To add to that question, it should be noted that the "swing" resulting from
the recount was not uniform across counties. Here are the numbers (change in
votes from count1 --> count2, with one county yet to report):
Towards Gore: Bush:
Alachua + 65 + 62
Broward + 43 + 0
Dade + 62 + 0
Duval +184 + 0
Gadsden +170 + 0
Hillsborough + 0 + 47
Lake + 0 + 47
Martin + 0 +106
Nassau - 73 -124
Okaloosa + 0 + 50
Orange +105 + 0
Palm Beach +751 +108
Pinellas +417 - 61
Polk +216 + 79
St Johns + 0 + 49
These look to me to be consistent with the notion that there were regular
processes causing the incorrect counts, and that those processes tended to
operate against Gore's voters for some reason _other than_ the fact that
they were Gore's voters (in other words, that they acted directly on some
kind of demographic or geographic basis and only indirectly on the basis of
voting decision). At the same time, unless you believe that there was fraud
on both sides, the fraud hypothesis looks pretty weak (look at Nassau
County, for example, or the infamous Palm Beach, or Polk).
Paul Smith
Alverno College
Milwaukee
