In Palm Beach County, one of Florida's 67 electoral divisions, the authorities have agreed to count ballots from three precincts by hand on Saturday 11 November. Democrats have also asked for recounts in Broward, Volusia and Dade counties, which would include Miami. Altogether the four disputed counties represent about 1.78 million votes, about a third of Florida's total. In Palm Beach the layout of the actual ballot paper is being blamed for thousands of miscast votes. Designed with larger print to help elderly voters, the ballot paper appears to have confused many people into voting for the wrong candidate.
Officials also point to the high level of spoilt votes in Palm Beach County.
An estimated 19,000 votes were disregarded because they contained names for more than one candidate or had no candidate selected at all. The design of the Palm Beach ballot paper was not used anywhere else in Florida. In Woodville, civil rights workers believe some voters were intimidated by a Florida highway patrol roadblock set up to check drivers' licenses near the local polling station. There are complaints that voters were unable to vote because polling stations were closed and no instructions were posted about alternative sites. One polling station remained closed all day.