Nevada 1998 Senate documents headed to Florida courtroom

RENO, Nev. - The legal battle over thousands of ballots that were recounted in Nevada's 1998 Senate election could end up playing a role in the presidential recount in Florida.

Local lawyers acting on behalf of the Florida Democratic Party obtained 10 copies Monday of the Washoe County clerk's 134-page file on the recount that Democratic Sen. Harry Reid won by 428 votes over former Republican Rep. John Ensign two years ago.

The Nevada recount stretched on for nearly six weeks before the margin of victory - less than one-tenth of 1 percent - was made official.

In the Nevada case, Washoe District Judge Janet Berry granted requests on at least three occasions to extend deadlines for completion of the final recount and canvassing of the Senate vote.

Like Florida, Nevada law sets deadlines for the final canvassing of the vote, said Steven Walther, a Reno lawyer who secured the copies for the Florida Democrats.

The documents ''relate to the issue of to what extent a time deadline can be extended to allow the electoral process to be completed,'' Walther said Monday.

''It appears the same procedure used here is being used in Florida,'' he told The Associated Press.

Certified copies of the filings were expected to arrive in Florida before court hearings were scheduled to begin Tuesday, Walther said. Lawyers for Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush are wrangling over ballot tabulations in Florida, where the state's 25 electoral votes likely will determine the presidential election.

''I would be surprised if they wouldn't be used in some fashion or another'' as part of the hearing, he said.

The original margin of victory announced for Reid the day after Election Day 1998 was 401 votes. An initial recount pushed the margin to 459 and the final vote canvass certified by the secretary of state was 428.

Skewed margins on paper ballots and computer software glitches in Washoe County, including Reno, were blamed for the changing results. At one point, more than 15,000 absentee ballots were recounted.

Ensign's campaign footed the $59,000 bill for the recount and finally conceded Dec. 10, 1998.

Walther's request for copies of the recount documents was the first the clerk's office has received for the 1998 Senate file, Washoe County Clerk Amy Harvey said.

''They let us know it was imperative it be done right away. They requested that we do it expeditiously so this could be Fed-Exed to Florida,'' she said.

Harvey copied ''the entire file,'' including the original request from the Washoe County registrar's office that the ballot boxes be opened for a recount and the deadline be extended for the canvassing of the vote.

The copying bill exceeded $1,400, she said. One of the copies was being sent to Reid, Harvey said. She didn't know where any others were headed.

Reid is ''happy for all the legal work in his case to be made available,'' said Mark Schuermann, the senator's communications director.

''His hope is that these pleadings could help maintain the integrity of the vote in Florida. He's been on both sides of the recounts and he thinks there should be a fair and full recount,'' he said.

Reid lost his first Senate campaign in a recount to Sen. Paul Laxalt in 1974.

Ensign bounced back from his narrow loss two years ago to defeat Democrat Ed Bernstein in last week's U.S. Senate race to succeed retiring Sen. Richard Bryan. He said he'll never forget the 1998 recount.

''It was torture,'' Ensign said.