President
Judicial Watch
501 School Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20026
We have performed the procedures enumerated below, with respect to our review of Presidential ballot counting procedures in specific precincts in the State of Florida, in connection with the November 7, 2000 Federal Election. The purpose of our review was to inspect undervote ballots from the following counties and record and report on the condition of chad in the Presidential race, particularly with respect to George W. Bush and Albert Gore.
This report includes the findings of our inspection of
undervote ballots for the six non-manual recount counties of:
Collier
Hillsborough
Indian
River
Miami-Dade
Pinellas
Sarasota
It
also includes the findings and reports of our inspections of the ballots in
Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Both
Broward and Palm Beach conducted manual recounts of the ballots. Broward’s
manual recount tally is included in the certified State tally. The Palm Beach
manual recount netted 176 votes for Mr. Gore. However, Palm Beach did not meet
the extended reporting deadline ordered by the State Supreme Court, so these
votes are not included in the certified State tally.
In
total, we have inspected ballots representing 42,724 (68%) of the 62,605
ballots reported as undervotes in the certified State tally. Based upon the
results of this inspection, the results of the Florida election would not have
changed with a manual recount of these counties. Further, based upon the scope
of our inspection and the analysis of the results thereof, it is our view that
the results of the Florida election would not have changed with a manual
recount of all the counties in the State.
Summary
of Findings
·
We inspected a total of
25,203 ballots representing undervotes at the six non manual recount counties
listed above. Included in the certified elections results for the State of
Florida for these counties were 25,456 undervotes. The difference of 253
ballots is presumed to be ballots that the vote counting machines or elections
officials recognized as valid votes during the process of separating the
ballots for this review. These have not been recorded anywhere. Whatever the
cause, there is no way to know, at this time, how these 253 ballots would have
been counted in any recount.
·
Notwithstanding these
missing ballots, the results of our inspection of the 25,203 ballots reveal the
following possible adjustments to the certified state totals had a manual
recount been included from these six counties:
Additional votes using the strict
standard (no dimples)
Mr. Bush + 116
Additional votes using a moderate
standard( dimples ) Mr.
Bush + 107
Additional votes using the liberal
standard
Mr. Bush + 116
·
The Palm Beach manual
recount resulted in a net increase in vote margin for Mr. Gore of 176 votes.
While there is no way to verify these results without a total recount of all
the Palm Beach ballots, we did observe errors in the way some ballots were
either adjudicated and recorded for the candidates during this manual recount.
If our observations represent errors, Mr. Gore’s 176 net vote margin increase
would be reduced by 62 votes.
·
Broward County began
their recount using a Strict Standard for determining votes, which primarily
required clear punches or chad hanging by one or two corners in order for a
vote to be counted. About mid-way through the process, the standard was changed
to a Liberal Standard, which allowed dimples and pregnant chad to be considered
primary evidence of voter intent. This change in standard resulted in
additional vote to Mr. Bush and Mr. Gore of 446 and 884, respectively.
OUR
PROCEDURES
We conducted our review at each of the Supervisor of
Elections offices over the course of December, January, and February 2001.
An elections worker at each county was assigned to
hold the undervote ballots for our inspection. At no time did we handle or hold
any of the ballots. We inspected the front and back of each ballot and recorded
the flowing characteristics for each:
§
Clear Punch – The chad was cleanly punched through
and totally detached
§
Hanging Chad- The chad was punched through and hanging by one
corner
§
Swinging Chad- The chad was punched through and hanging by two
corners
§
Tri Chad- The chad was through with one corner detached
§
Other Hole – A pinhole was punched through some portion of the
candidate box but not necessarily the chad.
§
Other Marks- The presidential chad had a distinguishing mark from
a writing instrument, such as a circle or an “X”, which clearly showed intent
to caste a vote in that instance.
§
Pregnant Chad – The Chad was indented or dimpled to the extent that
light was visible through a portion of the chad.
§
Dimpled Chad – The individual chad showed some sign of physical
disturbance to its originally smooth surface.
We
recorded these characteristics for the Presidential chad, including for those
candidates other than Mr. Gore or Mr. Bush. We also recorded instances where
chad for other races on the ballot were hanging, swinging, dimpled or pregnant.
The data were recorded in a database, from which
summarization and the following analyses were performed.
NON MAUNUAL RECOUNT COUNTIES
ANALYSIS
None of these
counties performed a recount by hand. In fact, most had not separated their
undervotes during the first and second machine counts. This task was performed
after the Florida Supreme Court ordered a manual count of the undervotes. Some
of the counties separated the undervote by putting all of the ballots through
the machines a third time, using software to segregate undervote ballots.
Others performed this process by hand using teams of elections workers.
The six non manual recount counties represented in
this report reported a total number of undervotes of 25,456 with their
certified totals in November. However, these counties presented 25,203 ballots
for our inspection. The difference of 253 represents ballots that are not included
in any count or analysis. These “missing” ballots are probably the result of
chad falling off between the November machine recount and the separation
process or elections workers erroneously not separating them. It is impossible
to know, at this point, what their adjudication might have been. Thus it is
important to bear in mind the possibility that these 253 ballots could, if we
were to know their ultimate adjudication, affect the following analysis.
It is also important to note that dimples are often
times very subtle and difficult to distinguish and subject to personal
interpretation, attentiveness of the reviewer and even bad lighting. Similarly,
judging whether a chad is sufficiently broken to be pregnant is subjective and
the distinction between dimpled and pregnant chad clouded accordingly.
With these caveats, our analysis shows that under any
of three standards, as described below, the results of the November 7, 2000
would not have changed had hand recounts been done in these six counties. Regardless
of the standard used, Mr. Bush’s margin would have increased as follows:
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Standard |
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Net Increase in Bush Votes |
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Strict, only clear punches, hanging or swinging chad |
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or other clear marks |
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116 |
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Moderate, includes dimples & pregnant chad where |
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other chad are also dimpled or pregnant |
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107 |
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Liberal, all dimples without conflicting presidential |
116 |
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marks |
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The details of
the calculation follow:
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SUMMARY OF RESULTS |
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NON MANUAL RECOUNT
COUNTIES |
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COLLIER |
HILLSBOROUGH |
INDIAN RIVER |
MIAMI-DADE |
PINELLAS |
SARASOTA |
TOTALS |
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UNDERVOTES PER NOV. 14 |
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2,082 |
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