M A I N   N E W S

US SC stops manual count

WASHINGTON, Dec 10 (PTI) — In a stunning blow to Vice-President Al Gore’s revived hopes, the US Supreme Court stopped the counting of “undervotes” — ballots not counted by machines — in Florida and agreed to hear Mr George W. Bush’s case against a state court’s ruling which allowed manual recounts.

The court’s decision to stop the counting pending a session of oral arguments tomorrow was a 5-4 split with five justices voting to halt the counts while four dissented.

“It is suffice to say that the issuance of the stay suggests that a majority of the court, while not deciding the issues presented, believes that the petitioner (Mr Bush) has a substantial probability of success”, the court said in its order.

Lawyers for the two sides were commanded to appear for oral arguments tomorrow — the day before the informal deadline for appointment of the state’s 25 electoral votes by the Florida legislature.

Mr Bush had wanted the count stopped on the grounds that the Florida Supreme Court’s action was unconstitutional. Mr Gore was desperate to have the counting continued because he is racing against the clock with a December 12 deadline.

The news pleased the Bush camp and dismayed Mr Gore’s supporters.

Mr Gore’s lead lawyer, Mr David Boies, said the ruling was “obviously one we disagree with”.

Mr James Baker, a top adviser to Mr Bush, said “I have just spoken to Governor Bush and of course we are pleased.” In written arguments to the US Supreme Court seeking a halt to the recounts, which they have long tarred as illegal, Mr Bush’s lawyers charged that failure to stop the process in its tracks would “irreparably harm the entire electoral process”.

Mr Gore’s lawyers, in their written response, scoffed at the “surprising assertion ... that a candidate for public office can irreparably be harmed by the process of discerning and tabulating the will of the voters”.

Analysts said that agreeing to hear Mr Bush’s case did not mean the court would necessarily strike down the Florida Supreme Court’s Friday decision to order manual recounts of tens of thousands of ballots. But with time at a premium, the future of any hand recount was unclear, they added.

Before the US Supreme Court’s order, the partial recount gave Mr Gore a net gain of 58 votes statewide, putting him “clearly on a path to pull ahead” in the presidential race, Mr Gore’s adviser, Ron Klain, said.

The court issued its order a few moments after the US 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta had denied Mr Bush’s emergency motion to stop the recount but also ordered Florida officials not to change previously certified results declaring him to be the winner by 537 votes.

Supporters of Mr Bush outside the Leon County Library where counting was going on before it was stopped by the Florida Supreme Court shouted “give it up Mr Gore” when they learned the US Supreme Court decision.