Representative Bill McCollum on the latest on the presidential recount

(CNN) – Florida Circuit Judge Terry Lewis ruled on Tuesday, November 14, that Florida’s secretary of state must use "sound discretion" in accepting or rejecting voter recounts received after the 5 p.m. certification deadline.

Republican Congressman Bill McCollum represents the 8^th Congressional District, which includes Orlando, most of Orange County and the Kissimmee portion of Osceola County. McCollum is chairman of the House Subcommittee on Crime and is a member of the Judiciary Committee, Banking Committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence.

Chat Moderator: Welcome to the CNN chat room, Representative Bill McCollum.

Representative Bill McCollum: Hi. Glad to be with you. I look forward to your questions.

Chat Moderator: What do you think of the Florida secretary of state's decision?

Representative Bill McCollum: I believe that the decision that she made, as modified by the court ruling to cut off the certifications after 5 p.m. today of the canvassing boards across the state, was the correct decision under Florida law. That is the literal interpretation of the law. Now the court has said she has discretion to accept amendments to the various counties' certified results, provided that those county canvassing boards choose to proceed with hand recounts, as three have indicated they intend to do. Secretary Harris has said she will give them only a short time tomorrow to tell her why she should extend the certification period for them to continue their recounts, and that appears to be fully within the court ruling as to her discretion.

Comment from Faye: All I can say is that the next four years in this country are going to be sheer misery.

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Representative Bill McCollum: I don't think it'll be sheer misery. Perhaps I'm an optimist, but we are the greatest free nation in the history of the world, and I believe the next president will be a uniter, and that there will be plenty of issues upon which we can find common ground that need and must be resolved by Congress and the next president.

The American people fully want to see their next president succeed, and it has always been a time after the inauguration of a new president when there is a spirit of goodwill, regardless of partisan thoughts. And despite the dispute over this election, I'm confident that will occur again.

Question from NewOrder: Once this election is over, regardless of who wins, do you think the legislature needs to take another look at the election process?

Representative Bill McCollum: Yes, the Florida legislature should amend the balloting process in Florida to make it uniform and provide the necessary resources to change the balloting systems that are out of date and have caused these problems. In my home county of Seminole, we have had electronic tabulation ballot systems for a long time, instead of the punch-card system that has caused all this controversy. Some form of this more modern electronic system needs to be adopted in every county, and it would do away with the kinds of difficult arguments that have been made over the outcome of this election.

Question from Nicker: Wouldn't the candidate who conceded be a national hero at this point?

Representative Bill McCollum: Well, certainly the American public wants a fair and quick resolution. I think the question of whether whoever conceded would be a hero is probably not the right question. The issue is: Are the rules being followed; is there a fair counting of these votes?

And once the resolution has met its normal end -- which probably will be this week in Florida -- then I think everybody would be appreciative of the candidate on the losing end not pressing more legal challenges, barring some egregious and obvious miscarriage of justice, which does not appear to be the case in the process now being pursued in Florida. But I don't think that person would be considered a hero -- just probably in a very favorable position to challenge for his party's nomination again in four years.

Question from Becca: I'm wondering why Bush passed a law in Texas for manual recounts and is now saying it's unfair to do in Florida?

Representative Bill McCollum: I don't know the details of the Texas law, but I do know that manual recounts are perfectly appropriate in certain circumstances. The real problem in Florida is the statutory absence of objective criteria to guide a manual recount of punch-tab-type voting. Consequently, canvassing boards are making very subjective decisions, and with the challenges coming in major counties in Florida whose canvassing boards are controlled by Democrats, this makes for a very intolerable situation and is the reason why the federal litigation is ongoing with respect to whether the Florida law on manual recounts is constitutional. Texas law might be different; I just don't know.

Question from VARepublican: Will the Republicans insist on ALL counties being recounted if a judge rules in favor of the three to four "renegade" counties, or will they simply accept the outcome and be done with it? (For example, Duval County -- 26,000 votes tossed)

Representative Bill McCollum: I believe the Bush campaign made a conscious decision not to request manual recounts because of the chaos it anticipated would occur. There are a lot of additional counties to the ones in question, not only in Florida but across the country, that use the tabs and punch cards. Once you begin to pull a thread from the whole sweater, it's hard to know where you stop before the whole sweater unravels. There is no way to know whether an adverse outcome with respect to the recount in the three Florida counties now in progress would trigger a change of heart on the part of the Bush campaign. But fairness would say that if these manual recounts in three large Democrat counties were to be accepted, at least all other counties in Florida with a similar voting method should be recounted the same way.

Question from Americandream: Do you believe that the state of Florida should make a requirement on the minimum number of volunteers in each voting station so there are enough people to answer all individual voting questions for senior citizens?

Representative Bill McCollum: Certainly there should be enough personnel, volunteers and employees of local elections officials in every precinct to answer voters' questions. I have heard of no cases where somebody who had a question about a ballot at the time of voting was denied assistance, but it would not be surprising that during rush hour, at the opening of voting and at the close, more patience would be required to get questions answered. If there are cases where supervisors of elections have not provided adequate personnel, voters who've experienced this should first go to their supervisor's office and make this known. These officials are elected themselves and normally are very responsive.

Chat Moderator: Thank you for joining us today, Representative McCollum.

Representative Bill McCollum: Thank you for having me. I appreciate the chance to chat.

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