Florida election recount
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The Florida election recount of 2000 was a period of vote re-counting that occurred following the unclear results of the 2000 US presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore, specifically the Florida results. The election was ultimately settled in favor of George W. Bush when the Supreme Court, with its final ruling on Bush v. Gore, stopped the recount, and Bush got a majority of the electoral votes.[1]
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[edit] Background
The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, sponsored by a consortium of major U.S. news organizations, conducted a Florida Ballot Project comprehensive review of all ballots uncounted (by machine) in the Florida 2000 presidential election, both undervotes and overvotes, with the main research aim being to report how different ballot layouts correlate with voter mistakes.
The media companies involved were:
- Associated Press
- The New York Times
- The Wall Street Journal
- CNN
- St. Petersburg Times
- The Palm Beach Post
- The Washington Post
- Tribune Company
[edit] Methodology
Although the NORC study was not primarily intended as a determination of which candidate "really won", analysis of the results, given the hand counting of machine-uncountable ballots due to various types of voter error, indicated that they would lead to differing results, reported in the newspapers which funded the recount, such as The Miami Herald (The Miami Herald Report: Democracy Held Hostage) or the Washington Post [1].
[edit] Results
The media reported the results of the study during the week after November 12, 2001. The results of the study showed that had the limited county by county recounts requested by the Gore team been completed, Bush would still have been the winner of the election. The recount also showed that had there been a full statewide recount of all counties, Al Gore would have received more votes than Bush. However, neither campaign requested such a total statewide recount, and it was never formally carried out.
The media recount study found that under the system of limited recounts in selected counties as was requested by the Gore campaign, the only way that Gore would have won was by using counting methods that were never requested by any party, including "overvotes" — ballots containing more than one vote for an office. While some of these ballots recorded votes for two separate candidates, a significant number (20% in Lake County, for example) were cases of a voter voting for a candidate and then also writing in that same candidate's name on the write-in line. A judge supervising the recount told the Orlando Sentinel that he had been open to the idea of examining the overvotes, and had been planning to discuss the matter at a hearing when the US Supreme Court stopped the recount. According to Mickey Kaus of Slate.com (emphasis in original), "If the recount had gone forward Judge Lewis might well have counted the overvotes in which case Gore might well have won."[2]
According to the New York Times, the butterfly ballot in heavily Democratic Palm Beach County may have cost Gore a net 6286 votes, and the two page ballot in similarly Democratic Duval County may have cost him a net 1999 votes, each of which would have made the difference by itself. [3]
| Candidate Outcomes Based on Potential Recounts in Florida Presidential Election 2000 (outcome of one particular study) |
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| Review Method | Winner | |
|---|---|---|
| Review of All Ballots Statewide (never undertaken) | ||
| • | Standard as set by each county Canvassing Board during their survey | Gore by 171 |
| • | Fully punched chads and limited marks on optical ballots | Gore by 115 |
| • | Any dimples or optical mark | Gore by 107 |
| • | One corner of chad detached or optical mark | Gore by 60 |
| Review of Limited Sets of Ballots (initiated but not completed) | ||
| • | Gore request for recounts of all ballots in Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and Volusia counties | Bush by 225 |
| • | Florida Supreme Court of all undervotes statewide | Bush by 430 |
| • | Florida Supreme Court as being implemented by the counties, some of whom refused and some counted overvotes as well as undervotes | Bush by 493 |
| Unofficial recount totals | ||
| • | Incomplete result when the Supreme Court stayed the recount (December 9, 2000) | Bush by 154 |
| Certified Result (official final count) | ||
| • | Recounts included from Volusia and Broward only | Bush by 537 |
[edit] HBO film
A 2008 made-for-TV movie directed by Jay Roach, produced by, and starring Kevin Spacey called Recount explores the 2000 election and recount. It premiered on the HBO cable network on May 25, 2008.
[edit] References
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