While this decision by the State Supreme Court is probably on shaky ground technically, it is, in my opinion, the most fair
decision rendered thus far in this post election nightmare, with the Martin and Seminole absentee ballot decisions a close
second.  Technically legal or not, all the State Supreme Court has asked for is a canvassing of roughly 40,000 ballots that have
never been canvassed.  These are not ballots only in counties Gore won, nor are they ballots only in counties that Bush won.
More importantly, these are not ballots with just Gore votes on them, nor are they ballots with just Bush votes on them.  These
are ballots across the state cast by citizens of our democracy who stood in line and cast a vote, only to have it rejected by the
machines as non-votes.  Ordinarily they would not be counted.   But when the election is close, you have to count these votes.
Even Bush's own expert witness on voting systems (i.e., the guy who holds the patent on the ones used in Palm Beach and
several other counties) said as much during the contest trial in Circuit Court.

Moreover, had Florida law been applied consistently throughout the state, we would not be in this mess because Florida law
requires that such votes be manually canvassed to see if a clear indication of voter intent is discernible.  This may sound like a
subjective method (or nonstandard as the Bush camp would like you to believe).  But that is the standard provided by Florida
law and that is the standard that 10 counties used when canvassing their machine rejected ballots as well as the standard three
counties used when manually counting all their ballots.  Moreover, that is the standard that Florida law has been using for years
to count ballots not rejected by machines and to recount ballots in close elections.  (Click here if you have concerns about different standards being applied by different counties.)

What are Bush supporters afraid of?  How can you expect to be the chief citizen in a Democracy, if you don't believe that an effort should be made to count every vote, even if it may cost you your precious lead?  Unfortunately, Gore can not wrap himself in the American flag either because his approach all along has been to just get certain people's votes counted.  Neither men deserve to be President, because their behavior has proven how unworthy they both are to hold the highest office in our Democracy. While the Florida Supreme Court decision would not have changed the fact that one of these two clowns was going to win, both of whom have made a travesty of the right to vote, this court's decision would have at least made sure that our system upholds one of the fundamental concepts on which a Democracy must stand -- and that is why it is was so important.

Ironically, in their Supreme Court appeal, Bush's lawyers argue emphatically that these uncounted votes should never see the
light of day, yet they quote a 1980 court decision that gets to the very heart of why they absolutely should be counted:

Moreover, as the Fifth Circuit stated in 1980, “qualified voters have not only a constitutionally protected right to
vote, but also have the concomitant right to have their votes counted. These rights can neither be denied outright,
nor destroyed by alteration of ballots, nor diluted by ballot-box stuffing.” Gamza v. Aguirre, 619 F.2d 449, 452 (5th
Cir. 1980) (citations omitted).