She may not even consider them legal. Because I'm willing to go to jail,'' said Canvassing Board member Carol Roberts, the most passionate voice in a 3-0 vote to proceed with the recount. Cheers erupted in the parking lot of the county Emergency Operations Center from an audience of noisy partisan protesters. The outcome of the presidential election may be at stake. Republican George W. Bush leads Democrat Al Gore by a few hundred votes in Florida, a state that ended Election Day in a dead heat.
Republicans consider the hand-count unnecessary.
Palm Beach County ballots have been tabulated three times by a machine. Bush campaign spokesman Tucker Eskew poked fun at the county's decision to hold the count in a fortress normally reserved for hurricane duty. County leaders were set to begin the manual count at 7 a.m. Tuesday and even mobilized 100 ballot counters for duty. But the Canvassing Board halted the count on orders from Harris, the state's chief elections officer. A conflicting opinion from Attorney General Robert Butterworth arrived two hours later, disputing Harris's logic and urging the board to carry out the recount.