Court allows Florida recounts to continue

With time running out before the state-imposed Saturday deadline to certify the election, Vice President Al Gore won a small victory yesterday. The Florida supreme court authorized Palm Beach and Broward counties to begin manual recounts of ballots, a process that had been stalled by Republican Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris.

Harris has said she will certify the election results tomorrow, after all absentee ballots have been counted. The court's ruling did not make clear whether the results of the newly ordered recounts — which may take up to six days — can be added to Gore's totals in Florida.

Texas Gov. George W. Bush's campaign has fought the extended recounts and supports Harris' deadline to certify the results. Absentee ballots from overseas must be received before midnight.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said he expected Florida would be able to announce a winner as soon as the last absentee ballots are counted.

"Saturday morning we'll know who won the state," he said yesterday.

Meanwhile, the 12th district congressional election remained almost as contentious. Former Rep. Dick Zimmer (R) announced yesterday he would accept the results of one last recount in the very close election. Zimmer said he believed he was trailing Democrat Rep. Rush Holt in the final tally by a very small margin.

Zimmer had gone to court to stop a recount in progress but lost his appeal.

"I'm just looking forward to what we think is the possibility of my having fewer votes than Rush Holt," Zimmer said.

Since the election, Zimmer's campaign has suggested that there were voting irregularities in some voting districts. The new recount would involve examining all voting booths in the district as well as all absentee ballots and provisional ballots.

The Associated Press estimates that Holt leads Zimmer by 253 votes. Originally, Zimmer had a 731 vote lead, until absentee ballots from one county gave Holt a 56-vote advantage.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)