Judge: Florida election problems make it a 'laughingstock'

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge slammed Florida today for repeatedly failing to anticipate election problems and said the state law on recounts appears to violate the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that decided the presidency in 2000.

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker also rejected a request to extend the deadline later in the day for all of the state's counties to submit the results of a machine recount.

"We have been the laughingstock of the world, election after election, and we chose not to fix this," Judge Walker said in court.

The judge vented his anger at state lawmakers and Palm Beach County officials, saying they should have made sure they had enough equipment in place to handle this kind of a recount.

The overarching problem was created by the Florida Legislature, which Judge Walker said passed a recount law that appears to run afoul of the 2000 Bush v. Gore decision, by locking in procedures that do not allow for potential problems.

Florida's 67 counties faced a 3 p.m. deadline today to finish recounts that could determine the next senator and governor in one of America's top political battlegrounds.

A total of six election-related lawsuits are pending in Tallahassee. Earlier today, Judge Walker ordered that voters be given until 5 p.m. Saturday to show a valid identification and fix their ballots if they have not been counted due to mismatched signatures.

State officials testified nearly 4,000 mailed-in ballots were set aside because local officials decided the signature on the envelope did not match the signature on file. If those voters can prove their identity, their votes will now be counted and included in final official returns due from each county by noon Sunday.

Meanwhile, the recount threatened to stretch into the weekend. The election supervisor in Palm Beach County, a Democratic stronghold, warned her office may not meet today's initial deadline.

More than a week after Election Day, an immediate resolution seems unlikely.