... the U.S. Supreme Court hadn’t stopped the recount? On Dec. 8, the Florida Supreme Court ordered counties around the state to do a hand recount of undervotes – ballots where the machines did not record a vote for president. n The court also ordered state election officials to accept results from counties where recounts already had been completed (Palm Beach, Volusia and 139 precincts in Miami-Dade). n It was up to each county to decide what would constitute a vote. More than half the counties that used punch card ballots said they would consider a vote if at least one corner of the tiny chad was dangling off the ballot. Some were more restrictive (two corners), others were willing to settle for just a dimple. n Nine counties intended to review overvotes – optical scan ballots that had been disqualified for extra marks – to determine if the voter’s choice was clear. And four counties refused to do any more counting. n As the recounts began that next morning, Bush led Gore by 195 votes. n Shortly before 3 p.m. on Dec. 9 the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the recounts to stop.
Gore supporters argue that the moral imperative and the legal standard for hand recounts is that votes should count if it’s clear what the voter intended to do. n For instance, thousands of optical scan ballots were disqualified as overvotes because they had extra marks on them. Yet 3,491 of the disqualified ballots reflect little or no ambiguity: Votes were cast for either Bush or Gore and extra marks were made to emphasize the vote. n If this kind of review had been done statewide, and if dimples on punch cards were sufficient to reflect a vote, then:
Bush argued that the because there is no specific statewide standard for recounting ballots, subjective judgments should not be made. Hence, he opposed examining any overvotes and he argued that only punch cards with the chad poked completely off the ballot should count.
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FLORIDA OUTCOME:
FLORIDA OUTCOME: