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Two counties with manual recounts: One made the deadline; the other made it to court.
By DAVID KARP
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 20, 2000
WEST PALM BEACH -- About 200 miles from here, County Judge Michael McDermott awoke early Sunday in his house in DeLand to beautiful blue skies and 65-degree weather.
Having slept eight hours the night before, McDermott was fully refreshed. He read three Sunday newspapers from his recliner and then began work on the dishes.
McDermott, chairman of the canvassing board in Volusia County, could only watch TV with pity Sunday as canvassing board members in Palm Beach County began trudging through the 306,000 ballots left to count around 7 a.m.
"I feel very sorry for those folks," McDermott said.
The head of the Palm Beach County canvassing board, Judge Charles Burton, might have been home Sunday relaxing like McDermott if he had acted a bit more forcefully, as McDermott had in Volusia. Volusia finished its hand recount of its 184,000 ballots Tuesday in time to meet Secretary of State Katherine Harris' 5 p.m. deadline for certified vote totals.
Palm Beach County didn't even begin its work on its more than 425,000 ballots until late Thursday. By missing the deadline Tuesday, Palm Beach not only prolonged the nation's uncertainty about the outcome of the presidential election. It also set up a court battle in the Florida Supreme Court this morning over whether Harris must accept the late recounts at all.
"Volusia County finished," U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach, said outside the Palm Beach vote counting center. "Why did they get it done?"
One of the main reasons was Volusia's resolve to move ahead. Rather than seeking one, two and then three legal opinions as Palm Beach's canvassing board did, Volusia's board acted decisively. On Nov. 9, just two days after Election Day, the Volusia board voted unanimously to do a hand recount.
"It was real quick," McDermott said. "We said this is the right thing to do for the county, and we are going to do it."
A large part of Volusia's determination came from the makeup of its canvassing board, showing how the future of the presidential race rests as much on the personalities of little-known county officials in Florida as it does on national figures.
Two county commissioners on Volusia's board had been longtime friends. McDermott, 60, who has served on the county bench for 24 years, didn't have to worry about his political future, either. His retirement is set for Dec. 31. For whatever reason, McDermott demonstrated uncanny independence from political pressure.
When Attorney General Bob Butterworth called him to discuss the recount two days after the election, McDermott promptly told Butterworth that he should get off the phone. Butterworth did.
In contrast, Burton, the judge leading Palm Beach's canvassing board, has far less experience on the bench. Burton, 42, was appointed to the bench by Gov. Jeb Bush in May. He's a former assistant state attorney and a registered Democrat.
Theresa LePore, the elections supervisor in Palm Beach County, also faced enormous political criticism from her constituents from the start for designing the "butterfly" ballot that some Gore voters say led them to mistakenly punch a hole for conservative Pat Buchanan. Rather than respond to the criticism, LePore went into virtual hiding.
In Volusia, the board barely leaned on lawyers for legal advice. Indeed, when Harris said she would not accept Volusia's recount after 5 p.m. Tuesday, Volusia sued her. Its lawyers took a stand, arguing in court that the county should be given more time under Florida law. But Volusia didn't stop counting, and met the 5 p.m. deadline.
At times, Volusia's board went even further, going against the advice of its county attorney. On Tuesday, Volusia County Attorney Dan Eckerd told his board that it should drop its lawsuit against Harris.
"It's my recommendation that we hold our fire," he said.
McDermott disagreed and called for a vote on the question. The attorney's recommendation went down in defeat 3-0.
"You have your orders," McDermott told the county attorney.
Eckerd got up from his seat and glared.
In Palm Beach, the scene could not have been more different.
That county's board deferred to its attorney's advice to seek legal guidance from the secretary of state, attorney general and ultimately the state Supreme Court. Only county Commissioner Carol Roberts, a Democrat, fought to move ahead quicker.
On Monday, Palm Beach won't even take a side in its historic case before the Supreme Court. "We are poised to do what the court tells us," said Bruce Rogow, a law professor at Nova University hired to represent the Palm Beach canvassing board.
In an interview, Denise Dytrych, the Palm Beach county attorney, said she was following her board's direction when she sought a legal advisory opinion from Harris, which Dytrych later said was binding on the board. She said she was worried that the board could face criminal sanctions if it proceeded with an illegal recount. In hindsight, she said she never questioned if she was being too cautious.
"If that is the kind of lawyer I am, then that is the kind of lawyer I am," Dytrych said. "I just do my job. I don't play politics."
Burton also defended the board's pace, saying the board wanted to handle such a significant decision prudently. But he acknowledged that the intense media attention gave him pause.
"I'll be honest with you," Burton said. "It's one thing when no one is watching. It's another thing when the world is watching."
Democratic lawyer Ben Kuehne said the canvassing board had been "extremely cautious, very cramped and wooden in their approach."
"The bureaucrats who run an election never want there to be a recount, and they never ever want there to be a hand recount," Kuehne said. "Why? Because it looks bad. It's institutional bureaucracy."
Once Palm Beach's recount got under way, the contrast with Volusia only sharpened.
In Volusia, McDermott ejected a lawyer who continued to object to the board's decision. "There were times when I had to be very hard on people," he said.
McDermott also turned down requests from CBS's Bryant Gumbel for an interview and from the New York Times to write an opinion piece. When parties uncovered irregularities, McDermott asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate vigorously.
"If there was any kind of impropriety, I was going to order a massive investigation," McDermott said.
In Palm Beach, when Republicans made accusations about voter irregularities, Burton characterized the complaints as political "spin." Asked about one complaint, he dismissed it as absurd.
"Whatever," he said.
Burton also has been far less strict with attorneys, who he has said are slowing down the process.
Friday afternoon, Burton warned that he might have to change some rules to prevent lawyers from making so many objections. By Friday evening, he had changed his mind.
At one point, Burton even winked and pointed a finger playfully at GOP lawyer Mark Wallace, who had just finished a news conference attacking the recount.
Burton, surrounded by reporters, called over to Wallace. He said lightly that he wanted to hear what Wallace had to say.
"I am supporting you, judge," Wallace said, and winked back at him.
Watching all of this from his recliner in DeLand, McDermott didn't want to offer Burton any advice. But McDermott did comment on how he had helped things run smoothly in Volusia.
"If I had been Mr. Nice, we would not have succeeded in doing a hand recount," McDermott said.
It was a good thing that Volusia finished its recount when it did, he added.
"I was down to one dress shirt," he said.
-- Times news researcher John Martin contributed to this report.