TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Republicans and Democrats get in a shouting match Thursday outside the courthouse in Palm Beach County, Fla., where disputed ballots have become the linchpin of the presidential election.
The nation watched the states every move because Florida, with its 25 electoral votes, will decide the winner of the presidential cliffhanger. The recount was triggered by Florida state law because Bush led Gore by less than one-half of 1 percent.
Gore won the nationwide popular vote by early Thursday, he had 48,976,148 votes to Bushs 48,783,510 but whats unclear is wholl win the decisive Electoral College. Gore had 260 of the 270 votes needed; Bush had 246. If Bush wins Florida, he would have 271 one more than needed to secure the presidency.
Vice President Al Gores campaign threw down a legal gauntlet Thursday and was granted a hand recount of votes in a Florida county where irregularities were alleged in the presidential election. The increasingly defiant campaign also pledged support for local legal challenges as an unofficial tally in the first, statewide computerized recount showed Texas Gov. George W. Bush clinging to a tiny lead in the battle for the 25 electoral votes that will decide the presidency.
A technicality should not determine the next president of the United States, Gores campaign chairman, William Daley, said in explaining why the Democrats had sought a ballot-by-ballot hand recount in four counties even before the computerized recount was completed.
Daley and Warren Christopher, the former U.S. secretary of state whom Gore sent to Florida to monitor the recount, bitterly protested the dismissal of more than 19,000 ballots in Palm Beach County. As complaints poured that the ballot was confusing, the county election board scheduled a hand recount for Saturday at 9 a.m. ET.
Speaking in Tallahassee, Daley said repeatedly that he believed Gore had won the popular vote in Florida. If the will of the people is to prevail, Al Gore should be awarded victory in Florida and become president.
But the Bush campaign said their man would prevail. We are confident that an accurate recount will verify the result of Tuesday night, Don Evans, Bushs campaign chairman, said in Austin, Texas. Bush appeared to win Florida and therefore the presidency by fewer than 2,000 votes out of almost 6 million cast on Election Day.
Sixty-four of Floridas 67 counties had recounted their votes by computer at 6 p.m. ET Thursday afternoon, with Bush leading Gore by 362 votes in an unofficial tally. Daleys comments at a news conference Thursday marked a sharp departure from the cautious, lets-wait approach that had characterized the Gore campaigns public responses Wednesday. He jabbed at Bush officials, saying they were trying to presumptively crown themselves the victors and were blithely dismiss[ing] the disenfranchisement of thousands of Floridians as being the usual mistakes that afflict elections.
Daley was more explicit at his news conference, announcing that the Gore campaign would be working with voters from Florida in support of some legal actions in Palm Beach County, where some Gore supporters complained that a confusing ballot had led them to vote for Reform Party nominee Pat Buchanan by mistake.
Regardless of the outcome of Thursdays computerized recount, an undetermined number of overseas ballots are yet to be counted, and Florida, which counted about 2,300 overseas ballots in the 1996 election, allows 10 days after the election for the ballots to come in.
The Democratic demands ensure that even once the computerized recount is finished, Americans will still not know for days, or even weeks, whether Gore or Bush is their next president. Among the factors clouding the picture: The number of overseas ballots is almost certain to be much larger than the margin in Thursdays recount, and state officials said Thursday that the official Florida vote would not be certified until these ballots are counted.
The Broward County election board will meet Friday to consider the Gore campaigns request for a manual recount. And in Miami, Metro-Dade Countys election board will not decide until Tuesday on the Democrats request, David Leahy, the countys elections supervisor, told NBC News.
Two lawsuits have already been filed by voters alleging that the ballot in Palm Beach County was confusing, causing them to vote for Buchanan instead of Gore.
The Gore campaign complained that 19,000 ballots there were tossed before they were counted because they had more than one vote for president. By comparison, they noted, only 3,783 voters in the county double-voted on the U.S. Senate part of the ballot.
Democrats said the double voting was evidence that the ballot layout was confusing, causing hundreds or even thousands of Gore voters to choose Buchanan by mistake.
On the so-called butterfly ballot, the names of Bush and his vice presidential running mate, Dick Cheney, appeared directly above those of Gore and his running mate, Sen. Joseph Lieberman. But because the ballot was divided into two columns, the circles for each party that voters were to punch were separated by a circle for Buchanan.
Kendall Coffey, a prominent Florida lawyer who appeared with Daley at Thursdays news conference, declared flatly, That ballot was completely illegal.
Floridas governor, Jeb Bush, the Republican candidates younger brother, gave his assurance that the recount would be fair and legal. He also said he would step aside from his statutory role as a member of the state Elections Canvassing Commission to ensure that there is not the slightest appearance of a conflict of interest.
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.
In his first public comments since Tuesdays election, Gore called Wednesday for a fair and forthright resolution, one that is fully consistent with our Constitution and our laws.
For his part, Bush said he was confident that he would be in office in short order after the recount results are announced.
Illustration of the controversial ballot in Palm Beach County, Fla.
