Democratic Party sources around their US presidential candidate have been suggesting that an investigation may be needed into alleged electoral irregularities in Florida. A recount in that state has begun. The outcome in Florida is vital, as whichever of the two candidates to take the seat will become President. Speaking earlier, Al Gore said that the matter had to be solved expeditiously but could not be rushed.
His Republican rival, George W Bush, said that he was confident of victory. Speaking in Washington, President Bill Clinton congratulated both candidates but added that while the American people had spoken it was going to take a little while to determine what they said. The final result will not be known until tomorrow afternoon, at the earliest, although Florida's Governor, and Mr Bush's brother, Jeb Bush, said that a final outcome may not be known for ten days. Speaking in the Texan capital, Austin, earlier, Mr Bush said that he expected the recount to show that he carried the state. Initially, Florida went to Mr Gore but as the votes came in it became clear a recount was necessary after Mr Bush pushed marginally ahead.
Meanwhile, a Democratic Party leader in Palm Beach County said today that the party may file a lawsuit over presidential election ballots it described as misleading. County Commissioner Burt Aaronson said that party leaders were considering the lawsuit after hundreds of voters in this county north of Miami complained they had accidentally voted for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan while they thought they had cast their vote for Mr Gore. Mr Buchanan won 16,962 votes in Florida with about 3,407 of those votes coming from Palm Beach County, according to preliminary returns. In comparison, Mr Buchanan received only 561 votes in more populous Dade County, which includes Miami.
Clay Roberts, director of the Florida Division of Elections, said that it was expected that the recount would be finished by tomorrow afternoon. Mr Roberts said that the only Florida ballots that were not counted in the election night tally of nearly six million votes were those cast by Florida registered voters living overseas who were required to have their ballots postmarked by Tuesday. Those ballots might take up to ten days to arrive and to be added to the vote count, officials have said. Mr Bush led by fewer than 1,800 votes in the election night count over Mr Gore. Mr Roberts said that it was not known how many overseas ballots were cast but in 1996, about 2,300 were received.
Television networks had earlier predicted a victory for Mr Bush, the Republican candidate. Mr Gore had been preparing to concede defeat when the election took this dramatic new twist. The chairman of the Democratic election campaign, William Daley, said that the announcement of Mr Bush's win in Florida had been premature. Mr Daley was speaking to a crowd of Mr Gore's supporters in Tennessee. Al Gore has retracted his concession of the state to George W Bush. The margin of victory in this decisive state is too small to be definitive, and the winner of Florida will win the Presidency. It is conceivable that the eventual winner of the race will now not be known for a number of days.
Earlier, US television network CNN declared Texas Governor George W Bush as the 43rd President of the United States claiming he had won the critical state of Florida and its 25 electoral votes to surpass the 270 electoral votes needed to win the Presidency. The two contenders, Mr Bush and his Democratic Party rival, Vice President Al Gore have been running neck and neck throughout the night. Attention focused on Florida which both candidates needed to win the election.
Early today, two of the main American television networks revised an earlier prediction that Mr Gore would win Florida, saying it was too close to call. But he is believed to have won two other marginals, Pennsylvania and Michigan, as well as California and New York. The projections also indicate that Governor Bush has won Texas, Ohio, Missouri and Mr Gore's home state of Tennessee, as well as most of the smaller southern and mid-western states.
At around 5pm today, Mr Gore was ahead of his Republican rival on the US election's popular vote, taking 48.59% compared with 48.31%, with just over 100 million votes counted, according to media. CBS reported that Vice President Gore had won 48,733,088 votes compared with 48,457,650 for the Texas Governor, a difference of some 275,000 votes in favour of the Democratic candidate. Green Party candidate Ralph Nader took 2.65%, while Pat Buchanan of the Reform Party had just 0.44%, the channel said. Mr Gore was in the lead in electoral votes, with 260 against 246 for Bush.
For the latest results, go to our White House 2000 guide to the election.
