After a tedious weekend of hand counting votes in four select precincts within Palm Beach County, Vice President Al Gore gained 39 votes in the overall vote count, prompting the Florida Canvassing Committee to recount every ballot in Palm Beach County beginning today.
Once these 39 votes have been confirmed, Texas Gov. George W. Bush's lead in Florida would fall to 288 votes. Before the recount Bush led by 327 votes.
Democrats requested recounts within these four precincts, which represent 1 percent of the county's electorate, after a controversy regarding the presentation of the ballot. Many voters claim the confusing "butterfly" ballot listed Gore's name second on the list but required the voter to punch the third hole on the ballot. This allegedly caused many voters to accidentally punch the second hole and cast a vote for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan.
"I know a lot of intelligent people who are unsure of who they voted for," West Palm Beach resident Michelle Dryer said.
"You needed a Ph.D. to figure the ballot out," Palm Beach resident Andy Berkowitz added.
The hand recount of the controversial ballots began Saturday as several teams of counters began poring over ballots taken from two precincts west of Boca Raton, one near Delray Beach and another in Palm Beach Gardens.
After the teams had finished counting one of the precincts' ballots, Gore had picked up 30 votes to Bush's 14 vote increase, said Kartik Krishnaiyer, Democratic observer for the Palm Beach recount and a political consultant.
But in the middle of the counting election officials changed the standards for what counts as an attempted vote, causing counters to redo all ballots that had previously been counted.
After all the ballots were tallied, Palm Beach County Judge Charles Burton (R), County Commissioner Carol Roberts (D) and Supervisor of Elections Theresa LaPore (D) began reviewing ballots labeled questionable by original counters. After completing the final count, the three voted to continue the recount for the entire county today.
In the midst of the hand recounts, Bush officials filed a lawsuit Saturday in Miami claiming the hand recount is inherently flawed. The lawsuit, which cites Bush and vice presidential candidate Dick Cheney, as well as seven Florida residents, insists machine counters were developed to ensure accuracy and should be used in place of a manual counter.
A Miami judge will decide this morning whether the hand counting will continue.
The outcome of the judge's decision will determine the direction that each campaign will take, said Robert Holsworth, professor and chair of the department of international and public affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University.
If the judge decides to uphold the manual recount, "the Bush camp will sort of widen the battle both inside and outside of Florida," Holsworth said. "They are very worried that the way the recount is going will kick the vote to Gore."
Democrats have raised questions regarding the validity of the Bush lawsuit in light of a 1997 Texas law that grants the use of manual recounts in Texas elections - the same process Bush is protesting in Florida.
"It is very interesting that Bush signed a law that hand counts were valid and has now filed a lawsuit questioning the validity of the hand counts," said Steve Tankel, deputy communications director for the Florida Democratic Coordinating Campaign.
Gore's campaign may also be filing their own lawsuits in regards to the "butterfly" ballot and other claims of voter disenfranchisement in Florida.
In a rally held at Temple Israel in Miami yesterday, Rev. Jesse Jackson urged both candidates to settle the presidency in a recount rather than through lawyers and lawsuits.
"We urge Mr. Bush and Mr. Gore to step out of the courts and count the votes of the people," Jackson said.
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Three other areas within Florida are working with election officials to recount votes. Broward County is set to begin hand counting at 2 p.m. today while Volusia County has already begun the process. Nearby Dade County will hold a hearing to determine whether to hold a manual recount.
Kevin Lanning, a psychology professor at Florida Atlantic University, traveled to West Palm Beach on his own initiative Saturday to speak with election officials in attempts to change the guidelines for the hand recount.
Since the three canvassing board members are reviewing the votes together, this compromises the accuracy of the final vote outcome, Lanning said.
"The most dominant person makes the decision," he said. "It is three people masquerading as one" in this case.
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