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Globe Doesn’t Report
Latest News from Florida

Bush Showed Gain In Recount

January 16, 2001

A story by the Associated Press says that a review of 10,600 previously uncounted ballots in Miami-Dade County has showed that George W. Bush gained six more votes than Al Gore.

The results were announced by the Palm Beach Post but the Boston Globe apparently did not report the story.

 AP reports: “The newspaper [Palm Beach Post] counted votes that were not registered by ballot machines, or undervotes. The count included ballots ranging from those with barely hanging chads to ones that were just slightly dimpled. Two Post reporters, each paired with an elections staffer, reviewed the ballots.

“The review concluded that President-elect Bush would have gained 251 votes and Vice President Gore would have gained 245 votes. No overvotes, or ballots where machines detected more than one presidential vote, were counted.

“The review, which ended last week, also showed that 7,600 of the more than 10,000 undervotes had no mark at all in the presidential column, or in rare cases included multiple votes that could not be given to one candidate or the other.

“At least 2,257 ballots were cleanly but inaccurately punched in odd-numbered holes that corresponded to none of the 10 presidential candidates on the ballot. The 653,963 Miami-Dade ballots used only even-numbered holes for the presidential race.

“The certified final results in Miami-Dade were 328,808 votes for Gore and 289,533 for Bush, according to the Florida secretary of state's office. Bush won Florida by a 537-vote margin out of about 6 million votes cast in the state.

“Later this month, a research firm hired by a media group that includes the Post, The Associated Press and other news organizations will undertake an inspection of all roughly 180,000 undervotes and overvotes in the Florida presidential election.

“The Miami Herald is working with an accounting firm to review only the estimated 60,000 undervote ballots that were rejected in the presidential race statewide.”