The Florida election recount of 2000 was a period of vote re-counting that occurred following the unclear results of the 2000 US presidential election.
The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, sponsored by a consortium of major U.S. news organizations, conducted a Florida Ballot Project comprehensive review of all ballots uncounted (by machine) in the Florida 2000 presidential election, both undervotes and overvotes, with the main research aim being to report how different ballot layouts correlate with voter mistakes.
All of the various county by county recounts that had been requested by Gore or Bush would have resulted in a Bush majority. Neither Candidate had formally requested a total statewide recount.
The recount also showed that the only way that Al Gore could have tallied more votes is by using counting methods that were never requested, and which included "overvotes" — spoiled ballots in which more than one candidate is selected for one office. These overvoted ballots are viewed as irretrievably spoiled by all responsible election officials, but the recount attempt to discern "voter intent" by examining them anyway. These results would also only be valid if the media representatives viewed the ballots in the same manner as the voting officials would have.
The U.S. presidential election of 2000 was one of the closest elections in U.S. history, decided by only 527 votes in the swing state of Florida. On election night, the media prematurely declared a winner twice based on exit polls before finally deciding that the Florida race was too close to call. It would turn out to be a month before the election was finally certified after numerous court challenges and recounts. Republican candidate George W. Bush won Florida's 25 electoral votes by a razor-thin margin of the popular vote in that state, and thereby defeated Democratic candidate Al Gore...........
