By ANNE GEARAN
The Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida Supreme Court justices seemed anxious to find a way out of the state’s presidential election jam Monday that would let disputed manual recounts continue - as long as the delay wouldn’t jeopardize the state in the Electoral College vote.
The central questions hanging over the state election - should ballots be recounted? How? For how long? - landed in Florida’s high court nearly two weeks after the Nov. 7 vote.
There was no word on when a ruling might be expected, but some of the justices showed a sense of urgency to answer the questions, which are of paramount importance to Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush.
At a nationally televised hearing that ran nearly two and a half hours, the chief judge of the court, Charles T. Wells, repeatedly pressed both sides to predict how continued recounts would affect the Dec. 18 Electoral College vote.
“Tell me when Florida’s electoral vote would be in jeopardy,” Wells said to Bush lawyer Michael Carvin, a question he had earlier asked of Paul Hancock, lawyer for the state’s Democratic attorney general.
Both sides said they were intent on having Florida’s vote counted - no need to note disagreement on how they wanted that vote to come out.
The hearing dealt only glancingly with major issues that both sides have been fighting about so hard in other courts and in public statements.
But oral arguments in an appeals court are rarely a comprehensive guide to justices’ thinking. In this case, the court is being asked to rule whether the manual recounts requested by Democrats should continue, how the counts should be done and whether those results should be included in the final state tally.
After the hearing, Gore advisers said privately they were pleased by the tone of the justices’ questions and the fact that recounts could continue at least for now.
When surrounded by reporters outside the court building, Gore spokesman Doug Hattaway was circumspect.
“We’re not attempting to divine the outcome based on the questions,” he said. “Like everyone else, we’ll have to wait to see what they say.”
The Republican legal team expressed private concerns about what they perceived as tough questioning and pondered options that could include an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Carvin, buffeted by questions from Justice Barbara Pariente, appeared to suggest a GOP fallback position if the court rules against Bush.
The law, he said in the hearing, “makes it clear that the federal courts - federal law will not allow this court or the Florida Legislature to change the rules of the election after the election has taken place.”
The justices were vigorous questioners from the outset, none more so than Wells, the 61-year-old Democrat who presided.
Over and over, he asked at what point the state would risk missing the chance to cast its 25 electoral votes. Sometimes, he punctuated the question with outstretched arms.
Both Bush and Gore need those 25 votes to win the White House.
Wells’ questions at one point sketched a scenario in which recounts would continue, perhaps into December.
Democrats said Dec. 12 was when Florida needed to have its results final, six days before the Electoral College meets. But Joe Klock, representing Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, said she was bound by a state law that required her to certify all ballots except for overseas absentees by seven days after the Nov. 7 election.
