dancinvixen
Literotica Guru
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- Jun 29, 2000
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I am posting some news from The Associated Press. Now this will not mainly consist of news from Florida, so be prepared.
<<Nation Waits for Florida Recount
Irregularities Alleged; Democrats Consider Challenges
By RON FOURNIER
.c The Associated Press
(Nov. 9) - In an election for the history books, George W. Bush cautiously declared victory in the presidential race Wednesday even as Al Gore portrayed the outcome as uncertain and said Florida's crucial recount should be conducted ``without any rush to judgment.''
Democrats talked of a potential legal challenge and said it could be days or weeks before the nation knows its next president.
Bush was looking ahead to his transition to power, preparing to announce key roles in his administration for retired Gen. Colin Powell and former Transportation Secretary Andy Card. Running mate Dick Cheney, a former defense secretary under Bush's father, will head the GOP transition team, aides said.
And yet election officials were reviewing vote totals that appeared to give Bush a narrow win in Florida. The state's 25 electoral votes would provide the margin of victory as both Bush and Gore were agonizingly close to the 270 required to win the White House. The AP tally showed Bush leading by about 1,700 popular votes out of 6 million cast in the state.
Gore had gained 843 votes after 32 of Florida's 67 counties were recounted Wednesday.
``It's going to be resolved in a quick way,'' Bush said. ``I'm confident that the secretary and I will be the president-elect and the vice president-elect.''
If Bush ends up winning Florida and Gore's lead in the national popular vote holds, Bush would be the fourth man in history - the first in more than a century - to win the presidency despite coming in second in popular votes.
Calling this an ``extraordinary moment in our democracy,'' Gore noted that the Constitution awards the presidency to the Electoral College winner, not necessarily the leading vote-getter. ``We are now, as we have been from the moment of our founding, a nation built on the rule of law,'' Gore said.
But the vice president's aides were privately making the case that Gore's popular-vote lead gives him standing to contest the recount if state officials overlook voting irregularities. As Democrats searched for potential ballot abuses and questioned the motives of Florida's GOP secretary of state, Gore's staff said a legal challenge was one option.
The Gore campaign hired Florida lawyers both to monitor the recount and to gather possible evidence in the event of a ballot challenge.
Even before the recount, the campaign was eyeing legal options for forcing a new vote in heavily Democratic Palm Beach County, where confusion over how to fill out the ballot may have boosted the totals for Pat Buchanan, a senior Gore adviser said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
County officials also announced that more than 19,100 ballot in the presidential race were tossed out before they were counted because voters chose more than one candidate.
Bush's brother Jeb, governor of Florida, said the recount would be completed by Thursday evening, but Democrats suggested that might not be the end.
``I can't say with certainty when this will be over,'' said Gore campaign chairman William Daley. ``This is the beginning of the process, not the end of the process.''
Earlier in the day, Daley said he doubted that a legal challenge would be made and that Gore was prepared to ``move on'' if he lost the recount. He rolled back on that, aides said, as evidence of suspected irregularities cropped up throughout the day.
President Clinton weighed in, too: ``The American people have spoken, but it's going to take a little while to determine exactly what they said.''
In Florida and elsewhere, Democrats grumbled about long lines at the polls, reports that ballots were late in arriving at polling places and other possible irregularities. Jesse Jackson said he got calls on Election Day complaining that blacks had difficulty voting in Florida and other Southern states.
``We don't think we're on the edge of a constitutional crisis and we don't intend to try to provoke a constitutional crisis,'' said Warren Christopher, the former secretary of state whom Gore had asked to represent his interests in Florida. Playing a similar role for Bush is James A. Baker III, a former secretary of state for Bush's father.
Bush said he was confident the total would stand and promised that he and running mate Dick Cheney ``will do everything in our power to unite the nation to bring the people together after one of the most exciting elections in our nation's history.''
He chose a relaxed setting outside the Governor's Mansion. Gore opted for a stern-looking lectern and a row of U.S. flags as his backdrop, promising a dignified transition ``no matter what the outcome.''
Behind the scenes, the two had had a more pointed exchange.
Gore conceded defeat Tuesday night in a telephone call to Bush, but called later to take it back after results rolled in from Florida. ``Let me make sure I understand,'' protested Bush, his victory speech in hand. ``You're calling me back to retract your concession?'' Replied Gore: ``You don't have to get snippy about this.''
The next president, no matter who, faces a Congress that will be divided deeply by modest Democratic gains.
Voters on Tuesday spoke as if from two worlds - men versus women, parents versus singles, city dwellers versus rural Americans, whites versus minorities - casting distinctly different visions for America and denying the presidential victor any claim of a mandate.
Republicans retained control of the Senate, but lost seats and could be stuck with the smallest possible majority. They lost seats in the House, too, and will cling to a razor-thin advantage.
``It won't be easy for whoever is president,'' said Republican strategist Scott Reed.
History was made below the presidential line on the ballot, too. First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton won a New York Senate seat. Republican Sen. John Ashcroft lost to Missouri's Democratic governor who died in an October plane crash; the governor's widow, Jean Carnahan, is in line for an appointment to the seat.
Ever confident, Bush made several tentative decisions about his presidency before the race concluded. Aides said he would soon put them in place.
Presuming victory, aides said Powell will be nominated to be secretary of state, with an announcement planned within the week. Condoleezza Rice will be national security adviser, putting two blacks from Bush's father's national security team in prominent posts.
Cheney was to oversee Bush's transition team, and Card was his likely choice as White House chief of staff, aides said.
Gore, too, has given thought to his transition. Aides said the vice president's first decision would be what to do with Daley, a natural for transition director or White House chief of staff.
Seeming less confident than Bush, Gore advisers were considering his options if the Florida recount went against him. Some said privately he would be wise to quickly concede with a statesmanlike speech that, coupled with his popular-vote advantage, would position Gore as the Democratic front-runner in 2004.
Americans cast more than 101 million votes, the second most in history behind the 104 million of 1992. But the race came down to one state - Florida - and a few thousand people.
By late Wednesday, Bush had won 29 states for 246 electoral votes. Gore had won 18 states plus the District of Columbia for 255. New Mexico and Oregon were too close to call, but wouldn't make a difference.
With all precincts reporting unofficial results, Gore had 48,707,413 votes and Bush had 48,609,640 votes - with just 97,773 votes separating them. Only three times before had a presidential candidate lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College, the last time in 1888 when Benjamin Harrison defeated Grover Cleveland.
AP-NY-11-09-00 0105EST
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. >>
NEW MEXICO
<<Ballots Withheld in New Mexico
.c The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE (Nov. 8) - A computer glitch in a New Mexico county led officials to withhold about 60,000 early-voting and absentee ballots from their vote count.
The effect of the problem was not clear. It was likely to change the final count in the 1st Congressional District, but not the outcome; Republican incumbent Heather Wilson claimed victory, and Democratic challenger John Kelly conceded defeat.
The presidential race in New Mexico was tight, and the problem in Bernalillo County prevented news organizations from declaring a winner.
Elections Bureau director Denise Lamb said a fresh attempt at counting the estimated 60,000 ballots would be made later Wednesday.
Bernalillo County Clerk Judy Woodward called her at about 1:40 a.m. to inform her of the action, she said.
''The official line at this point is that there's a problem with their database. Their (voting) machines have a problem in the database,'' Lamb said, ''and they can't count any of the straight-party ballots. So they won't be reporting any of their early or absentee votes to us tonight.''
That left only the tally from the Election Day voting at county polling places, she said.
Woodward did not respond to repeated messages left at county offices and at her home seeking comment.
AP-NY-11-08-00 0532EST
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. >>
PALM BEACH
<<19,000 Florida Ballots Thrown Out
Voters Confused by Format; Lawsuit Filed
By KARIN MEADOWS
.c The Associated Press
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Nov. 9) - More than 19,000 ballots were disqualified on election night in a Florida county where confusion over the punch-card voting system led to a flood of complaints and a lawsuit Wednesday.
Election officials said Wednesday that 19,120 ballots from Palm Beach County had showed votes for more than one presidential candidate. Those votes were nullified and not included in the count.
``That total is a high number,'' said Palm Beach County Commissioner Carol Roberts, who is part of the canvassing board that is conducting a recount of the presidential race. Only 3,783 voters made the same mistake on the U.S. Senate section of the ballot.
On Wednesday, hundreds of Al Gore supporters called the county elections office, saying the punch-card ballot was so confusing they thought they may have accidentally voted for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan instead of Gore.
Three people sued, seeking a new election.
Lawyers for the Democratic Party said that the design of the Palm Beach County ballot is illegal and that they may ask for a re-vote. But no immediate action was taken by the party.
In the Palm Beach County recount completed Wednesday night, Buchanan picked up 5 votes for a total of 3,412 votes, Gore gained 751 votes for 269,696, and George W. Bush gained 108 votes for 152,954.
Statewide, Gore was trailing Bush by fewer than 1,000 votes with the recount completed in about half the state's counties. Florida holds the key to the national race.
``It was so hard to tell who and what you were voting for. I couldn't figure it out, and I have a doctorate,'' voter Eileen Klasfeld said.
Two larger counties south of Palm Beach both had much lower Buchanan results - 789 in Broward County and 561 in Miami-Dade County. In Duval County, a much more conservative county in northeast Florida, only 650 Buchanan votes were cast.
The confusion apparently arose from the way Palm Beach County's punch-card style ballot was laid out for the presidential race. Candidates are listed in two columns, with holes down the middle between the columns, to the right or the left of each candidate's name.
The top hole was for Bush, who was listed at top left; the second hole was for Buchanan, listed at top right, and the third hole was for Gore, listed under Bush on the left. Arrows linked the names with the proper hole, but some voters feared they had missed the arrows and punched the wrong hole.
``When ballots are placed in the slide for voting, Al Gore and Joe Lieberman are the second names on the ballot, but the third hole to punch,'' Florida Democratic Party Communications Director Bill Buck said in a statement.
But Clay Roberts, director of the Florida Department of Elections, said the problem was exaggerated.
``I don't think they are confused. I think they left the polling place and became confused. The ballot is very straightforward. You follow the arrow, you punch the location. Then you have voted for who you intend to elect,'' said Roberts, a Republican appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush, George W.'s brother.
Florida law specifies that voters mark an X in the blank space to the right of the name of the candidate they want to vote for.
Jeff Liggio, a lawyer for county Democrats, called the ballot illegal. ``Right means right, doesn't it? The state law says right. It doesn't mean left,'' he said.
Don A. Dillman of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, who has done research on the design of paper questionnaires, called the ballot confusing.
``I've never seen one set up like this,'' Dillman said from Pullman, Wash. ``It's very confusing the way they have put things on the right side together with things on the left side. I can see why there might be a problem. If you passed over the first candidate to go for the second candidate, it's logical that you'd punch the second hole.''
Outside the Palm Beach elections office, about 50 outraged citizens carried signs protesting the ballots.
``It was an injustice. Thousands of people were confused,'' said 42-year-old Niso Mama. ``We have to have another election in this county.''
In Pinellas County, meanwhile, election officials ordered a recount of the recount late Wednesday, saying some ballots weren't properly counted.
AP-NY-11-09-00 0026EST
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. >>
OREGON
<<Oregon Gov't Proclaims Vote-By-Mail Success
But Mail-In Ballots Blamed for Late Results
By AVIVA L. BRANDT
.c The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (Nov. 9) - A throng of voters returned ballots to drop-off points at the last minute - a major reason the state was one of just two in the nation where the presidential winner was still unclear a day after the election.
''I'm willing to trade off instant results for increased voter turnout,'' said Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, who declared the nation's only vote-by-mail election an ''incredible success.''
But Bill Lunch, a political scientist at Oregon State University, questioned Bradbury's assessment.
''If this is such a terrific system, why are we sitting here at the day after the election wondering how Oregon is going to go in the presidential election?'' Lunch asked.
Bradbury blamed the delay on the huge last-minute turnout - an estimated 40 percent of voters turned in ballots between Saturday and Tuesday.
The last-minute ballots are time consuming, he said. Before they can be counted, election volunteers must verify ballot signatures - comparing them with signatures on voter registration cards.
Bradbury estimated voter turnout at 81 percent, just below the state record of 86.5 percent set in 1960 when John F. Kennedy edged Richard Nixon in the presidential race.
Bradbury, whose own race remained in doubt Wednesday, said vote-by-mail encourages more people to cast ballots since they can do it at home.
He shrugged off complaints about the system: ''We have an incredibly high turnout, and I think that's much more important than having results in two hours.''
He said that about 80 percent of the ballots had been counted by Wednesday and most races had been clearly determined.
AP-NY-11-09-00 0124EST
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. >>
As you can see, it isn't merely Florida. Looks as if we will have to wait and see.
<<Nation Waits for Florida Recount
Irregularities Alleged; Democrats Consider Challenges
By RON FOURNIER
.c The Associated Press
(Nov. 9) - In an election for the history books, George W. Bush cautiously declared victory in the presidential race Wednesday even as Al Gore portrayed the outcome as uncertain and said Florida's crucial recount should be conducted ``without any rush to judgment.''
Democrats talked of a potential legal challenge and said it could be days or weeks before the nation knows its next president.
Bush was looking ahead to his transition to power, preparing to announce key roles in his administration for retired Gen. Colin Powell and former Transportation Secretary Andy Card. Running mate Dick Cheney, a former defense secretary under Bush's father, will head the GOP transition team, aides said.
And yet election officials were reviewing vote totals that appeared to give Bush a narrow win in Florida. The state's 25 electoral votes would provide the margin of victory as both Bush and Gore were agonizingly close to the 270 required to win the White House. The AP tally showed Bush leading by about 1,700 popular votes out of 6 million cast in the state.
Gore had gained 843 votes after 32 of Florida's 67 counties were recounted Wednesday.
``It's going to be resolved in a quick way,'' Bush said. ``I'm confident that the secretary and I will be the president-elect and the vice president-elect.''
If Bush ends up winning Florida and Gore's lead in the national popular vote holds, Bush would be the fourth man in history - the first in more than a century - to win the presidency despite coming in second in popular votes.
Calling this an ``extraordinary moment in our democracy,'' Gore noted that the Constitution awards the presidency to the Electoral College winner, not necessarily the leading vote-getter. ``We are now, as we have been from the moment of our founding, a nation built on the rule of law,'' Gore said.
But the vice president's aides were privately making the case that Gore's popular-vote lead gives him standing to contest the recount if state officials overlook voting irregularities. As Democrats searched for potential ballot abuses and questioned the motives of Florida's GOP secretary of state, Gore's staff said a legal challenge was one option.
The Gore campaign hired Florida lawyers both to monitor the recount and to gather possible evidence in the event of a ballot challenge.
Even before the recount, the campaign was eyeing legal options for forcing a new vote in heavily Democratic Palm Beach County, where confusion over how to fill out the ballot may have boosted the totals for Pat Buchanan, a senior Gore adviser said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
County officials also announced that more than 19,100 ballot in the presidential race were tossed out before they were counted because voters chose more than one candidate.
Bush's brother Jeb, governor of Florida, said the recount would be completed by Thursday evening, but Democrats suggested that might not be the end.
``I can't say with certainty when this will be over,'' said Gore campaign chairman William Daley. ``This is the beginning of the process, not the end of the process.''
Earlier in the day, Daley said he doubted that a legal challenge would be made and that Gore was prepared to ``move on'' if he lost the recount. He rolled back on that, aides said, as evidence of suspected irregularities cropped up throughout the day.
President Clinton weighed in, too: ``The American people have spoken, but it's going to take a little while to determine exactly what they said.''
In Florida and elsewhere, Democrats grumbled about long lines at the polls, reports that ballots were late in arriving at polling places and other possible irregularities. Jesse Jackson said he got calls on Election Day complaining that blacks had difficulty voting in Florida and other Southern states.
``We don't think we're on the edge of a constitutional crisis and we don't intend to try to provoke a constitutional crisis,'' said Warren Christopher, the former secretary of state whom Gore had asked to represent his interests in Florida. Playing a similar role for Bush is James A. Baker III, a former secretary of state for Bush's father.
Bush said he was confident the total would stand and promised that he and running mate Dick Cheney ``will do everything in our power to unite the nation to bring the people together after one of the most exciting elections in our nation's history.''
He chose a relaxed setting outside the Governor's Mansion. Gore opted for a stern-looking lectern and a row of U.S. flags as his backdrop, promising a dignified transition ``no matter what the outcome.''
Behind the scenes, the two had had a more pointed exchange.
Gore conceded defeat Tuesday night in a telephone call to Bush, but called later to take it back after results rolled in from Florida. ``Let me make sure I understand,'' protested Bush, his victory speech in hand. ``You're calling me back to retract your concession?'' Replied Gore: ``You don't have to get snippy about this.''
The next president, no matter who, faces a Congress that will be divided deeply by modest Democratic gains.
Voters on Tuesday spoke as if from two worlds - men versus women, parents versus singles, city dwellers versus rural Americans, whites versus minorities - casting distinctly different visions for America and denying the presidential victor any claim of a mandate.
Republicans retained control of the Senate, but lost seats and could be stuck with the smallest possible majority. They lost seats in the House, too, and will cling to a razor-thin advantage.
``It won't be easy for whoever is president,'' said Republican strategist Scott Reed.
History was made below the presidential line on the ballot, too. First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton won a New York Senate seat. Republican Sen. John Ashcroft lost to Missouri's Democratic governor who died in an October plane crash; the governor's widow, Jean Carnahan, is in line for an appointment to the seat.
Ever confident, Bush made several tentative decisions about his presidency before the race concluded. Aides said he would soon put them in place.
Presuming victory, aides said Powell will be nominated to be secretary of state, with an announcement planned within the week. Condoleezza Rice will be national security adviser, putting two blacks from Bush's father's national security team in prominent posts.
Cheney was to oversee Bush's transition team, and Card was his likely choice as White House chief of staff, aides said.
Gore, too, has given thought to his transition. Aides said the vice president's first decision would be what to do with Daley, a natural for transition director or White House chief of staff.
Seeming less confident than Bush, Gore advisers were considering his options if the Florida recount went against him. Some said privately he would be wise to quickly concede with a statesmanlike speech that, coupled with his popular-vote advantage, would position Gore as the Democratic front-runner in 2004.
Americans cast more than 101 million votes, the second most in history behind the 104 million of 1992. But the race came down to one state - Florida - and a few thousand people.
By late Wednesday, Bush had won 29 states for 246 electoral votes. Gore had won 18 states plus the District of Columbia for 255. New Mexico and Oregon were too close to call, but wouldn't make a difference.
With all precincts reporting unofficial results, Gore had 48,707,413 votes and Bush had 48,609,640 votes - with just 97,773 votes separating them. Only three times before had a presidential candidate lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College, the last time in 1888 when Benjamin Harrison defeated Grover Cleveland.
AP-NY-11-09-00 0105EST
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. >>
NEW MEXICO
<<Ballots Withheld in New Mexico
.c The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE (Nov. 8) - A computer glitch in a New Mexico county led officials to withhold about 60,000 early-voting and absentee ballots from their vote count.
The effect of the problem was not clear. It was likely to change the final count in the 1st Congressional District, but not the outcome; Republican incumbent Heather Wilson claimed victory, and Democratic challenger John Kelly conceded defeat.
The presidential race in New Mexico was tight, and the problem in Bernalillo County prevented news organizations from declaring a winner.
Elections Bureau director Denise Lamb said a fresh attempt at counting the estimated 60,000 ballots would be made later Wednesday.
Bernalillo County Clerk Judy Woodward called her at about 1:40 a.m. to inform her of the action, she said.
''The official line at this point is that there's a problem with their database. Their (voting) machines have a problem in the database,'' Lamb said, ''and they can't count any of the straight-party ballots. So they won't be reporting any of their early or absentee votes to us tonight.''
That left only the tally from the Election Day voting at county polling places, she said.
Woodward did not respond to repeated messages left at county offices and at her home seeking comment.
AP-NY-11-08-00 0532EST
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. >>
PALM BEACH
<<19,000 Florida Ballots Thrown Out
Voters Confused by Format; Lawsuit Filed
By KARIN MEADOWS
.c The Associated Press
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Nov. 9) - More than 19,000 ballots were disqualified on election night in a Florida county where confusion over the punch-card voting system led to a flood of complaints and a lawsuit Wednesday.
Election officials said Wednesday that 19,120 ballots from Palm Beach County had showed votes for more than one presidential candidate. Those votes were nullified and not included in the count.
``That total is a high number,'' said Palm Beach County Commissioner Carol Roberts, who is part of the canvassing board that is conducting a recount of the presidential race. Only 3,783 voters made the same mistake on the U.S. Senate section of the ballot.
On Wednesday, hundreds of Al Gore supporters called the county elections office, saying the punch-card ballot was so confusing they thought they may have accidentally voted for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan instead of Gore.
Three people sued, seeking a new election.
Lawyers for the Democratic Party said that the design of the Palm Beach County ballot is illegal and that they may ask for a re-vote. But no immediate action was taken by the party.
In the Palm Beach County recount completed Wednesday night, Buchanan picked up 5 votes for a total of 3,412 votes, Gore gained 751 votes for 269,696, and George W. Bush gained 108 votes for 152,954.
Statewide, Gore was trailing Bush by fewer than 1,000 votes with the recount completed in about half the state's counties. Florida holds the key to the national race.
``It was so hard to tell who and what you were voting for. I couldn't figure it out, and I have a doctorate,'' voter Eileen Klasfeld said.
Two larger counties south of Palm Beach both had much lower Buchanan results - 789 in Broward County and 561 in Miami-Dade County. In Duval County, a much more conservative county in northeast Florida, only 650 Buchanan votes were cast.
The confusion apparently arose from the way Palm Beach County's punch-card style ballot was laid out for the presidential race. Candidates are listed in two columns, with holes down the middle between the columns, to the right or the left of each candidate's name.
The top hole was for Bush, who was listed at top left; the second hole was for Buchanan, listed at top right, and the third hole was for Gore, listed under Bush on the left. Arrows linked the names with the proper hole, but some voters feared they had missed the arrows and punched the wrong hole.
``When ballots are placed in the slide for voting, Al Gore and Joe Lieberman are the second names on the ballot, but the third hole to punch,'' Florida Democratic Party Communications Director Bill Buck said in a statement.
But Clay Roberts, director of the Florida Department of Elections, said the problem was exaggerated.
``I don't think they are confused. I think they left the polling place and became confused. The ballot is very straightforward. You follow the arrow, you punch the location. Then you have voted for who you intend to elect,'' said Roberts, a Republican appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush, George W.'s brother.
Florida law specifies that voters mark an X in the blank space to the right of the name of the candidate they want to vote for.
Jeff Liggio, a lawyer for county Democrats, called the ballot illegal. ``Right means right, doesn't it? The state law says right. It doesn't mean left,'' he said.
Don A. Dillman of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, who has done research on the design of paper questionnaires, called the ballot confusing.
``I've never seen one set up like this,'' Dillman said from Pullman, Wash. ``It's very confusing the way they have put things on the right side together with things on the left side. I can see why there might be a problem. If you passed over the first candidate to go for the second candidate, it's logical that you'd punch the second hole.''
Outside the Palm Beach elections office, about 50 outraged citizens carried signs protesting the ballots.
``It was an injustice. Thousands of people were confused,'' said 42-year-old Niso Mama. ``We have to have another election in this county.''
In Pinellas County, meanwhile, election officials ordered a recount of the recount late Wednesday, saying some ballots weren't properly counted.
AP-NY-11-09-00 0026EST
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. >>
OREGON
<<Oregon Gov't Proclaims Vote-By-Mail Success
But Mail-In Ballots Blamed for Late Results
By AVIVA L. BRANDT
.c The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (Nov. 9) - A throng of voters returned ballots to drop-off points at the last minute - a major reason the state was one of just two in the nation where the presidential winner was still unclear a day after the election.
''I'm willing to trade off instant results for increased voter turnout,'' said Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, who declared the nation's only vote-by-mail election an ''incredible success.''
But Bill Lunch, a political scientist at Oregon State University, questioned Bradbury's assessment.
''If this is such a terrific system, why are we sitting here at the day after the election wondering how Oregon is going to go in the presidential election?'' Lunch asked.
Bradbury blamed the delay on the huge last-minute turnout - an estimated 40 percent of voters turned in ballots between Saturday and Tuesday.
The last-minute ballots are time consuming, he said. Before they can be counted, election volunteers must verify ballot signatures - comparing them with signatures on voter registration cards.
Bradbury estimated voter turnout at 81 percent, just below the state record of 86.5 percent set in 1960 when John F. Kennedy edged Richard Nixon in the presidential race.
Bradbury, whose own race remained in doubt Wednesday, said vote-by-mail encourages more people to cast ballots since they can do it at home.
He shrugged off complaints about the system: ''We have an incredibly high turnout, and I think that's much more important than having results in two hours.''
He said that about 80 percent of the ballots had been counted by Wednesday and most races had been clearly determined.
AP-NY-11-09-00 0124EST
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. >>
As you can see, it isn't merely Florida. Looks as if we will have to wait and see.
