Counties using these systems recorded no votes for 3.9 percent of ballots cast, accounting for 144,985 of the unrecorded presidential votes. Problem ballots are not discovered until they're run through tabulation machines at a central location. The 15 counties with this system included Gore's biggest strongholds, and favored him overall by 51.8 percent to 46 percent for Bush. Counties with this system recorded no votes for 5.7 percent of ballots. But because these counties tended to be smaller, that percentage accounted for just 15,958 unrecorded votes.
Lake County is one such place.
The county said even if it was the same name, the vote was not counted. We have no way of knowing what their intent was. We don't know. Had the tabulators been based in precincts, voters would have been able to make their intentions clear right away. It would give voters the chance to go ahead and correct their own ballots.