Florida: The Running Tally
The official, certified, Supreme Court-approved presidential Florida vote tally gave George W. Bush the state -- and the election -- by a mere 537 votes. But a number of newspapers have begun recounting those contested ballots, scrutinizing the overvotes (those with more than one punch per race) and undervotes (with all of their dimples and hanging chads), and coming up with their own totals. Some newspapers have formed consortiums (the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press are one; the Miami Herald, USA Today and Knight-Ridder the other) and will be releasing their findings within a month.
But early results are trickling in, bringing bittersweet good news for Al Gore. Though reaching one final number is difficult because different papers came up with different vote tallies in reviewing Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, one thing is clear: Gore would have gained anywhere from 7,658 to 7,800 votes in a statewide recount of overvotes and undervotes, more than enough to wipe out Bush's 537-vote advantage. Even using only undervotes, Gore would have picked up anywhere from 850 to 960 votes depending on which paper's numbers were used, still enough to carry Florida.
Here's a guide to the recounts, per county. The newspaper doing the recount is noted in parenthesis:
Bradford County over- and undervotes: Gore +4 (Orlando Sentinel)
Charlotte County over- and undervotes: Gore +30 (OS)
Collier County undervotes: Bush +226 (Naples Daily News)
Franklin County over- and undervotes: Gore +3 (OS)
Gadsden County over- and undervotes: Gore +16 (OS)
Gulf County over- and undervotes: Gore +5 (OS)
Hamilton County over- and undervotes: Gore +2 (OS)
He@ÿ@` County over- and undervotes: Gore +4 (OS)
Hillsborough County Undervotes (Includes dimples): Gore +120 (Tampa Tribune)
Jackson County over- and undervotes: Gore +12 (OS)
Lafayette County over- and undervotes: Gore +1 (OS)
Lake County over- and undervotes: Gore +121 (OS)
Levy County over- and undervotes: Bush +2 (OS)
Miami-Dade County undervotes: Gore +49 (Miami Herald consortium)
Miami-Dade Undervotes: Bush +6 (Palm Beach Post)
Okeechobee County over- and undervotes: Gore +25 (OS)
Orange County undervotes: Gore +203 (MH)
Osceola County undervotes: Gore + 25 (OS)
Palm Beach overvotes: Gore + 6,600 (PBP)
Palm Beach County undervotes [includes dimples]: Gore + 682 (PBP)
Palm Beach undervotes: Gore+784 (OS)
Seminole County undervotes: Gore +13 (OS)
Suwannee County over- and undervotes: Gore +5 (OS)
Taylor County over- and undervotes: Gore +9 (OS)
Ongoing totals, by newspaper, with revised running total in parentheses:
Naples Daily News [Collier County only]: Bush +226 (Bush +763)
Tampa Times [Hillsborough County]: Gore +120 (Bush +417)
Miami Herald [Miami-Dade County]: Gore + 49 (Bush +488)
Palm Beach Post Under and Overvotes [Palm Beach County]: Gore +7,288 (Gore +6,751)
Palm Beach Post Undervotes only[Palm Beach County]: Gore +682 (Gore +151)
Orlando Sentinel: 1,264 (Gore +727)
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