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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: alan w who wrote (70293)	11/11/2000 4:11:06 PM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 769667

Article...More Fla. Ballots Said Disqualified... By Ron Word Associated Press Writer Saturday, Nov. 11, 2000; 1:06 p.m. EST JACKSONVILLE, Fla. –– About 26,000 ballots with more than one presidential candidate or no candidate marked were disqualified in Duval County and never counted, election officials said Saturday. washingtonpost.com Duval County is as solidly Republican as Palm Beach County is Democratic. Texas Gov. George W. Bush carried Duval County by more than 44,000 votes. Officials said there was no way to know how the nullified ballots affected the race between Bush and Vice President Al Gore. In Tuesday's vote, 21,942 ballots were nullified when voters punched their ballots for two candidates for president. An additional 4,967 did not vote for president or did not punch the ballot hard enough for their vote to be registered, said Susan Tucker Johnson, a spokeswoman for Duval County Supervisor of Elections John Stafford. The disqualified ballots represent about 9 percent of the 291,626 cast Tuesday. The ballot Duval County used was of a different design than the disputed "butterfly" ballot used in Palm Beach County. In Duval County, 10 presidential candidates and one write-in candidate were listed on two pages. At the bottom of the first page, in larger, bolder type, voters were instructed to turn the page for more choices in the presidential race. Voters, Johnson said, probably picked one candidate on the first page and then voted for another presidential candidate on the second page. Mike Langton, chairman of the northeast Florida Gore campaign, reacted angrily to news of the 26,000 nullified votes. He said he had learned of them too late to ask for a manual recount, which under Florida law must be requested within 72 hours of the election. He said Stafford had told him only 200 to 300 votes were nullified. Johnson said Langton had misunderstood what Stafford had said. "I sure as hell would have requested a manual recount if I had known 27,000 votes were nullified," Langton said. "We were harmed because we didn't find out in time to ask for a recount." "He (Stafford) was either incompetent or he was purposely misleading," Langton said. "I don't know what is going on, but it rises to the level of hanky-panky," Langton said. Langton said he had notified the state and national Gore campaigns of the situation. Mike Hightower, who represents the Bush campaign in northeast Florida, said earlier the problems were voter error and not mistakes on the part of election officials. He did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

To: alan w who wrote (70293)	11/11/2000 4:20:51 PM
From: Susan G	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 769667

Actually it would be ridiculous to just "hand over" any votes which were not obviously for Gore TO Gore. If they are at all questionable, they should be thrown out. Which is why I think is the entire Palm Beach County Election should be done over, with only those who voted in the original allowed to re-vote. WITHOUT the absurd ballots. With a mechanical machine, clearly marked, as we used here in Connecticut. And totally overseen at every polling location by non-partisans such as the national guard to avoid funny business on BOTH sides from occurring. And then the absentee ballots should be counted. And that would be the end of it. Although I am registered as a voter with no party affiliation, I voted for Gore. I vote for whomever I feel is the best man, regardless of political party affiliation. I'm surprised that anyone who cared about our environment and the future of our planet would vote for any man who has a "Wishlist" like the one I posted in the Fortune magazine article I posted last night. I am not here to attack Bush as so many of the Bush supporters on this thread immaturely attack Gore. We all have reasons for supporting our candidates, it's laughable to read how stubbornly "right" so many think they are. I'm just interested in total fairness, and want to be able to have confidence that right man gets the job so their is not a cloud of distrust over our leader's head - WHOEVER IT IS - for the next four years. And I'm concerned as to how this looks to all overseas. This is really hurting all of America no matter who they voted for.