Start counting, Gore pleads Election 2000 It is November 30, 2000, and still there is no decision on the Gore vs. Bush Florida count for the 2000 Election. Democrat Al Gore appealed to Florida judges on Wednesday to immediately order a manual recount of contested ballots that he says hold the votes to give him presidency. Voters protest from southern Florida and line up to tell reporters their complaints Wednesday in Tallahassee. The Gore Recount Committee flew them to the state capital.
Gore?s lawyers filed the emergency petition with a Florida appeal, saying his chances of prevailing in the state?s angrily contested presidential election will be shattered if he has to wait until Saturday for the recount to begin. Gore authorized his lawyers to file an appeal with a state appeals court asking for an immediate rcount of about 14,000 ballots.
Although the ballots are to arrive in Tallahassee by Friday afternoon, the judge, Leon County, refused pleas from Gore?s lawyers to hear about another possible recount before Saturday.
Election results by county. Al Gore George W. Bush
Florida Supreme Court Building, Tallahassee, Flori...
English: Attorney General Bob Butterworth speaking...Leon County judge ordered Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties to pack up 1.1 million ballots and ship them to Tallahassee.
Gore said Wednesday that he still has an even chance of winning the presidency, which he believes the election will be settled by mid-December, and that it doesn?t matter at this point if he is losing public support. He thinks that his odds of winning the election are 50-50 because the law is so clear in Florida that the votes are going to have to be counted.
Republican observers complained that the ballots were mishandled. Bush lawyers said elections officials were taking some unreadable ballots and placing them in an envelope declaring them as clearly readable.
While this recount is going on, Bush plans to meet with Cheney and Powell. Though he was not expected to announce any cabinet choices, he was expected to discuss Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania and Sen. Dan coats of Indiana as possible choice for secretary of defense.
Bush?s lawyers continue working to present Bush as the nation?s president-elect in hopes that public sentiment will force Gore to end his challenges.
Republicans think it is time for Gore to concede, most Democrats are willing to let the legal challenge play out and they want Bush to quit picking his cabinet.
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English: Actor Alex Staggs portrays Florida Suprem...
2000 presidential election recount in Palm Beach C...