Gore s campaign asked that the ballots be recounted by hand in three counties after the initial recount. The Sec. of State of Florida, Katherine Harris, decided that only absentee ballots would be added to the count, but the Florida State Supreme Court has allowed the recount to continue and will decide whether or not those recounted ballots will count toward the final tally. The federal court system cannot get involved in the dispute unless there is a constitutional violation. Controversy is partly due to the suspected possible bias of Florida s Sec. of State because she is a Republican, and that the governor of Florida is Jeb Bush, George W. Bush s brother. While every vote in this election counts, the final decision of the presidency will be made on Dec. 18 when the electoral college meets to cast their votes.
Some states bind their electors to vote for the candidate they pledged to vote for.
Florida does not. At least one elector in that state has commented that she has considered changing her Bush vote to Gore. These votes will not be counted until January. The Nov. 7 election was not only very close in the race for the Presidency, but also in the Senate, House of Representatives, and gubernatorial races. The Senate race in the state of Washington is yet to be decided with the republican incumbent ahead by only approximately 13,000 votes.