Nationwide, an estimated 2.1 to 2.8 million ballots did not get counted toward the presidential total, said Curtis Gans, director of the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, based in Washington. "Some of those were thrown out and some of those were from people who didn't vote for EITHER candidate as president,'' Gans said Tuesday, adding that he had no way of knowing how many of the votes were not counted for different reasons. In Florida, about 180,000 of the ballots were these so-called ``undervotes,'' which don't count toward a presidential candidate. That's nearly 3 percent of the more than 6 million ballots Florida citizens turned in. The Democrats have been using undervote percentages to press their case, but the numbers in Florida are not different from those in the rest of the nation. "What nobody likes to recognize is that voters go to the polls and in very closely contested races cast NO vote for that race,'' said Doug Lewis of the Election Center, an independent clearinghouse that works with election authorities nationally. More Than 2M Ballots Uncounted By DAVID HO .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - Al Gore and George W. Bush are locked in a legal fight over whether to manually recount almost 15,000 disputed ballots in two Florida counties, a tiny - but strategic - share of more than 2 million ballots nationwide that weren't counted toward picking a president. Electoral geography, at least as much as proper vote-counting practices, appear to be driving this legal struggle. Florida's 25 electoral votes will likely determine the presidential election. Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties were two of the handful of Florida counties identified by the Gore campaign as likely sources of uncounted votes to be explored. The Bush campaign has argued that manual recounts are not as reliable as machine counts. Nationwide, an estimated 2.1 to 2.8 million ballots did not get counted toward the presidential total, said Curtis Gans, director of the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, based in Washington. ``Some of those were thrown out and some of those were from people who didn't vote for president,'' Gans said Tuesday, noting that he had no way of knowing how many of the votes were not counted for different reasons. Since 1980, Gans' committee has compiled election data from 35 states that provide the total number of ballots their voters have cast and the number of votes for president. In Florida, about 180,000 of the ballots were these so-called ``undervotes,'' which don't count toward a presidential candidate. That's nearly 3 percent of the more than 6 million ballots Florida citizens turned in. Because the state-certified count gave Bush a 537-vote victory, Democrats argue the count was inaccurate and these ``undervotes'' cost Gore the election. But Republicans contend that ballots have been counted and recounted, and may reflect voters' desire not to pick a presidential candidate. The campaigns have been using undervote percentages to press their cases, with Republicans saying the numbers in Florida are not different from those in the rest of the nation and Democrats insisting they are an aberration. Gore supporters say the problem in Florida largely can be traced to paper punch-card ballots, which have added ``chad'' - dimpled, swinging, pregnant and otherwise - to the national lexicon. Chad are the tiny pieces of paper that pop out of a ballot when a voter chooses a candidate. The Bush campaign released its estimates Tuesday, citing preliminary vote totals from 32 states, they concluded that 1.9 percent of Americans who cast ballots either did not vote for president or made some mistake that disqualified their vote. ``They've been counted just like all of the other non-votes, not only in counties in Florida but also in other counties across the United States,'' James A. Baker III, representing Bush, said Tuesday. Democratic officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment, but Gore addressed the larger issue, speaking to reporters outside the vice president's mansion. ``Thousands of votes still have not been counted,'' Gore said. ``Once we have that full and accurate count of the ballots cast, then we will know who our next president is and our country can move forward.'' The vice president's lawyers want about 10,750 of undervote ballots cast in Miami-Dade County counted by hand, saying they could pick up approximately 600 votes. They also say that some 4,000 ballots in Palm Beach County were marked with a presidential choice but not counted by canvassers, costing the vice president about 800 votes. Undervote ballots can go uncounted because voters make mistakes, such as voting for two candidates, not perforating the slot by a candidate's name or deliberately choosing no candidate at all. ``What nobody likes to recognize is that voters go to the polls and in very closely contested races cast no vote for that race,'' said Doug Lewis, executive director of the Election Center, an independent clearinghouse that works with election authorities nationally. ``We even have people who go to the polls, take a ballot, go into the voting booth, come back out and turn in a blank ballot.'' In 1996, 1.3 percent of those who said they voted also said they did not vote for president, according to polling data from the National Election Studies conducted by the University of Michigan. ``Obviously 2000 is different because there was maybe more ambivalence toward both of them,'' said Ashley Grosse, NES director. ``You may have more people spoiling their ballots this year or you may have more people not choosing from the top two.'' AP-NY-11-28-00 1803EST
