2000 recount interesting fact

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

At my LeadAmerica conference, the last person who spoke was Dr. Semiatin who was interviewed over 150 x's by Natn'l and Internatn'l news about the recount.  He said that afterward, the AP did their own recount--10 different ways.
The way Gore wanted it counted gave Bush his biggest win
The way Bush wanted it counted gave Gore his biggest win
and the other 8 were some form of Bush winning.

[Nym90]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Florida_Recount

That sums it up pretty well.

The quick answer is that Gore would've won if there had been a statewide recount; Bush wins with any recount that only covers a portion of the state.

[jerusalemcar5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Florida_Recount

That sums it up pretty well.

The quick answer is that Gore would've won if there had been a statewide recount; Bush wins with any recount that only covers a portion of the state.

How depressing.  This election will truly never be forgotten.  The Supreme Court installed 25 electors that didn't represent the wishes of their respective state.

[J. J.]

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Can somebody tell me what Gore was thinking?

[MasterJedi]

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Can somebody tell me what Gore was thinking?

He probably thought he was sooooo popular that he'd win with any recount.

[Alcon]

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Can somebody tell me what Gore was thinking?

He probably thought he was sooooo popular that he'd win with any recount.

Uh?

[Colin]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Florida_Recount

That sums it up pretty well.

The quick answer is that Gore would've won if there had been a statewide recount; Bush wins with any recount that only covers a portion of the state.

How depressing.  This election will truly never be forgotten.  The Supreme Court installed 25 electors that didn't represent the wishes of their respective state.

Well it probably will be forgotten. How many people outside of this forum remember the highly controversial election between Hayes and Tilden in 1876? 1876, I would have to say, was even more controversial and by all accounts Tilden should have won, however few remember it only a hundred and thirty years later. Give it time, by the time you're 80 very few will remember the 2000 election.

[ATFFL]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Florida_Recount

That sums it up pretty well.

The quick answer is that Gore would've won if there had been a statewide recount; Bush wins with any recount that only covers a portion of the state.

From same article:

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They took the most favorable study to Gore and it is the only one on the page.  ANd to geth those results you have to:

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[Alcon]

I don't get that.  He requested that overvotes be counted for him?  How would that work?

[minionofmidas]

I don't get that.  He requested that overvotes be counted for him?  How would that work?

Overvotes where a voter had checked the box (er, pushed out hte chad) and written in the name of the candidate whose box he'd checked as well.

[Alcon]

I don't get that.  He requested that overvotes be counted for him?  How would that work?

Overvotes where a voter had checked the box (er, pushed out hte chad) and written in the name of the candidate whose box he'd checked as well.

As in, he did both a write-in for the candidate and marked their name?

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Florida_Recount

That sums it up pretty well.

The quick answer is that Gore would've won if there had been a statewide recount; Bush wins with any recount that only covers a portion of the state.

How depressing.  This election will truly never be forgotten.  The Supreme Court installed 25 electors that didn't represent the wishes of their respective state.

Well it probably will be forgotten. How many people outside of this forum remember the highly controversial election between Hayes and Tilden in 1876? 1876, I would have to say, was even more controversial and by all accounts Tilden should have won, however few remember it only a hundred and thirty years later. Give it time, by the time you're 80 very few will remember the 2000 election.

How true.  And when my History teacher brought it up talking about it, me and I think 2 other people knew what he was talking about.  It's really kinda sad how people criticize everything that goes on in History but really have no clue what's going on.  The same w/ people who don't vote and then criticize the gov't--but that's just me ranting again .

[minionofmidas]

I don't get that.  He requested that overvotes be counted for him?  How would that work?

Overvotes where a voter had checked the box (er, pushed out hte chad) and written in the name of the candidate whose box he'd checked as well.

As in, he did both a write-in for the candidate and marked their name?

Yes. To an unsupervised, illiterate machine, that's an overvote.

[DownWithTheLeft]

The fact remains this:

FL was definetly too close to call in 2000, but either way the losing party would have cried about it for years.  I'm not ashamed to admit that if Gore had won I'd still be upset about it.  The point, other states like Oregon, Wisconsin, and New Mexico (22) were very close.  Add in another really close state and even Gore taking FL wouldnt' have matter.  The point is, there really wasn't a winner and a loser, just a person who happened to be called that.

[J. J.]

I don't get that.  He requested that overvotes be counted for him?  How would that work?

Overvotes where a voter had checked the box (er, pushed out hte chad) and written in the name of the candidate whose box he'd checked as well.

It's also when they vote for two or more candidates.

[jimrtex]

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Can somebody tell me what Gore was thinking?

One theory is that undervotes due to incomplete punches are generally proportional to attempted punches.   So if you hope to pick up hanging chad votes, you check the ballots in areas that are generally favorable to you.  This explains the SE coastal counties which are large and strong Democratic, especially Palm Beach and Broward.

I seem to recall that Volusia (Daytona Beach) had done a recount on its own, and perhaps they wanted get it included.

On the other hand, Gore's recount experts believed that if you were behind, you try to get every ballot recounted, and if you are ahead, you try to limit a recount.  They were ignored or overridden by the Gore campaign.

[jimrtex]

Overvotes where a voter had checked the box (er, pushed out hte chad) and written in the name of the candidate whose box he'd checked as well.

As in, he did both a write-in for the candidate and marked their name?
[/quote]
In Florida, you have to file as a write-in candidate.  If there is a write-in candidate who has filed, then a write-in box is added.  This was especially a problem in counties that used optical scan ballots, since people write the name in with the the same pencil used to mark the candidate.  On a punch card ballot, this is harder to do since you have to use a pencil to indicate the write-in.

I think there might have been some instructions that might have led some people to write-in the name of an on-ballot candidate.  Perhaps something like, "Use the write-in line to fill in the name of the candidate you favor", which the person writing it was thinking about only if someone want to vote for a write-in candidate and was explaining how to do that.

There was another ballot instruction (which was required by state law) and which might have been a leftover from when elector candidates were on the ballot; or maybe just referred to the fact that the President and VP are two persons.  The instructions said to vote for multiple persons.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Either the BIGGEST mistakes were made from the Gore end.

He didn't consult with his war room, Gore at the time he conceeded to Bush thought that he was 50,000+ behind. But the war room knew that he was only 6,000 behind and closing fast. They called Gore in the car on the way to the memorial to turn around. If Gore had done what Clinton had (by keeping in CONSTANT contact with his war room and not listening to the TV) he could've avoided the venom of the Bush supporters. The "Sore Loserman" beginning.

The second mistake - When the time came for the recounts - only asking for the recounts in Miami-Dade, Broward, Volusia and Palm Beach Counties was a HUGE mistake at least in the public's mind. "Gore only wanted to count in heavily democratic counties to make sure he had the best chance of picking up votes" etc etc etc. There was equally weird stuff going on the North of the state. A state-wide hand recount would has been the best option.

[auburntiger]

2000 was the first election I watched from the call of IN and KY for Bush until when they finally called FL for Bush 36 days later.

I thought 2004 was going to be like that too.
I think 2008 has the potential to be like 2000 as well.

2004 was a fun election year, not just because Bush and the republicans did well, but mainly becuase it was like an action movie where everyone was on the edge of their seat, Reps and Dems. 
I like Elections like 2004 where there is a very close but clear winner at the end of the day or the next day, although it's nice to see 1988's, and 1984's too, and probably the most exciting 1980-style landslides.

[Conan]

The fact remains this:

FL was definetly too close to call in 2000, but either way the losing party would have cried about it for years.  I'm not ashamed to admit that if Gore had won I'd still be upset about it.  The point, other states like Oregon, Wisconsin, and New Mexico (22) were very close.  Add in another really close state and even Gore taking FL wouldnt' have matter.  The point is, there really wasn't a winner and a loser, just a person who happened to be called that.

Those states werent close enough to otherwise think they werent going to Gore.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Interesting fact: if the Florida GOP had acted within the law of the US and not intimidated thousands of black voters, Gore wins either way. 

I'm not one of those "Ohio was stolen" morons. (If Kerry hadn't just relied on Cleveland to win him the entire state, maybe he would've done better : / )  But I truely believe in my heart that Florida was stolen from Gore.

[Bdub]

The fact remains this:

FL was definetly too close to call in 2000, but either way the losing party would have cried about it for years.  I'm not ashamed to admit that if Gore had won I'd still be upset about it.  The point, other states like Oregon, Wisconsin, and New Mexico (22) were very close.  Add in another really close state and even Gore taking FL wouldnt' have matter.  The point is, there really wasn't a winner and a loser, just a person who happened to be called that.

Those states werent close enough to otherwise think they werent going to Gore.

Although it wouldnt have changed the outcome, Gore only had a lead of 366 votes in New Mexico.