TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — As lawyers for Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush prepared for what could be a decisive courtroom showdown Saturday, the Florida Supreme Court on Friday dealt twin blows to the vice president's hopes of overturning the governor's lead in the state's presidential vote.
The state high court refused to order an immediate hand count of disputed ballots from Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, a count Gore's legal team hoped would show the vice president had surpassed Bush's official 537-vote lead in the state, certified by the Florida secretary of state on Sunday.
Then the court issued a second order refusing to void the Palm Beach County vote on the basis of the infamous "butterfly ballot."
Meanwhile, residents of Martin County filed a suit similar to a Seminole County case that maintains thousands of GOP absentee ballots were obtained illegally and therefore the votes should be nullified. If either of those suits goes the Democrats' way, something most observers believe unlikely, the Texas governor would lose thousands of votes — more than enough to give Gore the presidency.