www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/11/09/election.president/index.html
EST (0501 GMT) TALLAHASSEE, Florida (CNN) -- Florida's second statewide count of every presidential election ballot cast in the state, still in progress early Friday, currently gives Texas Gov. Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris said state elections officials had received unofficial results from 53 of the state's 67 counties. The remaining 14, she said, would be given until next Tuesday to get their totals in. The Associated Press, which has stationed reporters in every Florida county, put Bush's advantage over Gore at only 229 votes, a number drawn from results in 66 counties. Though the recount showed Bush with a narrow lead over Gore, his advantage may be altered as overseas absentee ballots are tallied over the next several days. The much-anticipated end of the two-day recount was framed by a day of sharp exchanges between the most influential operatives within both major party campaigns. In this story: 115 Ballot confusion 116 'The ballot is very straightforward' 117 Thousands of ballots disqualified 118 Overseas ballots yet to be counted Top officials of Bush's campaign Thursday accused Gore's allies of politicizing the recount, saying Gore's people were not telling the whole story. Bush campaign Chairman Donald Evans, appearing in Austin, Texas, the governor's home base, said Gore campaign officials left out important information when they told reporters earlier Thursday that Gore's organization would back efforts by some state residents seeking legal redress for alleged voting irregularities. Evans and Bush strategist Karl Rove said Gore campaign Chairman Bill Daley's earlier claims that some 19,000 ballots from Palm Beach County were discarded did not hold much water when compared to past election results. Some county residents, apparently confused by the layout of the county ballot, cast votes for two presidential candidates, or cast votes for Reform Party candidate 119 Pat Buchanan, when they intended to vote for Gore. Ballots containing two votes for president were disqualified by elections officials. Daley "neglects to point out a similar number of ballots were invalidated in that county" for the same reason in 1996, Evans said. Rove added that based on Florida election numbers analyzed by the Bush campaign, Reform Party registration increased 110 percent in Palm Beach county between 1996 and 2000. Earlier in the day, Daley appeared before television cameras to lay out a plan to address a series of allegations of what he said were missing and confusing ballots. The possibility of legal action expanded as the state vote recount resumed today, with Democrats pressing the issue in Florida and Republicans threatening recounts in Iowa and Wisconsin -- both of which Gore is estimated to have won narrowly. A recount in New Mexico is already under way and results should be reported on Friday. Daley said Gore's team in Florida would request a "hand count" of presidential ballots in four Florida counties: Volusia, Broward, Dade and Palm Beach, where voters have complained that the county's ballot design was confusing and netted Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan hundreds, perhaps thousands, of votes intended for Gore. Also, in an unexpected move, an emergency lawsuit challenging Palm Beach County returns in the presidential election was withdrawn Thursday so the action could be combined with another suit to be filed next week in state court, attorneys said. Whoever wins Florida's 25 electoral votes wins the White House. The Florida recount was triggered by state law because Bush led Gore by less than one-half of 1 percent after Tuesday's balloting. Out of nearly 6 million votes cast, the Bush margin before the recount was 1,784 votes. State elections officials were confident the recount would be completed Thursday, but they must wait until at least Nov. That is the deadline for the estimated 2,000 ballots cast by Floridians living overseas -- mostly military personnel and their families -- to arrive in the state. Both camps sent representatives to Florida to monitor the recount. Gore sent campaign chairman 133 Daley and former Secretary of State 134 Warren Christopher; Bush's man is former Secretary of State 135 James Baker. Earlier, without offering specifics, Daley didn't rule out a Gore-authorized legal challenge, depending on the results of the recounts and the state's certification efforts. Voters punched holes in the middle of the ballot, while candidates were alternately listed to the left and then the right. Arrows linked the names with the proper hole, but some voters feared they had missed the arrows and punched the wrong hole. What was going on in my mind was somehow my right to vote had been taken away from me," said Lillian Gaines, 67, one of three residents who filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Palm Beach County Circuit Court seeking a new election. Republicans noted that the ballot in dispute was approved by Democrat Theresa LePore, the county supervisor of elections. Thousands of ballots disqualified Wexler alleged that some 19,120 county ballots for the presidential race were tossed out before they were counted because more than one candidate was picked. In Miami-Dade, Broward and other counties, the Gore campaign complained about delays in the delivery of ballot boxes to counting places. Democrats set up a toll-free number (1-800-579-8871) where Florida voters could report irregularities. Jesse Jackson and NAACP President Kweisi Mfume said they received complaints that blacks had difficulty voting. Jackson said some voters were told there were no more ballots, or that polls were closed. Jackson appeared at a rally outside the West Palm Beach Courthouse on Thursday afternoon to protest the alleged voting problems in the county. Protesters gathered early in the day outside the building, many bearing placards that demanding a recount. Bush's brother, insisted they have not seen indications of fraud. She said her office has received "a lot of telephone calls" on the issue from the public, but that there has been no contact from either the Bush or Gore campaigns. Overseas ballots yet to be counted Even as the recount proceeded, elections supervisors waited for an undetermined number of overseas ballots, primarily from military personnel and their families. The state counted about 2,300 overseas ballots in the 1996 presidential election and allows 10 days to count them. Because his brother is one of the candidates, the Florida governor removed himself from the panel that will certify results of the recount. The other members of the panel, Secretary of State Katherine Harris and state elections director Clay Roberts, are also Republicans. But the state's top Democratic official, Attorney General Bob Butterworth, expressed confidence that the recount will be fair.
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