 Guides
|
| Channels
|
| Related Information
|
|
SATURDAY ESSAY:
Just Count the Votes, Florida!
By: Mobolaji E. Aluko, PhD
Burtonsville, MD, USA
Post Your Comments Here |
View Posted Comments
December 9, 2000
The Gore-Bush saga continues in its twists and turns!
Presently, Republican George W. Bush leads Democrat Al Gore by 537 votes in the overall vote (Bush 2,912,790 to Gore 2,912,253), which includes certified vote tallies as submitted on Sunday November 26, 2000 by 16 of Florida's 67 counties.
Prior to that last certification, election returns reported by the counties after overseas ballots were counted and before the weekend showed Bush leading by 930 votes. At that time, Bush had 2,911,872 votes while Gore had 2,910,942.
For that last certification, the Florida secretary of state Kathleen Harris had rejected the results of a hand recount submitted by Palm Beach County as being late and hence only a partial count. The incomplete results by Palm Beach County would have added a net gain of 180 votes for
Gore. If those returns had been accepted by the secretary of state, Bush's overall lead would been cut to 357 votes.
However, yesterday December 8, 2000, the Florida Supreme Court, on appeal by the Gore legal team, ordered a manual recount of all undervotes statewide, not just the selected counties as demanded by Gore. Fair enough, one should say!
It also said the Florida vote should include 215 additional votes for Gore resulting from a full manual recount in Palm Beach County, along with an additional 168 votes for Gore that were produced by a partial manual recount in Miami-Dade before its canvassing board halted the count, cutting Bush's lead to a mere razor-thin 154.
There are 67 counties in Florida. There are at least 43,432 undervotes statewide in as few as 51 counties that have not yet been counted. Broward, Volusia and Palm Beach have already counted their undervotes. Miami-Dade has counted 1,750 out of 10,750 undervotes.
What follows is a list of all Florida counties, the county-by-county tally (which reflects the most recent returns certified by the state, including all previous machine counts, hand counts and overseas absentee ballot results), and their number of undervotes. If a zero is listed, then there are no undervotes. "Unavailable" is listed where undervote information was not available by the county.
Gore's plea, with which I agree: just count the votes, even if George W. Bush wins! Let the undervotes counting begin.
May the person with the more total votes, chad or no chad, dimple or no dimples, win.
|
County |
Bush |
Gore |
Bush
Change |
Gore
Change |
Original
Winner |
Number of
Undervotes |
|
Alachua |
34,135 |
47,380 |
- |
- |
Gore |
225 |
|
Baker |
5,611 |
2,392 |
- |
- |
Bush |
94 |
|
Bay |
38,682 |
18,873 |
7 |
5 |
Bush |
529 |
|
Bradford |
5,416 |
3,075 |
- |
- |
Bush |
40 |
|
Brevard |
115,253 |
97,341 |
14 |
6 |
Bush |
277 |
|
Broward |
177,939 |
387,760 |
579 |
1,146 |
Gore |
6,686* |
|
Calhoun |
2,873 |
2,156 |
- |
- |
Bush |
78 |
|
Charlott |
35,428 |
29,646 |
- |
- |
Bush |
168 |
|
Citrus |
29,801 |
25,531 |
1 |
- |
Bush |
163 |
|
Clay |
41,903 |
14,668 |
13 |
1 |
Bush |
100 |
|
Collier |
60,467 |
29,939 |
25 |
10 |
Bush |
2,082 |
|
Columbia |
10,968 |
7,049 |
- |
- |
Bush |
617 |
|
Dade |
289,574 |
328,867 |
- |
6 |
Gore |
10,750 |
|
DeSoto |
4,256 |
3,321 |
- |
- |
Bush |
Unavail |
|
Dixie |
2,697 |
1,827 |
- |
- |
Bush |
Unavail |
|
Duval |
152,460 |
108,039 |
44 |
24 |
Bush |
4,967 |
|
Escambia |
73,171 |
40,990 |
45 |
9 |
Bush |
Unavail |
|
Flagler |
12,618 |
13,897 |
- |
- |
Gore |
55 |
|
Franklin |
2,454 |
2,047 |
- |
- |
Bush |
70 |
|
Gadsden |
4,770 |
9,736 |
- |
- |
Gore |
122 |
|
Gilchrist |
3,300 |
1,910 |
- |
- |
Bush |
Unavail |
|
Glades |
1,841 |
1,442 |
- |
- |
Bush |
Unavail |
|
Gulf |
3,553 |
2,398 |
- |
- |
Bush |
48 |
|
Hamilton |
2,147 |
1,723 |
- |
- |
Bush |
0 |
|
Hardee |
3,765 |
2,342 |
- |
- |
Bush |
85 |
|
Hendry |
4,747 |
3,240 |
- |
- |
Bush |
39 |
|
Hernando |
30,658 |
32,648 |
- |
- |
Gore |
101 |
|
Highland |
20,207 |
14,169 |
- |
- |
Bush |
489 |
|
Hilsboro |
180,794 |
169,576 |
- |
- |
Bush |
5531 |
|
Holmes |
5,012 |
2,177 |
- |
- |
Bush |
Unavail |
|
Indianrv |
28,639 |
19,769 |
- |
- |
Bush |
1058 |
|
Jackson |
9,139 |
6,870 |
- |
- |
Bush |
94 |
|
Jefferson |
2,478 |
3,041 |
- |
- |
Gore |
Unavail |
|
Lafayete |
1,670 |
789 |
- |
- |
Bush |
0 |
|
Lake |
50,010 |
36,571 |
- |
- |
Bush |
245 |
|
Lee |
106,151 |
73,571 |
- |
- |
Bush |
2,017 |
|
Leon |
39,073 |
61,444 |
- |
- |
Gore |
Unavail |
|
Levy |
6,863 |
5,398 |
- |
- |
Bush |
52 |
|
Liberty |
1,317 |
1,017 |
- |
- |
Bush |
29 |
|
Madison |
3,038 |
3,015 |
- |
- |
Bush |
Unavail |
|
Manatee |
58,023 |
49,226 |
16 |
12 |
Bush |
111 |
|
Marion |
55,146 |
44,674 |
- |
- |
Bush |
2,455 |
|
Martin |
33,972 |
26,621 |
- |
- |
Bush |
Unavail |
|
Monroe |
16,063 |
16,487 |
- |
- |
Gore |
83 |
|
Nassau |
16,408 |
6,955 |
125 |
73 |
Bush |
111 |
|
Okaloosa |
52,186 |
16,989 |
2 |
1 |
Bush |
2,455 |
|
Okeechobee |
5,057 |
4,589 |
- |
- |
Bush |
84 |
|
Orange |
134,531 |
140,236 |
- |
- |
Gore |
966 |
|
Osceola |
26,237 |
28,187 |
- |
- |
Gore |
642 |
|
Palm Beach |
152,964 |
269,754 |
- |
- |
Gore |
10,582* |
|
Pasco |
68,607 |
69,576 |
12 |
6 |
Gore |
1,776 |
|
Pinellas |
184,849 |
200,657 |
2 |
1 |
Gore |
4,226 |
|
Polk |
90,310 |
75,207 |
4 |
3 |
Bush |
228 |
|
Putnam |
13,457 |
12,107 |
- |
- |
Bush |
83 |
|
St. Johns |
39,564 |
19,509 |
- |
- |
Bush |
426 |
|
St. Lucie |
34,705 |
41,560 |
- |
- |
Gore |
537 |
|
Santarosa |
36,339 |
12,818 |
29 |
8 |
Bush |
Unavail |
|
Sarasota |
83,117 |
72,869 |
- |
- |
Bush |
1,089 |
|
Seminole |
75,790 |
59,227 |
- |
- |
Bush |
219 |
|
Sumter |
12,127 |
9,637 |
- |
- |
Bush |
593 |
|
Suwannee |
8,009 |
4,076 |
- |
- |
Bush |
42 |
|
Taylor |
4,058 |
2,640 |
- |
- |
Bush |
82 |
|
Union |
2,332 |
1,407 |
- |
- |
Bush |
Unavail |
|
Volusia |
82,368 |
97,313 |
- |
- |
Gore |
155* |
|
Wakulla |
4,512 |
3,838 |
- |
- |
Bush |
Unavail |
|
Walton |
12,186 |
5,643 |
- |
- |
Bush |
133 |
|
Washington |
4,995 |
2,798 |
- |
- |
Bush |
292 |
|
Totals |
2,912,790 |
2,912,253 |
918 |
1331 |
|
|
|
Difference |
537 |
393 |
930 |
Advantage - Bush |
|
+ Palm Beach |
215 |
Latest Florida Supreme Court Ruling |
|
+ Miami dade |
168 |
|
|
New Difference |
154 |
Advantage Bush |
* Broward, Palm Beach, Volusia allready counted will not be recounted
** Miami Dade: 10, 750 undervotes, but 9000 yet to be counted
Sources: AOL, CNN
Post Your Comments Here |
View Posted Comments
Published with the permission of Dr. Bolaji Aluko
|
