The court has not announced a timetable for handling the appeal lodged Monday by Gore's lawyers following Sauls's ruling. But time is fast running out on Gore. The state is supposed to settle on its presidential electors by Dec. 12, under a federal statute. Electors will meet Dec. 18 to cast their votes for president and vice president. Democrats in Seminole County, near Orlando, and Martin County, near Palm Beach, have alleged that Republican Party workers tampered with absentee ballot applications, adding voter identification numbers in violation of Florida regulations.
Republicans downplay the complaints as a technicality.
But the Seminole County case is set for trial before Leon County Circuit Judge Nikki Clark on Wednesday. A trial date has not been set for the Martin County case. Gore declined to join either lawsuit, fearing that his argument to count every vote would be seen as disingenuous if he were simultaneously to fight for excluding absentee ballots in those two counties. Florida election laws concerning absentee ballots were tightened in 1997 after a disputed Miami mayoral race was overturned when fraudulent absentee ballots, including one from a dead man, were found. The new law requires detailed applications from voters, including their voter registration number and the last four digits of their Social Security number.