"The Florida Supreme Court ruled unanimously last night that manual recounts from three counties must be included before the secretary of state can certify the winner of the presidential election there, handing Vice President Gore a major victory in his effort to overtake Texas Gov. George W. Bush in the battle for the state's 25 electoral votes.

The court also ruled that Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties must conclude the hand counting of ballots and submit results by 5 p.m. Sunday [November 26, 2000] to Secretary of State Katherine Harris.

But the court declined to establish standards for county officials to use in determining which ballots are counted by hand, as Gore's lawyers had asked, leaving it to the counties for now to decide that critical question for themselves.

However, the court also said counties should do everything they can to ascertain the will of the voters, and citing a 'particularly apt' Illinois Supreme Court opinion that held voters should not be disenfranchised 'simply because the chad they punched did not completely dislodge from the ballot.'

The justices said that in interpreting a Florida election law with conflicting provisions, they had based their ruling on their long-standing position that 'the right of the people to cast their vote is the paramount concern overriding all others.'

The court said that 'the will of the people' took precedence over 'a hypertechnical reliance upon statutory provision.' It concluded that Harris had erred in announcing that she would reject amended tallies from the counties still conducting manual recounts.

To allow the secretary to summarily disenfranchise innocent electors in an effort to punish dilatory board members, as she proposes in the present case, misses the constitutional mark,' the court said. 'The constitution eschews punishment by proxy.'

The 42-page decision, announced at 9:45 p.m., was issued after a fitful day of waiting by both campaigns and set in motion the final stage of resolving one of the closest and most controversial presidential elections in U.S. history.

Gore remains ahead of Bush in the popular vote nationally and in the electoral college. But Bush has never trailed in the popular vote in Florida, and whoever wins that state's 25 electoral votes will become the next president.

In Florida, Bush leads Gore by 930 votes, according to the secretary of state's official tally. But the vice president has gained up at least 230 votes in the recounts underway in South Florida. Gore's hopes now rest on whether three counties adopt a broad standard for determining whether to include the so-called dimpled ballots in their count.

Electoral College Deadlines

Dec. 12 - Deadline for Florida to designate its electors for the electoral college vote.

Dec. 18 - Electoral college representatives meet in their respective states to cast their votes for president. Electors are pledged--but not legally obliged--to follow the popular vote of their state.

Jan. 6 - Tentative date for the joint session of Congress to count the electoral college votes.

Jan. 20 - New president is sworn in" (Dan Balz and Peter Slevin, The Washington Post, November 22, 2000).