Although Election Day has come and gone, the country is still waiting to find out who will be the next president. In a situation unprecedented in US history, the two major-party candidates are struggling for Florida's 25 unclaimed Electoral College votes, and two other states have yet to determine the winner in their elections.
The votes in Florida hold the key to the White House, as neither candidate has the 270 votes necessary to win the presidency without them. Gore leads Bush in both the popular vote (49,222,339 to 48,999,459) and Electoral votes (255 to 246) at this point.
The media called the Florida vote twice on election night, only to retract it a few hours later each time. Both candidates received almost comparable numbers at polls within the state, and controversy over ballots and recount procedure has caused the election to remain undetermined. At press time, the official count from Florida showed Texas Governor George W. Bush leading Vice President Al Gore by 388 votes. Absentee ballots, which can be received until Friday, still remain uncounted.
Voters in four traditionally Democratic counties - Volusia, Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach -are undergoing recounts, but that process was challenged in court yesterday. Federal District Judge Donald Middlebrooks denied the Bush campaign's claim early Monday afternoon and said that the recount is constitutional and must continue. According to Florida state law, certified vote counts must be submitted to the state capital of Tallahasse by 5 p.m. today, which means that the recounts are supposed to end by that time. Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris said yesterday that she would enforce the mandate.
However, it appears that legal battles will continue, as the Bush campaign hinted it will appeal Middlebrooks' ruling, and the Gore campaign will attempt to delay today's 5 p.m. deadline.
Florida is not the only state in which the winner of the election has not been determined. New Mexico was originally awarded to Gore, but the state's five Electoral votes were then placed back into the undecided section when the race was deemed to close to call. Oregon, where residents vote entirely by absentee ballots, is still counting ballots to determine which candidate will receive the seven Electoral votes. No matter what happens with the two smaller states, whichever candidate wins in Florida will win the Electoral College vote in December, provided that all electors follow party line.
