Special To The New Journal and Guide
From butterfly ballots to hanging chads, the Florida Supreme Court became the epicenter of the 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore.
Twenty years ago this November, we were two of the seven Florida Supreme Court justices who decided a series of cases arising from that election.
When the United States Supreme Court issued its order stopping the recount that the Florida Supreme Court had ordered, only 537 votes out of the 5.9 million votes cast separated the candidates.
Each of these decisions, where we were part of the Florida Supreme Court majority, reflected our view that all legally cast ballots deserved to be counted.
As the United States Supreme Court observed in Wesberry v. Sanders, and the Florida Supreme Court has reaffirmed over the years, “[o]ther rights, even the most basic, are illusory if the right to vote is undermined.”
