Wednesday, November 29, 2000

I am outraged by the actions in Florida by a couple of Democrat-controlled counties and the Florida Supreme Court which appear to be aimed at making Al Gore the winner in Florida, regardless of true intent of the voters.

The fairest recount in Florida was the one that was done by machine. Because the counties where manual recounts are being done are controlled by Democratic Party partisans their actions must be considered suspect from the start. However, the numerous examples of these people changing the rules as they go along are more than ample evidence that they are simply manipulating the process to try to throw the vote in Florida to Gore. This is not fair. It certainly will not result in the full, fair and accurate count of the votes in Florida as the Democrats claim.

Florida state law clearly requires that the votes be certified by seven days after the election, a date that has long passed.

If counties want to do manual recounts, then they should be expected to devote the resources necessary to finish within the deadline. Several counties met the deadline. The unwillingness of the others to devote the resources necessary to complete their manual recounts in the time allotted is absolutely no reason to ignore Florida law.

The largest county, Miami-Dade, first decided not to manually recount, then reversed that position as a result of pressure from the Gore campaign. Well, after the statutory deadline for certifying the Florida voting results, they started a recount that was expected to take at least several weeks. This is outrageous.

The Florida Supreme Court showed total contempt for the rule of law by ignoring the clear requirements of the Florida election statute and arbitrarily imposing a new system and new deadlines. It is clear that their actions were designed to give the maximum opportunity to Gore to "find" the votes needed to win. This also is outrageous.

I urge you to use your editorial voice to immediately condemn these actions in the strongest possible terms. The very fate of our nation is hanging in the balance.

David Hedlund

Newnan

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