Florida Recount Underway

The closest, most confounding presidential election in modern times defied resolution Wednesday as the outcome became snarled in controversy over the balloting in Florida.

Republican George W. Bush cautiously claimed victory, predicting his wispy margin in Florida would hold up and give him the electoral votes needed to claim the White House. But Democrat Al Gore warned against “a rush to judgment.”

Gore could face a wrenching decision as early as today, when an initial Florida recount may be completed. If Bush’s narrow victory is confirmed, Gore may face pressure to concede the race to spare the nation prolonged uncertainty.

But there were signs that Democrats might be loath to capitulate so quickly. Some of Gore’s Florida supporters filed a lawsuit amid allegations of voting irregularities in the state.

Florida officials began the mandatory recount Wednesday morning, and the still-battling campaigns dispatched two eminent overseers, both former secretaries of State: James A. Baker III for the Bush campaign and Warren Christopher for Gore.

With recounts completed for 32 of Florida’s 67 counties, Bush’s lead had been reduced by roughly 800 votes, shrinking to less than 1,000 out of more than 5.8 million cast. Sowing further doubts about the outcome, an undetermined number of absentee ballots from Floridians living overseas have several more days to trickle in.

But much of Wednesday’s focus was on the state’s Gold Coast, famous for its high-rise condos and legion of retirees.

In Palm Beach County, election officials announced that Tuesday night more than 19,000 computer ballots had been disqualified because they had been punched for more than one presidential candidate. Democratic Party lawyers asserted the design of the ballot led to the confusion and that they may ask for a revote, which would cast the presidential race into further doubt.

Nationwide, unofficial results showed Gore leading Bush in the popular vote by slightly less than 200,000 ballots out of more than 100 million cast.

But Bush could win the White House, thanks to a majority in the electoral college, provided his Florida margin is sustained. That may not be clear for some time: Even after the recount is finished, the final results may be subject to further review.

Both Sides Remain Confidant

If the Texas governor prevails, he will be the first candidate in more than 100 years to lose the popular vote but win the White House.

“I’m looking forward to this being speedily resolved and that the vote that we believe we’ve got in Florida is confirmed,” an obviously fatigued Bush told reporters in Austin, Texas, where he was joined by running mate Dick Cheney. “And when that happens, I’ll be the president-elect and my friend will be the vice president-elect and we’ll begin the transition.”

Reaching out to Gore supporters, Bush vowed to “work hard to earn their confidence.”

Bush said he and Cheney would “do everything in our power to unite the nation to bring people together after one of the most exciting elections in our nation’s history.”

But the Gore campaign expressed confidence that the vice president ultimately will win Florida and, with it, the presidency. “We believe if there’s a fair, fair, objective count . . . Al Gore will win the state of Florida’s popular vote,” spokesman Chris Lehane said.

Gore, speaking to reporters in Nashville, said the election needs to be resolved “in a way that is fair, forthright and fully consistent with our Constitution.”

“Because of what is at stake, this matter must be resolved expeditiously, but deliberately, and without any rush to judgment.”

Gore backers alleged a number of voting irregularities in Florida, including intimidation of black voters and the confusion about the oddly formatted ballot in Palm Beach County. Democrats charged the confusion may not only have caused the double-punching that disqualified 19,121 ballots but also led some Gore supporters to vote for the Reform Party’s Pat Buchanan by mistake.

Three people filed suit Wednesday seeking a new election in the county, where Buchanan received 3,407 votes for president, more than he received in any other Florida county.

“If all of our voters had been able to vote and all of our votes been counted, we wouldn’t have been in this situation,” said Bob Poe, chairman of the Florida Democratic Party.

He minimized the effect of the Green Party’s Ralph Nader, who received about 100,000 votes in Florida and was accused by many Democrats of costing Gore the presidency. “It doesn’t look like the Nader factor so much as it was these other potential voting irregularities,” Poe said.

Oregon, New Mexico Remain in Play

Nader, for his part, was unbowed by suggestions that he tipped the election from Gore to Bush. Although he received only about 3% of the popular vote nationwide--below the 5% threshold the Greens needed to qualify for federal election funds in 2004--he said he had transformed the party into a “long-term, progressive reform movement” that would keep watch on the Democrats and Republicans for years to come.

While most of the attention was on Florida, Oregon--with seven electoral votes--and New Mexico--with five--also remained too close to call.

In New Mexico, where Gore clung to a 10,000-vote lead, roughly 65,000 votes were being recounted by hand. In Oregon, Bush was ahead of Gore, 48% to 46%, with about 90% of the ballots counted.

As it stood Wednesday, Gore had 255 electoral votes to Bush’s 246. It takes 270 to win the White House.

The vice president appeared somber Wednesday as he read a brief statement to reporters as his running mate, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, stood by.

“Despite the fact that Joe Lieberman and I won the popular vote, under our Constitution it is the winner of the electoral college who will be the next president,” Gore said. “Our Constitution is the whole foundation of our freedom, and it must be followed faithfully toward the true result ordained by the American people with their votes in their respective states.”

Gore then left without taking questions from reporters.

Of more immediate concern than the electoral college was the vote in Florida, which both sides once assumed would be safely in Bush’s camp by election day. Instead, the two men fought to a near standoff, with Gore running strongly among women and Bush edging the Democrat among the state’s large senior citizen population.

The recount, overseen by Republican Secretary of State Katherine Harris, was required by law because the gap between Bush and Gore was less than 0.5% of the votes cast.

Bush’s brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a Republican, said he would play no part in the recount. “This is hugely important business,” he said at a Tallahassee news conference, where he was joined by Democratic Atty. Gen. Bob Butterworth. “What’s at stake is the next leader of the free world. Everyone ought to let this process work.”

Jeb Bush said there were no irregularities to suggest a change in the outcome. But Butterworth said, “‘If anyone believes there was a problem, someone will make a complaint to an appropriate authority,” and it will be checked out.

The Gore campaign dispatched a team of roughly 60 people, led by Christopher and Bill Daley, the campaign chairman, to monitor the recount.

“At the very least, we’re going to go down there and make sure every ballot is counted, and, if there were any instances of voter intimidation, make sure they’re thoroughly checked out,” said Kym Spell, a campaign spokeswoman.

Under the process, election workers in each county mechanically recalibrate their vote-counting machines, then run the ballots through. A local canvassing board certifies the votes, which then are certified by state officials.

Absentee Ballots Could Be the Key

Once all the absentee ballots have been counted, the loser has 10 days to demand a recount of each ballot by hand, which would further prolong the process.

Both sides were hopeful that the votes of those living abroad would help their cause.

The Bush camp suggested many absentee ballots would come from military personnel, who tend to lean Republican. The Gore camp said many would come from Israel, from American Jews, who tend to vote Democratic.

Several of those who cast their ballots abroad were stunned and thrilled to realize how pivotal their votes may prove.

“Republicans abroad elected George W. Bush president in the year 2000,” boasted Michael J. Jones, executive director of the GOP’s outreach organization to residents of 60 foreign countries. “We’ll be welcome in the White House.”

He said 1,200 of 3,000 voters registered by a phone bank organized by his group were based in Florida.

But his Democratic counterparts were not giving up. Party activists living in foreign countries spent Wednesday mobilizing their Floridian members to phone home and make sure that their ballots had indeed arrived. “We want to make sure that every country gets their 10 or 20 votes in,” said Julie Lee, a lawyer who lives in Milan, Italy, but votes in Orlando, Fla. “We could really influence the election.”

Back home, many Gore supporters vehemently protested the results.

Officials at the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People issued a statement alleging “voter intimidation and irregularities” affecting black voters in several Florida precincts. Separately, several residents of Palm Beach County expressed anger and confusion about the punch-card ballots that may have resulted in unwitting votes for Buchanan.

After poll worker Pearl Cohen took her turn in the voting booth, “I had the oddest feeling that something I did was wrong.” Cohen fears her vote went to Buchanan and she later tried to reach county election officials to complain. “Hopefully we’re going to be able to have a revote,” she said.

Ballot Glitch Called Local Problem

But the Bush campaign defended the integrity of the results.

Communications Director Karen Hughes expressed confidence that the Florida vote would give Bush and Cheney “enough electoral college votes to become the president-elect and vice president-elect of the United States.”

“We expect the automatic recount that is now underway in Florida will confirm these results,” Hughes continued. “We also expect that, once this recount is complete, the vice president will respect the will of the people of Florida.”

In Washington, Justice Department officials were quick to distance themselves from the recount. “We have no role,” one official said bluntly. “As far as the allegations that ballots were confusing or hard to read or people thought they were voting for the wrong person, that’s an administrative issue and would be handled by state officials.”

The department had sent federal monitors to nine states to ensure that minorities were not bullied into staying away from the polls, but Florida was not among them.

After Tuesday night’s election roller coaster, there were few moments Wednesday to match the surge of emotions that sent partisan hopes soaring, then plunging. At one point Gore supporters were heartened when an overlooked ballot box turned up in heavily Democratic Miami-Dade County. But when it was opened hours later, it turned out to contain only poll supplies.

Some Republicans held out hope that Bush still might pass Gore in the popular vote.

In California, between 1 million and 1.5 million absentee ballots remain uncounted, and a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Bill Jones suggested they might boost the governor into the lead nationally. Counting those ballots could take more than a week.

If Bush wins solely in the electoral college, he would be the first candidate to take the White House while losing the popular vote since Rutherford B. Hayes defeated Samuel J. Tilden in 1876 by a single electoral vote.

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Times staff writers Eric Bailey, Julie Cart, Cathleen Decker, Michael Finnegan, Faye Fiore, Maria L. La Ganga, James Gerstenzang, Lisa Getter, Eric Lichtblau, Kim Murphy and Judy Pasternak contributed to this story.

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Recounting the Votes in Florida

Florida officials were required by state law to recount nearly 6 million ballots after Republican candidate George W. Bush led Democrat Al Gore by only 0.5%--a difference of 1,784 votes. The recount in all 67 counties is expected to be finished today. *

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How It Works

1. In each county, a three-member canvassing board made up of a county judge, the chairman of the county commission and the local election supervisor recounts the votes.

2. The canvassing board sends its results to Tallahasee, the capital.

3. The results are certified by Secretary of State Katherine Harris, and director of state Division of Elections Clay Roberts, both Republican appointees.

Two former secretaries of state-- Warren Christopher for Gore and James A. Baker III for Bush-- are heading monitoring teams sent to Florida during the recount.

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Overseas and absentee ballots

* Most of the 500,000-plus absentee ballots have been accounted for.

* An undetermined number of overseas ballots, mostly from military personnel and their families, still need to be counted. The state allows 10 days after the election for these ballots to come in.

* In the 1996 election, Florida counted about 2,300 overseas ballots.