The Florida Recount: Democrats Challenge 15,000 Overseas Absentee Ballots for Bush
GENE RANDALL, CNN ANCHOR: Thousands of absentee ballots are at the center of a court challenge by Democrats in Seminole County, Florida. There's a hearing today on whether the ballots should be tossed out because of alleged fraud. CNN's Mark Potter is covering that story for us -- Mark.</s>MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Gene, the first hearing is over now; and this case in Sanford, Florida, is an attempt by an attorney who is linked to the Democratic Party to get thousands of Republican absentee votes that have already been counted thrown out because of allegations of violations of the Florida election law. In a lawsuit filed here in Sanford, the supervisor of elections is accused of giving members of the Republican Party access to absentee ballot requests that had been previously rejected because they did not contain the registration numbers -- the voters' registration numbers -- that are required by law. The Republicans allegedly went to the elections office and added the numbers there so that those ballots could be resubmitted.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got the supervisor of elections in Seminole County and the Republican Party operating in a manner that's a little bit too cozy for comfort.</s>POTTER: Now, the lawsuit plaintiff claims that the election supervisor violated the law; but the lawyers for the canvassing board and for the Republican Party say she did not violate the law, that she did nothing wrong, and they claim that the ultimate goal of this lawsuit is to take away votes from George W. Bush.</s>KEN WRIGHT, SEMINOLE COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY: They know, mathematically, if they can throw out 15,000 people's votes, they can gain a 5,000 vote advantage for Al Gore in the statewide count. To them it's worth it.</s>POTTER: Now, Judge Debra Nelson will issue a ruling Monday on whether this lawsuit will be dismissed or whether it will be allowed to continue. If the lawsuit resumes, a hearing on all the evidence is scheduled for a week from Monday. Gene, back to you.