12:45 p.m. November 16, 2000: Gore Lawyers Ask Judge to Force Florida Secretary of State to Accept Manual Recounts

Lawyers for the Gore presidential campaign ask Judge Terry Lewis (see Afternoon, November 14, 2000) to require Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris (see After 3:30 a.m. November 8, 2000 and After) to include recount ballot tallies made after her November 14 deadline (see 9:14 p.m., November 15, 2000). Gore lawyer Dexter Douglas tells Lewis: “She says, ‘You can only have a hand count in case of mechanical failure or hurricane.’ And the attorney general said that’s a bunch of bunk” (see 9:00 a.m. November 13, 2000). [US News and World Report, 12/13/2000] The next day, Lewis will rule that Harris has the power to ignore late-filed returns (see 10:04 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. November 17, 2000).