And, contrary to what reporters said, that standard actually wasn't from the section dealing with recounts. It was the standard to be used if a bunch of ballots

And, contrary to what reporters said, that standard actually wasn't from the section dealing with recounts. It was the standard to be used if a bunch of ballots were damaged before they could be counted by machine; say, in a car accident. Florida law at the time only mentioned recounts in the context an automatic recount that involved putting the ballots back through the same machines a second time. Gore's legal team asked for hand recounts, and suggested the "clear intent of the voter" standard. Scalia asked whether the standard should be "can be read by a machine," given that Florida statutes only mentioned recounts that involved machines. If you still disagree, how would you answer my earlier question: I walk into a polling place, announce my name, clearly yell who I want to vote for, and leave. My intent is clear, should my vote count? What if I were to mail in a ballot, that wasn't postmarked? My intent was clear, but Gore requested that such ballots not be counted. What does the postmark have to do with intent? Or is intent a necessary, but not sufficient, element? For the record, the last time I filled out a paper ballot (Calinornia, late '90s), they handed me a special marker and told me to use it, or my vote would not count (they also told me not to mark two spots for the same office, or my vote would not count).