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By Compiled by Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 19, 2000
The tabulation of overseas ballots boosted George W. Bush's overall lead in the state to 930 votes. Overall, Bush picked up 1,380 votes from the overseas ballots and Gore received 750. Republicans set out to discredit ongoing hand recounts in three Democratic-leaning counties, all but accusing Democrats of using the process to manufacture votes for Gore.
In Miami-Dade County, Republicans objected to a plan by the canvassing board to put each of the area's 654,000 punch-card ballots through a machine on Sunday before starting a hand recount on Monday. Officials said the process could take two weeks even with 25 teams of two counters working 12 hours each day to complete the manual recount, taking a break only on Thanksgiving Day.
The hand recount of ballots in Democratic-leaning Broward County, home of Fort Lauderdale, continued Saturday. Republicans expressed concern about a published report that at least 39 felons cast absentee ballots in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. With 200 of Broward County's 609 precincts hand counted by mid-afternoon, Gore had gained 45 votes over the official tallies sent to the secretary of state on Tuesday. It remained uncertain if any of the manually recounted votes would be added to official totals.
Gore filed a 62-page legal brief asking the Florida Supreme Court to order that the results of ballot recounts be included in the state's tally. "Manual recounts are an essential part of the law of Florida" and other states, and have been used successfully to help resolve other elections, Gore lawyers argued.
Bush campaign spokeswoman Karen Hughes told a news conference that the campaign has "clear and compelling evidence from eyewitnesses that this manual recount process is fundamentally flawed and it's no longer recounting, but is distorting, reinventing and miscounting true intentions of voters of Florida."
Retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, in a statement released by the Bush campaign, complained that the absentee votes of many members of the armed forces were being rejected because of technicalities.
TODAY: Miami-Dade County plans to use machines to sort ballots in preparation for a full hand recount on Monday. Broward and Palm Beach counties expect to continue hand counting for days.
MONDAY: A Florida Supreme Court hearing will be held Monday to consider the validity of ongoing hand recounts.