Penelope
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- Jul 15, 2014
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How Bush Took Florida: Mining the Overseas Absentee Vote
A six-month investigation by The New York Times of this chapter in the closest presidential election in modern American history shows that the Republican effort had a decided impact. Under intense pressure from the Republicans, Florida officials accepted hundreds of overseas absentee ballots that failed to comply with state laws.
In an analysis of the 2,490 ballots from Americans living abroad that were counted as legal votes after Election Day, The Times found 680 questionable votes. Although it is not known for whom the flawed ballots were cast, four out of five were accepted in counties carried by Mr. Bush, The Times found. Mr. Bush's final margin in the official total was 537 votes.
Continue reading the main story
The flawed votes included ballots without postmarks, ballots postmarked after the election, ballots without witness signatures, ballots mailed from towns and cities within the United States and even ballots from voters who voted twice. All would have been disqualified had the state's election laws
snip
Just as Mr. Gore never sought manual recounts in Republican strongholds, Mr. Bush did not request a second look at overseas ballots in large Gore counties, like Miami-Dade and Broward, where 346 overseas ballots, including 164 from the military, were rejected and never given a second look. Instead, the Republicans fought pitched battles in smaller counties, like Pasco, where they had a better chance of picking up votes.
EXAMINING THE VOTE; How Bush Took Florida: Mining the Overseas Absentee Vote
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While everyone was watching the hanging chad debacle, it was the illegal count of the absentee vote.
So quit hollering Cons, lets count every vote.
A six-month investigation by The New York Times of this chapter in the closest presidential election in modern American history shows that the Republican effort had a decided impact. Under intense pressure from the Republicans, Florida officials accepted hundreds of overseas absentee ballots that failed to comply with state laws.
In an analysis of the 2,490 ballots from Americans living abroad that were counted as legal votes after Election Day, The Times found 680 questionable votes. Although it is not known for whom the flawed ballots were cast, four out of five were accepted in counties carried by Mr. Bush, The Times found. Mr. Bush's final margin in the official total was 537 votes.
Continue reading the main story
The flawed votes included ballots without postmarks, ballots postmarked after the election, ballots without witness signatures, ballots mailed from towns and cities within the United States and even ballots from voters who voted twice. All would have been disqualified had the state's election laws
snip
Just as Mr. Gore never sought manual recounts in Republican strongholds, Mr. Bush did not request a second look at overseas ballots in large Gore counties, like Miami-Dade and Broward, where 346 overseas ballots, including 164 from the military, were rejected and never given a second look. Instead, the Republicans fought pitched battles in smaller counties, like Pasco, where they had a better chance of picking up votes.
EXAMINING THE VOTE; How Bush Took Florida: Mining the Overseas Absentee Vote
----------------------------------------------------
While everyone was watching the hanging chad debacle, it was the illegal count of the absentee vote.
So quit hollering Cons, lets count every vote.
