seems to be Bush by 790
THE RECOUNT was triggered by Florida state law because Bush led Gore by less than one-half of 1 percent. State officials said they will count every ballot over again and expected to announce the results by 5 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Florida elections supervisors also waited for an undetermined number of overseas ballots, primarily from military personnel and their families. The state allows 10 days after the election for the ballots to come in.
The nation watched the state’s every move because Florida, with its 25 electoral votes, will decide the winner of the presidential cliffhanger.
With votes in 29 of 67 counties recounted, the tally shows Gore with a net gain of 1,356 votes from the election night count.
Bush had a net gain of 362 votes. Bush’s lead over Gore decreased by 994 votes. The recount included figures from Palm Beach County, which released its recount total at 11 p.m. ET.
Before the recount, Bush was leading Gore by 1,784 votes. With the latest recount total, Bush now unofficially leads Gore by 790 votes.
Meanwhile, there was a growing demand for a new election in Palm Beach County, where 3,407 votes for Reform Party Pat Buchanan were being disputed. A number of voters said they couldn’t understand the ballot and mistakenly voted for Buchanan when they meant to vote for Gore. Three Palm Beach County residents filed a lawsuit Wednesday asking that new election be held.
By 2 p.m. ET Wednesday, Al Gore had won the nation’s popular vote, polling 48,863,889 votes to Bush’s 48,676,282.
What was unclear was who won the Electoral College. Gore had 260 of the 270 votes needed, Bush 246. If Bush wins Florida, he’ll have 271 — one more than needed to secure the presidency.
CONCERNS OVER RECOUNT PROCESS
Florida’s governor, Jeb Bush, the younger brother of the Republican candidate, gave his assurance that the recount would be fair and legal. He also said he would step down from the state election board “to ensure that there is not the slightest appearance of a conflict of interest.”
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• Check out the schedule for MSNBC Cable's expanded coverage of the presidential recount in Florida.
Bush also said he would work with Democratic leaders in the state. “The stakes are high and the circumstances demand responsibility by both political parties,” he said.
Democrats said privately they were worried about the objectivity of Florida’s secretary of state, Republican Katherine Harris, who shares responsibility for certifying the recount results.
Highlighting the importance of the recount, the Bush and Gore campaigns sent a team of lawyers, dubbed “SWAT teams” by political operatives, to Florida to observe the recount. The teams were headed by two former secretaries of state — Christopher for Gore and Baker for Bush.
In each county, a county judge, the chairman of the county commission and the local elections supervisor recounted the votes by feeding punch cards through tabulation machines three times. The makeup of the canvassing board is supposed to insulate the process from politics, said state elections director Clay Roberts, a Republican appointee.
The results were then forwarded to Tallahassee for certification by Harris and Roberts.
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After the recount process is completed for the entire state, candidates may still have the option of appealing the results. MSNBC.com’s Tom Curry reported that the process of appealing the recount could delay a final result until Dec. 18, when delegates to the Electoral College are required to meet for a decision.
In his first public comments since Tuesday’s election, Gore thanked his supporters and called for a “fair and forthright resolution,” one that is “fully consistent with our Constitution and our laws.”
“It is also crucial that the American people have full faith and confidence in the electoral process from which the presidency gains its authority,” said Gore, adding that he would abide by any outcome that followed the rules set down by the Constitution.
“We do not intend to provoke a constitutional crisis,” said Christopher.
For his part, Bush said he was confident of victory and would be in office “in short order” after the recount results are announced.
CHARGES OF ELECTION IRREGULARITIES
In Florida and elsewhere, Democrats grumbled about long lines at the polls, reports that ballots were late in arriving at polling places and other possible irregularities.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson said he got calls on Election Day complaining that blacks had difficulty voting in Florida and other Southern states. Jackson said some voters were told there were no more ballots, or that polls were closed.
“What we need is not just a recount by hand, but also a thorough investigation,” Jackson said.
NAACP President Kwesi Mfume said he had asked the Justice Department to investigate what he called numerous complaints of election irregularities affecting minority voting. He also wants the federal government to oversee the recount.
“We are not suggesting foul play, but we are very much concerned that foul play can happen,” he said in a statement.
Separately, Democratic officials and hundreds of voters complained about the ballot in Palm Beach County. Voters punched holes in the middle of the ballot, while candidates were alternately listed to the left and the right.
MSNBC Cable's illustration of the controversial ballot in Palm Beach County, Fla.
“It was virtually impossible to know who you voted for,” said Mark Hirsch, a 30-year-old business executive who voted for Green Party candidate Ralph Nader.
Gore carried the county by more than 110,000 votes, but the 3,407 votes for Buchanan were by far the most of any Florida county, and almost 20 percent of Buchanan’s total vote in the state.
Later Thursday it was discovered that more than 19,000 ballots cast in Palm Beach County had more than one vote for president, causing them to be nullified. Only 3,783 ballots cast in the U.S. Senate race had the same mistake, according to unofficial returns.
Republicans said the ballot was approved by Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore, a Democrat.
“The ballot was laid out within accordance with the statute,” said state elections director Clay Roberts, a Republican appointee. “That’s a voting system that’s been in use for many years in many counties.”
LOCAL COVERAGE
• WBBH Ft. Myers: Florida recount, absentees will decide president
• Corrine Brown wins 5th term; Bill Nelson wins Senate Race, reports WTLV Jacksonville
• WTVJ Miami: Presidential race still undecided
• Stunned Officials Recount Historic Vote. WESH Orlando reports.
• WESH: Democrats Fear Confusing Ballot May Skew Florida.
• WFLA Tampa: Recount the election
• Florida recount to end Thursday. WPTV West Palm Beach reports.
A WILD EVENING
The recount, triggered by state law, came after a wild evening of dramatic turns for both candidates.
President Bill Clinton, speaking Wednesday afternoon as he returned to the White House from New York, where first lady Hillary Clinton won a U.S. Senate seat, said that if there were any doubts “about the importance of exercising democracy’s most fundamental right, the right to vote, yesterday put it to rest.”
The president also said he had had “a very good talk” with Gore, partly about “the unpredictability of life,” and that the vice president was in good spirits.
The outcome of the election was further complicated by the possibility of recounts in several other states: Wisconsin, where Gore led by 6,000 out of 2.5 million votes cast; Iowa, where Gore led by 5,000 votes of 1.3 million cast; and New Hampshire, where Bush led by 7,000 of 563,000 votes cast. The race in Oregon was also too close to call.
Recounts in other states?
Gore won important battleground states from Pennsylvania to California, but Bush piled up smaller victories in the South and the Midwest to leave the count in the Electoral College all but deadlocked until shortly after 2 a.m., when the major news outlets, including NBC News, MSNBC Cable and MSNBC.com, declared that Florida’s 25 electoral votes had put Bush over the top.
For more than an hour and a half, Bush’s supporters celebrated in Austin, Texas, while Gore’s consoled one another in the rain in Nashville, Tenn.
Then, at 4 a.m. ET, the news outlets retracted their projections that Bush had won, setting off wild celebrations in Tennessee. Shortly beforehand, Gore called Bush to withdraw the congratulations he had telephoned to the governor earlier.
Across the country, several newspapers stopped their presses to adjust front pages to reflect the sudden changes.
The Florida race is so tight that the Green Party’s Ralph Nader, who polled just 2 percent there, was a major factor. Nader’s support comes largely from liberal bases. Had most of his nearly 97,000 votes gone to Gore, the Democratic candidate could have won Florida last night.
Nationwide, Nader registered 3 percent support. The longtime consumer activist was hoping to win 5 percent in order to assure the Green Party of federal financing in 2004.
WHO VOTED, AND WHY
NBC’s breakdown of the exit-polling data showed that Gore and Bush built coalitions of voters from very different blocs.
Black voters comprised Gore’s most enthusiastic supporters — fully 89 percent voted for the vice president. Hispanics, too, also voted overwhelmingly for Gore.
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Bush ran most strongly among gun owners and voters who described themselves as religious conservatives, winning 61 percent and 78 percent of those groups, respectively. The governor also won small majorities among men (52 percent), white voters (53 percent) and voters who make more than $75,000 a year.
But after a campaign in which both men hammered each other on the economy, no single question appeared to dominate voters’ thinking.
About 1 in 5 voters considered the economy the most important issue. By comparison, only slightly smaller proportions of voters identified education (17 percent), Social Security (16 percent) and taxes (15 percent) as most important.
The candidates generated heavy turnout in battleground states like Florida, California and Washington, while turnout was average elsewhere.
Behind the candidates was the most expensive election in history — $3 billion on presidential and congressional races — but one that failed to stir much excitement.
With peace and prosperity both at hand, the fight was chiefly over how to divide the spoils: in the big tax cuts Bush proposes or in shoring up Medicare, Social Security and education, as the vice president favors.
NBC News’ David Gregory, Michael Porath, Michelle Jaconi, Sheldon Gawiser, MSNBC.com’s Alex Johnson, Tom Curry, Miguel Llanos and Jon Bonné, as well as The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. |
