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[quote name='MrBadExample']Here are three methods that would have supported Gore winning:

"Use of Palm Beach County standard

Out of Palm Beach County emerged one of the least restrictive standards for determining a valid punch-card ballot. The county elections board determined that a chad hanging by up to two corners was valid and that a dimple or a chad detached in only one corner could also count if there were similar marks in other races on the same ballot. If that standard had been adopted statewide, the study shows a slim, 42-vote margin for Gore.

Inclusion of overvotes

In addition to undervotes, thousands of ballots in the Florida presidential election were invalidated because they had too many marks. This happened, for example, when a voter correctly marked a candidate and also wrote in that candidate's name. The consortium looked at what might have happened if a statewide recount had included these overvotes as well and found that Gore would have had a margin of fewer than 200 votes.
 
The butterfly and caterpillar ballots

One of the most controversial aspects of the Florida election was the so-called butterfly ballot used in heavily Democratic Palm Beach County. Many voters came out of the polls saying they were confused by the ballot design.

According to the study, 5,277 voters made a clean punch for Gore and a clean punch for Reform Party nominee Pat Buchanan, candidates whose political philosophies are poles apart. An additional 1,650 voters made clean punches for Bush and Buchanan. If many of the Buchanan votes were in error brought on by a badly designed ballot, a CNN analysis found that Gore could have netted thousands of additional votes as compared with Bush.

Eighteen other counties used another confusing ballot design known as the "caterpillar" or "broken" ballot, where six or seven presidential candidates are listed in one column and the names of the remaining minor party candidates appeared at the top of a second one. According to the study, more than 15,000 people who voted for either Gore or Bush also selected one candidate in the second column, apparently thinking the second column represented a new race.

Had many of these voters not marked a minor candidate in the second column, Gore would have netted thousands of additional votes as compared with Bush.

However, the double votes on both butterfly and caterpillar ballots were clearly invalid under any interpretation of the law."

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/florida.ballots/stories/main.html[/quote]

Three is not quite 7 of 8 is it?

More to the point from the front page of NORC's website:

http://www.norc.uchicago.edu/fl/promiss.asp

Approximately 180,000 ballots in Florida’s 67 counties are uncertified because they failed to register a “valid” vote for President. These ballots include those in which no vote was recorded (undervotes) and those in which people voted for more than one candidate (overvotes). NORC is examining the undervotes and overvotes.

The goal of the project is not to declare a “winner,” but rather to carefully examine the ballots to assess the relative reliability of the three major types of ballot systems used in Florida. The results of this assessment will help state legislatures, other decision-makers, and developers of ballot systems to work toward more reliable ballot systems in the future. The data archive containing the results of NORC’s work will be available for use by the news organizations, and by sponsoring the public soon thereafter.

[quote name='ZarathosNY']How about this, READ what I sent. I am sorry that you can't face facts. The consortium report was not put on the web, so I can't give you a link to that, and I am also not going to pay for an article to convince someone who can't face facts.[/quote]

How about you provide legitimate facts which support your argument without me having to read through pages upon pages and presume I will conclude the same conclusion as you do?

If you can't provide a source you shouldn't bring it up. Period.

Particularly when any number of other availble sources dispute your assertion.

CTL
 
I think even that is open to interpretation.
According to this little interactive application
http://www.nytimes.com/images/2001/11/12/politics/recount/
out of 17 combinations of factors, Gore would have one 7 of them, and GWB 10 of them.
There are two articles on that same site summarized as such:
George W. Bush would have won even if the Supreme Court had allowed the statewide manual recount that the Florida court had ordered to go forward.
The comprehensive review of the uncounted Florida ballots solidifies George W. Bush's legal claim on the White House.

Part of the problem is that both sides wanted to eitehr change or create the 'rules' while the 'game' was going on. If that's the case, obviously each side is going to support the 'rules' that help their side and not the other. I've always been of the opinion, play by the rules as they exist, if there's a problem with them, work on changing them for next time. You can doublecheck and doublethink and Monday-morning-quarterback from here till Armageddon, but that's not productive.

This 'undervote' thing has always boggled my mind. It's not an 'undervote', it's an 'abstention.' People don't have to vote on each thing on the ballot, and if they know nothing about it, I'd prefer if they didn't. I have abstained from things on my ballots.

There was absolutely no reason to stop the recount....except that multiple recounts had already occurred, and multiple deadlines had been passed or extended. How long can you extend your credit card due date or mortgage payment? Eventually they're going to say, Okay, time's up, pay us.

And I have no problem with examining ballots in order to make a smoother voting process in the future. As long as that's the goal, and the focus. I'm all for improvement.
 
[quote name='dtcarson']I think even that is open to interpretation.
According to this little interactive application
http://www.nytimes.com/images/2001/11/12/politics/recount/
out of 17 combinations of factors, Gore would have one 7 of them, and GWB 10 of them.
There are two articles on that same site summarized as such:
George W. Bush would have won even if the Supreme Court had allowed the statewide manual recount that the Florida court had ordered to go forward.
The comprehensive review of the uncounted Florida ballots solidifies George W. Bush's legal claim on the White House.

Part of the problem is that both sides wanted to eitehr change or create the 'rules' while the 'game' was going on. If that's the case, obviously each side is going to support the 'rules' that help their side and not the other. I've always been of the opinion, play by the rules as they exist, if there's a problem with them, work on changing them for next time. You can doublecheck and doublethink and Monday-morning-quarterback from here till Armageddon, but that's not productive.

This 'undervote' thing has always boggled my mind. It's not an 'undervote', it's an 'abstention.' People don't have to vote on each thing on the ballot, and if they know nothing about it, I'd prefer if they didn't. I have abstained from things on my ballots.

There was absolutely no reason to stop the recount....except that multiple recounts had already occurred, and multiple deadlines had been passed or extended. How long can you extend your credit card due date or mortgage payment? Eventually they're going to say, Okay, time's up, pay us.

And I have no problem with examining ballots in order to make a smoother voting process in the future. As long as that's the goal, and the focus. I'm all for improvement.[/quote]


There was not "multiple" recounts done. There were thousands of "overvotes" not counted, which under Florida law are legal votes if there is a mark for one candidate and the same candidate is written in.
 
CTL I'm sorry but I have given you facts, you chose to ignore them, much like the Bush administration. It is also a fact this country has gone downhill under Bush. Hopefully Americans will be able to see through Bush's lies and get him out of office.
 
[quote name='ZarathosNY']CTL I'm sorry but I have given you facts, you chose to ignore them, much like the Bush administration. It is also a fact this country has gone downhill under Bush. Hopefully Americans will be able to see through Bush's lies and get him out of office.[/quote]

I see I have entered a "rhetoric free zone".
 
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