Bush took one huge step toward occupying the White House when Leon County Judges Terry Lewis and Nikki Clark denied motions by Democrats to throw out more than 25,000 absentee ballots.
"Based upon the evidence presented," said a court spokeman, "the trial courts in both the Seminole County and Martin County absentee ballot cases [have found] that neither the sanctity of the ballots nor the integrity of the elections has been compromised, and that the election results reflect a full and fair expression of the will of the voters."
A crowd inside the Tallahassee courthouse that was waiting for the verdict erupted in applause upon hearing it read.
Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis denied a request to throw out 10,000 absentee ballots in Martin County because of allegations that GOP operatives "tampered" with the absentee ballot applications. Leon County Circuit Judge Nikki Clark ruled on similar grounds in a case involving 15,000 absentee ballots in Seminole County.
In both cases, Democrat plaintiffs supporting Al Gore complained that local election officials allowed Republicans to fill in missing registration numbers on absentee ballot applications. The cases had sought to have all of the absentee ballots in both counties invalidated.
Such a move would have vaulted Democrat Vice President Gore to a lead of more than 3,000 votes in the Florida presidential election.
Gore was not a party to either case but has endorsed the efforts to exclude the absentee ballots, despite his repeated claims he wants to "count every vote." Democrats also have worked to exclude overseas absentee ballots from military personnel.
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