ATLANTA, Georgia -- A federal appeals court here on Friday rejected a request by Florida's Republican voters for a halt to hand recounts of presidential election votes in that state, AFP reported.
The petition by three Republican voters from Florida's Brevard county had argued that the selective hand recounts sought by Democrats in the disputed presidential election in Florida violated the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees equal protection of the law.
"We conclude that the emergency motion for injunction pending appeal should be denied without prejudice," said the 11th circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Florida.
It added that under U.S. law, "the states have the primary authority to determine the manner of appointing presidential electors." "Based on a thorough review of events as they now stand, we cannot conclude that the plaintiffs have demonstrated a substantial threat of irreparable injury that would warrant granting at this time the extraordinary remedy of an injunction pending appeal," the court said.
It said, however, it was not passing judgment on the merits of the appeal by the three plaintiffs, who were backed by the Republican Party.
"At this time we need not address the likelihood of success on the merits; nor do we address now the merits of the underlying appeal," it noted.
Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush's campaign said it was disappointed by the Atlanta court's ruling, but signaled that further litigation on the issue at the federal level may lay ahead.
"We are disappointed, of course, that the Federal Court of Appeals ... decided not to step into the dispute at this time," Bush legal spokesman James Baker told reporters in Tallahassee, Florida.
That decision however "specifically noted that we are free to return to the federal courts to present our constitutional challenges to the selective and subjective manual recount process at an appropriate time in the future," he said.
Bush and his Democratic rival Al Gore are locked in a bitter legal wrangle over whether to include manual recounts in the final tally of the November 7 presidential election.
At stake is Florida's 25 electoral college votes, which are likely to decide who will succeed President Bill Clinton in the White House.
Incomplete official results show Bush ahead by 300 votes over Gore, but that tally does not include more than 2,500 absentee ballots from Florida residents living outside the United States.
A Reuters report also said the Friday midnight deadline for Florida's overseas ballots passed quietly, with attorneys for U.S. presidential contenders Al Gore and George W. Bush preparing for a courtroom showdown on Monday.