Contested elections and legal challenges certainly happen. Some 500,000 state, local and federal elections occur annually, and angry losers periodically tromp to the courthouse. A superior court judge overturned the original results after determining a local sheriff had abused his authority. Moreover, only about two years ago a Florida judge invalidated 4,500 fraudulent absentee ballots and thereby deposed the elected Miami mayor. The lawyer who successfully pressed that case, Kendall Coffey, is now helping Democrats in their examination of Florida's Nov. 7 presidential balloting.
Judges are otherwise usually very reluctant to intervene.
Courts will rarely overturn an election merely on the grounds of some technical flaw. The Gore campaign itself on Friday toned down threats of further legal challenges, focusing for the moment on the pending recounts. At least one judge, though, is already on the case in Florida. On Thursday night, responding to one lawsuit, a local judge in Palm Beach County issued an injunction temporarily blocking the county from officially certifying its election results pending a Tuesday hearing. In between are remedies that apply to particular ballots.