http://www.miamiherald.com The presidential election is over, and George W. Bush is the winner. That fact is no longer in dispute. But remaining to be settled are important questions about the roughly 60,000 Florida ballots that became the focus of attention over the past several weeks, the so-called undervotes. And, as Florida contemplates election reform, it is important to get an impartial fix on what Floridians actually did in the last election. Now is the time to review those ballots, one at a time. The Herald, and its parent company, Knight Ridder, have engaged the nationally respected accounting and consulting firm BDO Seidman LLP, to perform that review. That task began yesterday in Broward County using a painstakingly rigorous and objective process. Because of the complexities of repeating that task in each of Florida's 67 counties, the review is apt to take several weeks. The goal is neither to affirm nor to question the official result. It is to report only what those ballots show. The ballots, which are available for inspection under Florida's public-records laws, will speak for themselves. No ballots will be handled by journalists or even by our accounting firm. Under Florida law, only officials designated by county elections supervisors can do that. Those officials will show each ballot to our representatives, as well as to representatives of other interested media and individuals. The assignment will be to record precisely what each ballot shows according to a procedure detailed by Executive Editor Martin Baron on page 14A of this edition. In every case where there is a question, we will use the judgment of the BDO Seidman representative. When the data is published, readers will be able to determine for themselves what the tally would be under the several standards used by canvassing boards across the state to discern voter intent. While the election is over, the search for understanding isn't complete. The history of what became one of the most closely contested presidential races cannot fully be written until this is done. _______________________________________________ Crashlist resources: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/crashlist
