacred right to vote,” a somber Lieberman said in a brief address from Washington.

The Gore team was said to be stunned by Harris’ decision to exclude Palm Beach County’s hand-counted results in the total she certified Sunday night--a move that cost Gore as many as 200 votes.

Lieberman was immediately followed on the air by James A. Baker III, Bush’s Florida point man, who called on Gore to cease his legal fight and concede the election. “At some point there must be closure,” he said at a Tallahassee news conference, in language far more blunt than Bush used a short time later.

Still, Baker said Bush would “absolutely” go ahead with his case before the U.S. Supreme Court, challenging Florida’s high court decision allowing the hand counting of ballots to go on past the state’s normal seven-day cutoff.

“We have no assurance that the other side will stop,” he said.

Indeed, even before the certification was completed, attorneys for Gore said they would be in court today to contest the results in at least three Florida counties, a move that threatened to extend the seemingly endless election deep into December.

Still, Bush’s 537-vote margin presents Gore with a stiff challenge. He needs to prevail in just about every legal argument to stand any chance of winning the election.

“It’s all over but the shouting,” said Rep. Dick Armey (R-Texas), the House Republican leader. “It’s about time.”

‘The Needed Electoral Votes to Win’

Speaking from the second floor of the Texas Capitol in Austin, Bush pointedly spoke of the election in the past tense.

“The election was close, but tonight, after a count, a recount and yet another manual recount, Secretary Cheney and I are honored and humbled to have won the state of Florida, which gives us the needed electoral votes to win the election,” Bush said. “We will therefore undertake the responsibility of preparing to serve as America’s next president and vice president.”

Bush used the occasion to reprise some of the hallmarks of his stump speech, talking about tax cuts, volunteerism and a stronger military. But more important perhaps than the substance was the symbolism of the moment as the governor, flanked by two large American flags, asserted his claim on the White House after nearly three weeks of uncertainty.

But leading Democrats continued to back the vice president in his refusal to concede the election. After making Gore’s case on the Sunday morning talk shows, House Democratic leader Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri and his Senate counterpart, South Dakota’s Tom Daschle, planned a joint appearance today in Florida on Gore’s behalf.

Harris, a Republican who co-chaired Bush’s Florida campaign, conducted the formal certification ceremony just after 7:30 p.m. EST, or about 2 1/2 hours after the deadline set last week by the Florida Supreme Court for receiving amended tallies.

In brief remarks, Harris again asserted that the court acted improperly by extending the deadline past the state’s normal seven-day cutoff.

With that, she used a blue fountain pen to sign a sheaf of documents certifying Bush as the winner of Florida’s 25 electoral votes. Also signing were Clay Roberts, the state’s elections director, and Bob Crawford, the state agriculture commissioner, who both supported Bush in his presidential campaign.

Crawford was appointed to fill in for Gov. Jeb Bush, the younger brother of the GOP nominee, to avoid the obvious conflict of interest.

With Florida’s electoral votes, Bush pushed just past the 270 needed to win the White House--barring a reversal in court. If he prevails, he will win the White House with the second-smallest electoral vote margin in the nation’s history, 271-267. President Jefferson won the office after an electoral vote tie in 1800.

Bush would also become the first candidate since Benjamin Harrison in 1888 to win the presidency while losing the popular vote. Gore leads Bush in the national popular vote by about 337,000 votes out of 104 million cast.

The certification itself was somewhat anticlimactic after all the legal battling over deadlines and hand counts. The three-member board convened on the lower level of the Florida Capitol in a large ceremonial room dotted with pastel paintings of palm trees.

The commissioners shook hands and then signed duplicate copies of the certification--one for Harris’ office, one for the state museum and one each for the commissioners.

When finished, Harris said: “I hereby declare Gov. George W. Bush the winner of Florida’s 25 electoral votes for the president for the United States.”

As she read the final results--Bush 2,912,790 votes, Gore 2,912,253--a roar went up from the crowd of about 100 people standing just outside the room.

Crawford spoke next, saying: “I think it’s over. It should be over. And maybe that’s the important word . . . ‘should.’ ”

But even the simple ceremony resulted in new controversy when Harris announced she was rejecting the vote totals presented as a result of Palm Beach County’s partial hand tally. Instead, she reverted to the vote the county reported nearly two weeks ago from the automatic machine recount. The move cost Gore as many as 200 votes, according to Democratic and Republican lawyers who monitored the Palm Beach County recount.

In that way, the election impasse came nearly full circle, to where the first reports of “butterfly ballots” and other election day confusion pitched Florida into a swamp of litigation and partisan venom.

After a sleepless night spent poring over thousands of ballots, election officials in West Palm Beach faxed a letter to Harris about noon asking for an extension of the reporting deadline until 9 a.m. EST today.

County Judge Charles Burton, chairman of the Palm Beach canvassing board, said in the letter that the deadline created “an extraordinary and unprecedented challenge” as the three members struggled to sort through 14,500 disputed ballots in a final push to meet the 5 p.m. cutoff.

But Harris denied the request in a reply sent about three hours later.

She said the Florida Supreme Court was explicit in setting the 5 p.m. deadline--although the justices said the cutoff could be extended until 9 a.m. today if Harris’ office were closed, as it usually is on Sundays.

“Therefore,” Harris wrote, “. . . your request . . . is denied.”

Soon after, a weary Burton, his face etched with fatigue, stepped before TV cameras to say, “We have no choice but to shut down.” He said there were 800 to 1,000 ballots and about two hours of work left when the counting ended at 4:19 p.m. EST.

The partial returns were faxed to Harris’ office. Then Burton and his two fellow board members finished their recount. Burton said it was unclear whether their work would be for naught, but he did not care.

He blamed both sides for slowing the process. While frequent objections by Republicans stalled the recount, Burton said, Democrats also delayed completion by suing the board over its standards for tallying partially punched ballots. “I had to sit in there and spend a whole morning in court that we could have been here working.”

But the dawning of a new day promised still more litigation.

David Boies, Gore’s lead attorney, said the vice president will file a fresh lawsuit today contesting the election certification on several grounds.

Among them are assertions that Miami-Dade County improperly abandoned its hand count, costing Gore at least 157 votes, because of “mob” intimidation, and that officials in Palm Beach County denied the vice president up to 800 votes by using overly stringent standards in deciding which ambiguous ballots deserved tallying.

Gore attorneys also plan to challenge the vote in Nassau County, where officials reverted to their election night count after a mandatory machine recount missed about 200 votes--a move that cost Gore 52 votes.

Asserting that hundreds of thousands of votes still remain to be tabulated, Boies said at a Tallahassee news conference, “Until these votes are counted, this election cannot be over.”’

*

Times staff writers Michael Finnegan and Janet Hook contributed to this story.

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What’s Next

Today: Vice President Al Gore is expected to address the nation at 9 a.m. PST.

Wednesday: Hearing is set on a lawsuit alleging Republican operatives improperly completed 4,700 absentee ballot applications in Florida’s Seminole

County. The suit asks that all 17,000 absentee ballots tallied in the county be tossed out.

Friday: U.S. Supreme Court to hear arguments on whether to overturn Florida Supreme Court’s decision that allowed manually recounted

votes to be added to Florida’s vote total.

Dec. 12: Deadline for Florida to finalize its slate of 25 electors.

Dec. 18: Members of the electoral college--the electors--cast their votes for president and vice president.

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Florida by the Numbers (Tabular data not included)

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Recount Timeline

TUESDAY, NOV. 7

(election night) 7 p.m. -- Florida polls close (EST).

7:50 p.m. -- Associated Press and TV networks begin calling Florida for Gore, based on exit polls.

9:30 p.m. -- Bush campaign disputes Florida projections.

9:50 p.m. -- Networks retract projections, saying Florida is too close to call.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 8

2:15 a.m. -- Networks call Bush the winner in Florida and nation.

3 a.m. -- Gore phones Bush to concede.

4 a.m. -- Gore phones Bush and retracts concession.

4 a.m. -- Networks retract projections of Bush winning Florida and the election.

Later, Florida begins an automatic recount. Bush leads by 1,784 out of over 6 million votes cast. First lawsuits are filed protesting the controversial Palm Beach County “butterfly ballots.”

THURSDAY, NOV. 9

Gore officials request hand recount in four counties: Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Volusia.

Federal judge bars Palm Beach County officials from certifying final recount.

More lawsuits filed, including allegations of racial discrimination at ballot box.

Bush’s statewide lead shrinks to 327 votes, according to an unofficial AP count. His lead would rise and fall in coming days.

FRIDAY, NOV. 10

Florida recount concludes.

Projections giving New Mexico to Gore are retracted. Bush holds a slight lead.

SATURDAY, NOV. 11

Bush officials seek injunctions blocking manual recounts.

Palm Beach County begins sample recounts in a few precincts.

SUNDAY, NOV. 12

Palm Beach County election officials vote to conduct a full manual recount.

Volusia County begins hand recount of more than 184,000 votes.

MONDAY, NOV. 13

A federal judge rejects Bush’s request to halt Florida hand recounts.

Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris sets deadline for certifying election results.

Volusia County files suit to extend certification deadline.

Bush’s lead in Florida increases to 388 votes after a Polk County recount gives him 100 additional votes.

TUESDAY, NOV. 14

A state judge upholds the 5 p.m. Florida certification deadline but also says counties can file late corrected returns.

Gore regains narrow lead in New Mexico. He will eventually win the state.

Miami-Dade County conducts a 1% hand recount and rejects a full recount.

Volusia County files amended returns, giving Gore 98 additional votes.

Harris announces certified vote for all 67 counties. Bush leads by 300 votes.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 15

Florida Supreme Court denies Harris’ request to halt hand counts.

Florida Circuit Judge Jorge Labarga rules that Palm Beach County officials can set rules on which ballots are valid.

Broward County reverses itself and votes to conduct a full manual recount.

Harris says she will not accept any new hand recount totals.

THURSDAY, NOV. 16

Both camps file papers in a federal appeals court. Republicans seek to end all recounts.

Gore attorneys file motion challenging the certification of Florida results.

Florida Supreme Court says Palm Beach County can proceed with a hand recount.

FRIDAY, NOV. 17

State circuit judge affirms Harris’ discretion to refuse late vote totals.

Florida Supreme Court bars Harris from certify- ing votes until it can rule on the admissibility of recounts.

Federal appeals court denies GOP bid to stop recounts in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Miami-Dade County votes for a full recount, reversing an earlier decision.

Absentee votes widen Bush’s lead to 760. Midnight deadline for overseas absentee ballots to arrive.

SATURDAY, NOV. 18

Bush pulls ahead by 930 votes after overseas votes break 2 to 1 in his favor.

SUNDAY, NOV. 19

Broward County officials adopt a more permissive “voter intent” standard in assessing disputed ballots.

Florida Supreme Court, with Chief Justice Charles T. Wells presiding, holds televised hearing on whether Harris must include manual recounts.

Palm Beach County judge says he lacks constitutional authority to order a new county election.

Broward County elections supervisor announces her retirement. The canvassing board member is later replaced by another Republican.

TUESDAY, NOV. 21

Florida Supreme Court unanimously rules in favor of hand recounts, giving counties until Nov. 26 to file final results.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 22

Dick Cheney undergoes surgery after suffering a mild heart attack (his fourth).

Florida judge rules that Palm Beach County can set its own standards for tallying “dimpled” ballots.

Miami-Dade County cancels recount, saying it can’t meet the deadline.

Bush appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court to end recounts.

THURSDAY, NOV. 23

Florida Supreme Court refuses to restart Miami-Dade County’s recount.

Gore attorneys say they will contest Miami-Dade County results.

Hand recounts in Broward and Palm Beach counties reduce Bush’s unofficial lead to 719 votes. Thousands of disputed ballots remain uncounted.

FRIDAY, NOV. 24

Cheney is released from a Washington hospital.

Palm Beach County recount officials affirm a more restrictive standard for discerning voter intent.

U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear Bush appeal seeking to bar hand recounts. Oral arguments are set for Dec. 1.

SATURDAY, NOV. 25

Bush withdraws suit that alleged absentee ballots were unfairly excluded.

SUNDAY, NOV. 26

5 p.m. -- Counties give final election tallies to Harris.

7:30 p.m. -- Harris certifies election results.

9:30 p.m. -- Bush declares himself winner of Florida and the presidential election.

SOURCES: Scripps Howard News Service, CNN, MSNBC, Times files.

Compiled by JOHN TYRRELL / Los Angeles Times