-Caveat Lector-
Query: Is this the basic USA political story of the next 4 years?
Alfred Webre, Vancouver, BC
=====
Monday February 5 5:57 PM ET
Media Begin Review of Fla. Ballots
By RACHEL LA CORTE, Associated Press Writer
MIAMI (AP) - A research firm hired by several of the nation's
largest news organizations began
surveying thousands of presidential ballots Monday in an effort to
create an independent record of
the disputed Florida election.
The National Opinion Research Center, a nonprofit firm affiliated
with the University of Chicago,
plans to build a database that will describe in detail the
estimated 180,000 ballots that did not
register a vote for president during machine counts.
News organizations overseeing the review include The Associated
Press, CNN, The New York
Times, The Palm Beach Post, St. Petersburg Times, Tribune
Publishing, The Wall Street Journal
and The Washington Post.
The project begins almost two months after the U.S. Supreme Court
(news - web sites) stopped
the ongoing recounts in Florida.
George W. Bush (news - web sites) captured a razor-thin victory
over Vice President Al Gore
(news - web sites), carrying Florida by 537 votes out of 6 million
cast, giving him the state's 25
electoral votes and thus the national election.
``This project was undertaken to provide an independent record of
rejected ballots in the race that
ultimately determined the 2000 presidential election,'' said Kevin
Walsh, AP's chief of bureau for
Florida. ``Our goal is to inspect and classify these ballots, and
certainly not to challenge the
certification of results.''
The review started Monday in five of Florida's 67 counties -
Miami-Dade, Hillsborough, Pinellas,
Polk and Pasco. The statewide review is expected to take at least
eight weeks to complete.
The research firm trained teams of workers to use the same
standard in reviewing rejected
ballots, including overvotes where voters indicated a preference
for more than one candidate and
undervotes where machines recorded no vote.
For instance, in the 24 counties that use punchcard ballots,
workers will simply describe
distinguishing marks. That includes whether chads - the tiny
perforated squares that voters punch
out with a stylus to record their vote - are missing, hanging by
one or more corners, or ``dimpled.''
Each worker is to make a determination and is not supposed to
discuss the evaluation with other
team members.
The news organizations plan to use the database to produce their
own stories. The data also will
be released to the general public for additional research.
Other Florida newspapers represented through their parent
companies are The Orlando Sentinel,
South Florida Sun-Sentinel based in Fort Lauderdale, Sarasota
Herald-Tribune, Ocala
Star-Banner, The (Lakeland) Ledger and The Gainesville Sun.
Other news organizations have been invited to join the effort and
share the costs, which are
expected to exceed $500,000.
In an unrelated ballot review, The Miami Herald is working with an
accounting firm to review the
estimated 60,000 undervote ballots that were rejected in the
presidential race statewide. The
Herald hopes to be completed by mid-March, said Mark Seibel, the
Herald's assistant managing
editor.
The conservative legal group Judicial Watch is also conducting its
own statewide review, which is
expected to take months.
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