Bush actually lost votes, a very bad omen for him. Partially detached chads tend to come off during repeated runs through the tabulating machinery. This recount is occurring without a court order, it's provided for by Florida law. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/politics/12WIRE-PALM.html # # November 12, 2000 # # Palm Beach County Orders Manual Recount of Bush-Gore Vote # # By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS # # WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Palm Beach County officials ordered an # extraordinary countywide recount, by hand, of the more than # 425,000 votes cast in the presidential election for Al Gore and # George W. Bush. # # Gore added 36 votes and Bush lost three in a machine recount # of Palm Beach County in Florida's disputed presidential balloting. # A hand count of selected precincts turned up enough errors in # the election night vote to prompt county election officials to # order a complete recount by hand. The vote early Saturday was # 2-1. # # "This clearly would affect the national vote," said Carol Roberts, # a county commissioner and a member of the canvassing commission. # # Election officials said their exhaustive manual recount found # numerous differences from the machine count. Roberts said the # errors point to potentially 1,900 errors county wide -- more # than the existing statewide margin between Bush and Gore. # # At stake is no less than the presidency, since Florida will # deliver 25 electoral votes.