A judge in the American state of Florida has ruled that all the ballot papers from two counties in the disputed Presidential Election must be moved to the state capital, Tallahassee. No decision has been made on whether to count them, but the Democrats are asking the State Supreme Court to intervene and order the count to begin. On the telephone to the Court, officials in Miami Dade and Palm Beach told Judge N Saunders Sauls that they were prepared to obey the Court order.
Heavily guarded convoys carrying more than a million ballots have left the two counties. Lawyers for the counties' electoral commissions told Leon County Circuit Court Judge Sanders Sauls that the caravan carrying 1.1 million votes should arrive in Tallahassee by his 10pm (Irish time) deadline tomorrow.
Representatives from the Gore and Bush campaigns will be permitted to ride with the convoys, which are to transport what the Vice President believes will prove that he won the election in Florida. Judge Sauls is examining a Gore complaint that thousands of votes in Florida have not been properly counted, robbing him of victory.
