Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board

531 U.S. 70 (2000)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

See Palm Beach County Canvassing Board v. Harris 772 So.2d 1220 (2000) for the detailed facts. The Supreme Court of Florida determined there were two principal questions: whether a discrepancy between an original machine return and a sample manual recount resulting from the way a ballot has been marked or punched is an “error in vote tabulation” justifying a full manual recount; and how to reconcile what it spoke of as two conflicts in Florida's election laws: (a) between the timeframe for conducting a manual recount under Fla. Stat. § 102.166 (2000) and the timeframe for submitting county returns under §§ 102.111 and 102.112, and (b) between § 102.111, which provides that the Secretary “shall . . . ignore” late election returns, and § 102.112, which provides that she “may . . . ignore” such returns. With regard to the first issue, the court held that, under the plain text of the statute, a discrepancy between a sample manual recount and machine returns due to the way in which a ballot was punched or marked did constitute an “error in vote tabulation” sufficient to trigger the statutory provisions for a full manual recount. With regard to the second issue, the court held that the “shall . . . ignore” provision of § 102.111 conflicts with the “may . . . ignore” provision of § 102.112, and that the “may . . . ignore” provision controlled. The court turned to the questions whether and when the Secretary may ignore late manual recounts. The court relied in part upon the right to vote set forth in the Declaration of Rights of the Florida Constitution in concluding that late manual recounts could be rejected only under limited circumstances. The court then stated: “Because of our reluctance to rewrite the Florida Election Code, we conclude that we must invoke the equitable powers of this Court to fashion a remedy . . . .” The court thus imposed a deadline of November 26, at 5 p.m., for a return of ballot counts. The 7-day deadline of § 102.111, assuming it would have applied, was effectively extended by 12 days. The court further directed the Secretary to accept manual counts submitted prior to that deadline.