Overseas ballots With all of Florida's 67 counties reporting, Bush picked up 1,380 votes from overseas ballots on Saturday compared with 750 for Gore. While heartened by the results, Bush campaign officials didn't celebrate victory. On Friday, the Florida Supreme Court barred Secretary of State Katherine Harris from announcing a certified winner until it rules on Gore's bid to include the manual recounts. Florida's votes have been counted and recounted, and in some counties recounted three or four times. On Monday, the Florida Supreme Court will consider whether hand counts in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County should be included in the final vote count.
Republicans say the votes are invalid because they missed the state's deadline for recounts.
The court accepted briefs from both sides over the weekend. Although Racicot's comments previewed legal arguments that will be presented to the Florida Supreme Court on Monday, the tone seemed geared more for the court of public opinion. Racicot said the work of fatigued elderly counters was particularly questionable. He said other workers improperly handled ballots, using them as fans and even taping chad over holes that were punched for Bush. In one incident, Racicot claimed a Democratic observer found that Bush ballots had been improperly placed in a Gore pile.