Florida recount misinformation

[Tiz]

Arrow asserts, in an unrelated thread, that George Bush stood in the way of a full state vote recount in Florida, circa 2000.

Read below, and learn who attempted to cherry pick precincts for recounts, to the exclusion of the rest of the state. Disenfranchised, oh my! Just another inconvenient truth for Al.

Florida 2000 Recount Timeline

Source: CNN, Dec. 13, 2000


November 7: Election Day.
November 8: Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore makes an early morning call to Republican candidate George W. Bush to concede, then calls back to retract his concession based on new estimates of a statistical tie between the two men.
November 9: Gore’s team, led by former U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, requests a hand recount of ballots in four Florida counties — Palm Beach, Dade, Broward and Volusia.
November 10: The Florida machine recount is completed. Unofficial Associated Press results give Bush a lead of 327 votes out of nearly 6 million cast.
November 12: Palm Beach County officials vote to conduct a full hand recount of presidential votes; Volusia County begins its own hand count; Bush’s legal team, headed by former Secretary of State James Baker, goes to federal court seeking to block manual recounts.
November 14: Florida Secretary of state Katherine Harris delays certification of the state’s votes until 2 p.m. EST Nov. 15 so three heavily Democratic counties can explain why they should conduct hand recounts of their ballots.
November 15: Harris says she will not accept further hand recounts and asks the Florida Supreme Court to order the halt of manual recounts; Broward County decides to begin a hand recount; AP estimates shrink Bush’s lead to only 286 votes.
November 21: The Florida Supreme Court orders hand counts to continue, and gives counties five days to complete them.
November 23: Miami-Dade County officials stop their hand recount because they do not feel they could complete the recount before the Nov. 26 deadline given by the Florida Supreme Court.
November 24: To the surprise of many observers, the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear Bush’s appeal of the Florida high court ruling in Bush vs. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board allowing hand recounts to proceed.
November 26: Harris certifies the results of the Florida vote after the Florida Supreme Court deadline expires, giving Bush a 537-vote lead over Gore, but these do not include results from Palm Beach County, which completed its manual recount about two hours after the deadline.
November 27: Gore’s lawyers move to contest the Florida result in a circuit court in Tallahassee.
November 30: Florida lawmakers vote along party lines to recommend a special session to name electors if the election contest is not resolved by Dec. 12, six days before the Electoral College meets. The Republican-led legislature is expected to name electors pledged to Bush.
December 1: In Bush vs. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board, the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments over whether the Florida Supreme Court overstepped its authority by ordering Harris to include the manual recounts in certified state results.
December 4: The U.S. Supreme Court asks the Florida Supreme Court to explain its reasoning in extending the hand recounts, returning the case to Tallahassee and putting off any action in Bush’s appeal objecting to the recounts.
December 8: In a decision divided 4-3, the Florida Supreme Court in Gore vs. Harris orders manual recounts in all counties with significant numbers of presidential undervotes; Bush appeals the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court and seeks injunctive relief to stop the hand recounts.
December 9: The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, halts the manual recounts and sets a hearing on the matter two days later.
December 11: Arguments are heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in Bush vs. Gore.
December 12: The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5 to 4 ruling in Bush vs. Gore, puts an end to the Florida recount. The ruling coincides with the Dec. 12 “safe haven” deadline. Gore officially concedes the election to Bush shortly thereafter.

[Reinmaker]

Multiple independent studies were done after it was all said and done, at the urging and with oversight from some very traditionally left leaning news sources, and NOT ONE came up with anything other than Bush won.

Still hanging on to the mantra that Bush somehow stole the election is pure nonsense, and completely void of any fact or reason.

[WashingtonBay]

The Florida recount controversy is potentially only outdone by the Washington governors race recount in 2004. Nine times King County found new boxes of ballots in people's closets, behind machines, and in people's cars, until they had enough. But that's a subject for another thread ;)


Our elections need to be reliable and depended on. Not this:

http://www.twolia.com/blogs/zoboxrox/files/2008/11/florida_hanging_chad_recount.jpg


There was no stealing of the Presidential election. Only a close race, that in the end, was decided as fairly as it could have been when there are so many interests fighting and mucking it up.

[Tiz]

Ah, yes, the WA guv's race. That one took the cake. The convicts and corpses turnout was extraordinary. So exciting to see those sleeping giants get engaged in the political process like that!

I noticed in the Ted Kennedy thread that many of the younger forum members had significant lapses in their knowledge of him, and his family. I figured the same is probably true of this issue, so I thought they would be interested in a few facts.


Gosh, that photo! Brings back the memories, doesn't it! Absolutely hilarious watching those guys with their magnifying glasses. I was addicted to cable news and political chat rooms during that period, and barely got anything done at all. I think that was pretty common in the general population though, because we hardly had any business to do anyway. The recount killed sales for it's duration.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Ah, yes... the magical Land of Dimpled Chads. What whole lot of buffoonery that was. I remember getting so angry that they were "interpreting" intent when a vote wasn't clear. Sorry... Either it's a clear vote or it isn't. No "interpreting" (guessing) allowed.

And yah... the WA Gov race was simply classic as an example of naked corruption. Nobody will ever convince me otherwise. You don't get to just keep "finding" thousands of ballots in people's car trunks, over and over. Rossi wuz robbed.