County vote disputed by Gore

With the recount in Florida still ongoing, the Gore-Lieberman campaign is taking extra steps to ensure fair election results. A spokesman said Thursday the campaign will support legal remedies to voting irregularities, and have requested a hand recount in four counties.\n"Today I am announcing that we will be working with voters from Florida to support a legal action to demand some redress for the disenfranchisement of more than 20,000 voters in Palm Beach County," said Campaign Chairman Bill Daley. "We believe that, with so much at stake, steps should be taken to make sure that the people's choice becomes the President."\nIn Palm Beach County, 19,120 votes were thrown out because more than one candidate was selected. Part of the controversy relates to the ballot -- people have claimed because the ballot is confusing, they mistakenly voted for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan instead of Vice President Al Gore.\nBuchanan said he is also skeptical about the 3,407 he received in Palm Beach County -- more votes than in any other county.\n"My guess is I probably got some votes down there that really did not belong to me, and I do not feel well about that," Buchanan told NBC. "I don't want to take any votes that don't belong to me." \nHe added because people could have been swayed by inaccurate media reports, a new vote in Palm Beach County should not be held.\nTalk of a possible revote sparked reaction from the Bush campaign.\n"One of the options that they seem to be looking at is new elections. Our democratic process calls for a vote on Election Day, it does not call for us to continue voting until someone likes the outcome,'" said Bush campaign chairman Don Evans in Austin, Texas. \nFormer Secretary of State James Baker III said the law requires the ballot to be published in newspaper and in public places prior to the election, and that no complaints were made.\nFt. Lauderdale lawyer John Mullin said because the ballot was available ahead of time, he thinks little can be done to initiate a revote.\n"They're going to be precluded from going to court," he said.\nDaley questioned the nature of the publication.\n"It remains unclear if the sample ballot published really contained all the elements -- including the alignment of the punched holes that the actual ballot reflected -- more importantly, let me be clear about what is at stake here. Technicalities should not determine the next President of the United States, the will of the people should. Demanding an end to the election is not the same as demanding that the person who the people want as president takes office."\nDemocratic officials requested hand recounts in four counties Thursday -- Broward, Dade, Volusia and Palm Beach, Daley said.\nUnder Florida state law, a political party, candidate or political committee that supports or opposes an issue on the ballot can file a sworn, written request for a manual recount until a canvassing board certifies the results or until 72 hours after the election, whichever comes later.\nThe county canvassing board, made up of a county judge, the county commissioner and the county election supervisor, makes the decision about whether to do a manual count, Mullin said.\nThey will not certify these results and will do the manual recount Saturday, according to CNN.\nA hand count does not entail a recount of all votes. The recount must include at least three precincts in that county and at least 1 percent of the total votes submitted, according to Florida state law. The person who filed the request can choose the three precincts, and if others are included, the canvassing board will choose the others.\nRepublicans are contemplating requesting a recount in states won by Gore with a narrow lead. In Iowa, Gore won by less than 5,000 votes and about 6,000 in Wisconsin. Oregon law also states that a recount will be needed if the margin is one-fifth of one percent, or less than 3,000 votes. Last count showed Gore winning by 2,100 with about 80,000 votes to be counted.\nEight lawsuits have been filed to challenge the Florida results as of press time, including six in Palm Beach County and two in Tallahassee.\nOne suit was withdrawn Thursday to be combined with another to be filed next week.\nThe Associated Press, MSNBC and CNN contributed to this report.