Al Gore's campaign chairman, William Daley, said Thursday that a confusing ballot used in one Florida county raises "serious questions," and raised the possibility of a legal challenge.
The campaign chief said the confusing ballots used in Palm Beach County, where officials say 19,000 ballots were thrown out because they had two presidential candidates punched, raised questions about the ballot design.
"The fact is, this confusion, where 19,000 people's ballots were thrown out, ought to raise a serious question, considering it's the only ballot laid out that way in the entire state of Florida," Daley told NBC.
Daley said that he had understood the margin in Florida to be only 900 following a partial recount.
"When you look at the rest of the state, now down to only 900 votes separating these two candidates, these are serious questions, because the presidency is at stake here in the sense of who wins," he said. "But also the fundamental right of citizens' votes to be counted."
Daley said he expected lawsuits to be filed by some, but did not indicate whether the Gore campaign would mount its own legal challenge.
"I think there are suits that are being filed, if they haven't been filed, and I think legal experts are looking at the question and looking at other possibilities for lawsuit and possible remedies to solve this problem," he said.
"We're gathering information and looking at all the options. One, of course, is a legal challenge and there have been suits filed. At the same time, the process has begun here to recount many of these ballots ... So we're looking -- we're gathering information, looking at all the options. There's no need to rush to a judgment here." -- TALLAHASSEE, Florida (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
