Advertisement

Recount delayed in central Florida county

DELAND, Fla., Nov. 11 -- The recount of presidential voting ballots in one central Florida county was delayed by noisy protestors on Saturday, raising the possibility that it would not be completed before a state deadline next Tuesday.

The manual recount of 184,018 Volusia County ballots, requested by Democrats, was scheduled to start on Saturday but was delayed until Sunday. Counties have until 5 p.m. (EST) Tuesday to submit certified vote counties to state election officials.

Advertisement

Before the recount, Vice President Al Gore had a 14,849-vote lead over Texas Gov. George Bush in Volusia County -- a margin of 52.9 to 44.8 percent.

County Judge Michael McDermott, head of the county's three-member canvassing board that approved the request for a recount, said counting was made difficult on Saturday because of pro-Bush protestors chanting outside.

At the request of McDermott, who said he is a registered Republican, police moved the demonstrators from the Thomas C. Kelly Administration Center, where the recount was being conducted in a first-floor conference room, to the steps of a nearby courthouse.

Federal agents, Volusia County sheriff's deputies and correctional officers were on duty as part of tight security surrounding the recount. More than 200 volunteers were recruited to help check the ballots in seven-hour shifts.

Advertisement

During a recount on Wednesday, workers found a ballot bag that had been forgotten in the trunk of a poll worker's vehicle. On Friday, officials found that some ballot bags had not remained sealed.

"I have never seen such a continuing mess," said attorney James Clayton, the Republican Party's observer for the recount.

In a 1996 sheriff's election, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Volusia County officials tampered with some of the 6,500 absentee ballots.

The court found that workers marked "defective" ballots with a black felt-tip marker when they could not be read by vote-counting machines. A judge called the practice "gross negligence," but declined to throw out the results and order a new election.

Latest Headlines