Volusia rushes, finishes on time

By DAVID KARP

© St. Petersburg Times, published November 15, 2000

DELAND -- Six minutes before 5 p.m., County Judge Michael McDermott shoveled a stack of legal-sized papers in his hand and asked for a stapler.

"That's it," he said quietly.

Then, with cameras clicking away, McDermott, head of Volusia County's canvassing board, handed Volusia County's certified vote total for president to a courier from the Florida secretary of state. He held the papers steady for a minute, for history.

The room erupted in applause. "Yeah! Yeah," shouted an Al Gore supporter.

After three days of recounting nearly 184,000 votes by hand, Gore picked up 98 votes. Gore's vote total rose to 97,304 from 97,063. Bush's votes went to 82,357 from 82,214.

As the canvassing board cheered, lawyers for the Bush campaign kept their hands still. They objected to the final certification, saying the final recount could not explain why the hand count showed 264 fewer absentee votes than the computer count did.

"The finish line is right in sight, but you are not there," said Larry Halloran, an attorney for the Bush campaign.

Volusia's canvassing board acknowledged it had to rush through -- if not skip -- several steps in the counting process after a circuit judge in Tallahassee denied them an extension past Tuesday's 5 p.m. deadline.

"We are all called on in life to act," McDermott said. "We are called upon in life to act sooner than we would like to do."

He said he was confident with the final results, but didn't like rushing on Tuesday. McDermott worked under extraordinary pressure -- including a bomb threat in the building that he kept a secret from everyone.

Republicans wanted to spend more time checking 264 unexplained absentee ballots, but there was no time left.

Republicans also questioned why the hand recount showed a gain of about 135 votes overall in the presidential race. But that gain made no sense, since in precinct 305 alone, the hand recount uncovered 320 votes that had not been counted.

"Where did those votes go?" said Halloran.

The Volusia canvassing board on Monday sued Secretary of State Katherine Harris to get an extension past her Tuesday afternoon deadline. A state judge ruled Tuesday that Harris could impose a deadline but not arbitrarily void votes that came in afterward.

McDermott said the board planned to try to answer some of the questions raised Tuesday by the Bush lawyer. "I am not satisfied with the way we did what we did," he said. "I myself am deeply disappointed with the way we had to do this today."

Canvassing board members said they were confident that the recount proved a more accurate result than the computer count.

Democrats said they were pleased with the hand count's results. "What the Republicans misunderstood is that the votes added today were always there," said Jack Hardin Young, an attorney for the Gore campaign. "They simply needed to be counted."

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