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Morning News

Election 2000: Florida Presidential Vote Recount Pivots on Smallest Details

Aired November 9, 2000 - 9:50 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The numbers, again, we've had for really the past hour still favor the Texas governor: 941 votes for George W. Bush over Al Gore. That's about 50 percent reported on the recount.

Statewide, there's 67 counties here in Florida. Thirty-two so far have reported the numbers to the state capitol building here in Tallahassee. They mentioned the minutiae, all the different details that are coming in here right now, and CNN's Mike Boettcher also here in Tallahassee, the state capital.

You just had a briefing inside. What were they saying? Any more to add?

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm Mr. Minutiae, let me tell you, Bill, I mean...

HEMMER: I would never accuse you of that.

BOETTCHER: No, no, no, we're trying to figure out this process.

Look, there have been new counties that have reported. It's a matter of process right now. They're trying to get that out. I think they're overwhelmed with all the media attention and everything else going on. They say they're working to try to get those out. They're even setting up a new room that's large enough to handle everybody, and they said that they would put the results on their web page and also hand them out.

But counties have been reporting up to there. We are trying to get those new figures.

HEMMER: They haven't posted them, in other words.

BOETTCHER: They have not posted them yet, but anytime, they will.

HEMMER: They're serving like a calculator, basically. They're just taking numbers in, adding them up, and spiting them out.

BOETTCHER: It's a complete bureaucratic process up there. That's what they're doing right now. Now, the second phase that occurs: After these results come in, and there is -- the recount is completed, then if someone -- and then the election is certified -- sometime in that process, if someone makes an allegation of an irregularity, then it's up to the election commission to look at that allegation with its lawyers and decide, with its lawyers, if there's enough evidence there, then to present it into the law enforcement officials in this state.

They don't make the determination themselves if election fraud or violation should be prosecuted. They refer it on. So that's another process that could go underway.

HEMMER: The other thing, we were taking earlier, there is a certification process here in Florida. There is a board that comprises three members. One of the member is Jeb Bush and yesterday he recused himself. One would think maybe the attorney general in Florida, Bob Butterworth, fills that job, but as we well know, he's a Democrat who is the state chair for Al Gore. The likelihood of him going on that board is probably not very good.

BOETTCHER: Absolutely. I was sitting talking to the people who really know this place, who are the capitol reporters who cover Florida politics, and they were speculating about who it might be. I guess conventional wisdom is they might appoint a Democrat to that board, but who it would be -- somebody mentioned a Republican name, someone said the state controller here, who is a former U.S. Marine, the agricultural commissioner. It could be anybody.

But that process must take place pretty soon to appoint that third member so that they can then certify the results when they're certified by the countries.

HEMMER: The count of the recount of the recount. The other option still out there is the number of absentee ballots overseas. U.S. military expats that call Florida home. Now, we've been saying that's roughly 30,000 that were distributed in this past election. Is that number hard and fast? Do the state officials know there?

BOETTCHER: No, it's not. No one knows the number. No one knows the number. We've been checking on that.

HEMMER: Is that a county issue, then?

BOETTCHER: Yes, because if you're a military man overseas, you request that ballot through your county. The county then sends the ballot to you. Now, let me explain something about the count right now.

HEMMER: The count that's going on right now.

BOETTCHER: The count today, the recount going on, includes all ballots received by the end of Tuesday. And that could be overseas ballots that were received before the election or on election day. So most of them could have been received. Now, the ones received after go into the second recount and are counted and then will be recounted and will be certified in a separate thing. So not all of those ballots that were sent out are being counted in this next phase. Some of them are being counted now because they were received before Tuesday.

HEMMER: So we're not confused, are we?

BOETTCHER: You know. We're, trying to -- you know -- people here are really trying to explain the process, and it's very complicated.

HEMMER: It's under the microscope, will be talked out throughout the morning, but again a reminder to our viewers, the reason why they have to do this state law in Florida dictates that any election that's determined by less than half of a percent, .5 percent, an automatic recount is carried out. And that's why we're here. We will track it. Mike Boettcher, thanks.

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