The postelection events day by day
2 a.m. Chaos. A sample recount turns up 19 more votes
for Gore. The Palm Beach County Canvassing Board votes
2 to 1 for a full recount of all 460,000 ballots. A manual recount of all ballots, says County Commissioner Carol Roberts,
“clearly would affect the results
of the national election.”
10:06 a.m. Volusia County
officials begin a manual recount
of all 184,018 ballots. County
lawyers move quickly to fight a
5 p.m. Tuesday deadline.
9 a.m. Florida Secretary of
State Katherine Harris orders all
counties to finish their recounts
by the 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline.
10 a.m. Volusia County sues
to extend certification deadline.
Lawyers for Palm Beach County, Gore campaign join suit.
Bush lawyers join Florida to
block extension.
1 p.m. U.S. District Judge
Donald Middlebrooks in Miami
rejects Bush’s attempt to stop
manual recounts in Florida.
2-3 p.m. Harris issues legal
opinion on Palm Beach recount
conflicting with one Tuesday by
Attorney General Butterworth.
4 p.m. Gore appears on television, says it’s important to
“spend the days necessary” to
determine the winner.
7-8 p.m. A hand recount
of 4,000 ballots in Broward
County finds no big problems.
County rejects full recount. Dem
ocrats vow to appeal.
8:15 a.m. Palm Beach County votes 2 to 1 to suspend its
hand recount of all ballots after
conflicting legal opinions.
11 a.m. James Baker proposes that Democrats drop their
lawsuits and accept the state
tally as of 5 p.m., including any
hand counts in by then, and
await the overseas absentee
ballots. Warren Christopher declines: “That’s like offering you
the sleeves from your vest.”
11:30 a.m. Miami election
officials decide to hand count a sample of precincts, later deciding against a full recount.
1 p.m. In Tallahassee, Judge
Terry Lewis says the 5 p.m.
deadline for certifying vote totals should stand but says counties can file supplemental or corrected totals later. Harris can
ignore these, Lewis orders, only
if she uses “proper exercise of
discretion.” Officials in Volusia
Countyjoined later by Broward
and Palm Beach counties
move to appeal Lewis’s ruling.
3:30 p.m. Broward Circuit
Judge John Miller allows the
county to go ahead with a manual recount of all ballots cast
throughout the county.
4:30 p.m. Palm Beach decides to submit its machine-counted results to the state and
to proceed with a manual recount of all ballots Wednesday.
5 p.m. The deadline arrives
for counties to certify and report
their election returns to the secretary of state’s office.
7:37 p.m. Harris issues vote
totals as of 5 p.m. Bush holds
a 300-vote margin, which is
considerably less than the
1,784-vote margin he had
immediately after the election.
Harris says she will comply
with Judge Lewis’s order to
consider late returns. She
gives two heavily Democratic
counties until 2 p.m. Wednesday to explain, in writing,
why they want to add hand
recounts after the 5 p.m.
deadline.
8 a.m. Harris asks the Florida
Supreme Court to make counties stop hand-counting ballots
“pending resolution as to
whether any basis exists to
modify the certified results”
after Tuesday’s deadline. She
seeks consolidation of all election lawsuits in Tallahassee.
10-11 a.m. The Florida
Supreme Court accepts a request from Palm Beach County
to rule on whether it can continue to hand count ballots despite
conflicting legal opinions.
11:30 a.m. Palm Beach Circuit Judge Jorge Labarga rules
that county election officials
can’t discard ballots with “dimpled chads,” ballots indented
but not perforated. Democrats
had challenged policy of discarding such ballots.
2 p.m. Harris receives letters
from the three counties still
hand-counting ballots, explaining
reasons for delay. In Atlanta, the
11th Circuit Court of Appeals
agrees to hear Bush appeal of a
suit to halt manual recounts.
3:40 p.m. Broward County
officials begin counting nearly
600,000 ballots by hand.
5 p.m. The Florida Supreme
Court denies Harris’s petition to
stop hand counts and orders further testimony from Palm Beach
lawyers Thursday morning.
6:36 p.m. Gore proposes
completion of hand counts in
Dade, Broward, and Palm
Beach counties and asks that
those results and the overseas
absentees be added to the election tally. If that is done, he
vows, he will not challenge the
results in court. He also suggests a manual recount of all
67 Florida counties and proposes that he and Bush meet.
9:14 p.m. Harris says she
has reviewed letters from the
hand-counting counties and
found their reasons for delay insufficient. She will not include
their manual tallies in her final
election results.
10:25 p.m. Bush rejects
Gore’s offer. “The outcome of
this election,” he says, “will not
be the result of deals or efforts
to mold public opinion.”
Early morning. Bush lawyers
file papers with the federal
appeals court in Atlanta, arguing that hand recounts are
unconstitutional.
12:45 p.m. Gore lawyers ask
Judge Lewis to require Harris to
include ballots being hand-counted after the Tuesday
deadline. Harris acted arbitrarily, the lawyers argue, when she
refused to include them. Gore
lawyer Dexter Douglass: “She
says, ‘You can only have a
hand count in case of mechanical failure or hurricane.’ And the
attorney general said that’s a
bunch of bunk.”
3 p.m. The Florida Supreme
Court rules unanimously: Counties still conducting manual recounts of ballots may continue.
The one-paragraph order does
not say if those votes can be
added to Florida’s final tally.
Palm Beach County resumes
hand counting ballots. Broward
elections officials follow suit.
8 a.m. Amid disputes, hand
counting resumes in Palm
Beach and Broward counties.
9:30 a.m. In the case of the
fateful Palm Beach “butterfly”
ballot, Judge Labarga agonizes
over whether if he determines it
is illegal, he could actually call
for a revote. He says he’ll rule
Monday.
10:04 a.m. Leon County
Judge Lewis rules that Florida
law gives Harris “broad discretionary authority to accept or
reject late-filed returns.” Harris
then issues a statement hinting
she is poised to certify the election when the absentee ballots
are in by noon Saturday.
11:04 a.m. Baker issues a
terse statement, saying he
has spoken to Bush and
running mate Dick Cheney:
“They are understandably
pleased. The rule of law has
prevailed.”
12:45 p.m. Gore lawyers
Christopher and David Boies
caution against premature “partying” and say they’re taking
Lewis’s ruling to the Florida
Supreme Court.
2 p.m. Absentee ballots trickle in, adding to Bush’s total.
5 p.m. In a major blow to
Bush, the high court halts Harris
from certifying the vote and says
pointedly “it is NOT the intent of
this order to stop the counting.”
6:08 p.m. The federal appeals court in Atlanta denies for
now Bush’s plea that manual
recounts are unconstitutional.
Before 10 a.m. A court ruling kicks off the week. Republicans wanted to halt Miami-Dade's recount. They argue that sorting by machine to find questionable ballots would damage them (presumably in Al Gore's favor). A judge disagrees. Sorting begins.
10:30 a.m. Joe Lieberman tells Face the Nation that every last dimple should be counted or millions will say, "We were robbed."
12:36 p.m. All absentee ballots are in, say George Bush's attorneys, who ask Florida's Supreme Court to instruct the state to just name a winner.
8 a.m. Miami-Dade County begins its (short-lived) manual recount. Broward and Palm Beach counties continue theirs.
10:46 a.m. Palm Beach Circuit Court Judge Jorge Labarga rejects a Democratic petition asking for a county re-vote because its "butterfly" ballot was baffling. Labarga says he "lacks authority" under the U.S. Constitution to call a new election.
2 p.m. Bush and Gore lawyers head to the Florida Supreme Court. At issue: Should election results have been certified on November 14?
3:30 p.m. Democratic state attorney general, Robert Butterworth, says that overseas ballots, running roughly 2 to 1 for Bush, should count even if they bear no postmark.
5 p.m. The Florida farrago is too much for Jane Carroll, Broward County's sole Republican election supervisor. "It's like having Election Day for 10 days in a row," she says. "I need to get out of here." She resigns.
8 a.m. Another day of counting in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and Broward (where Circuit Court Judge Robert Rosenberg replaces Jane Carroll on the canvassing board).
10:15 a.m. "I'm not going to manage the minutiae of each ballot being counted," decides Florida Circuit Judge David Tobin. He refuses Republican requests to set "an objective" standard for ballot review and to authorize a garbage-can search for missing chads.
2:05 p.m. The war over absentee ballots rages on. The Republicans deputize WW II veteran Bob Dole to demand inclusion. The Democrats' military man is Sen. Bob Kerrey, a Vietnam vet. He flies to Florida to preach the Gore gospel, though he concedes, "[Gore] understands that he may be the loser in Florida."
Afternoon Bush attorneys file a legal brief with Florida's Supreme Court, arguing that the justices are "without power" to figure out which ballots should or should not be tallied.
9:45 p.m. The manual recount must count. That's the word from the Florida Supreme Court. The justices give the three counties until 5 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 26, to send in the amended results. The ruling catches Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris by surprise (her staff gets the 42-page decision off the Internet) and blocks her from certifying the election for Bush.
11:02 p.m. Gore welcomes Florida Supreme Court ruling, saying that he and Bush should both "focus on the transition," in case a winner is declared.
3:30 a.m. Chest pains awaken Dick Cheney, who heads to the hospital. Heart attack? Doctors say no, then revise their diagnosis to a "very slight" one.
9 a.m. Sunday counting deadline looms. Miami-Dade election officials vote to recount only 10,750 "undervotes"–ballots missing a presidential choice.
11:30 a.m. Bush goes to court to force inclusion of hundreds of overseas ballots that lacked proper postmark or signature.
1 p.m. Gore loses a 157-vote gain when Miami-Dade opts to quit counting.
2:45 p.m. Bush OKs appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, charging Florida judges didn't have the right to order Harris to consider hand-counted votes.
4:33 p.m. Palm Beach opts to examine "dimpled" ballots.
6 p.m. Florida State Appeals Court denies Dem bid to force Miami to start counting again.
9 a.m. Broward County election officials forgo or delay their holiday dinners to count ballots. Upset by reports of allegedly lax standards in deeming a dimple a vote, Broward GOP chairman Ed Pozzuoli says: "Someone is trying to steal my Thanksgiving turkey."
10:15 a.m. "Voters had their votes inexplicably erased," say Gore lawyers, who file emergency petition with the Florida Supreme Court to reverse Miami-Dade's decision to halt the recount.
Morning. Lieberman speaks to a hospitalized Cheney, wishing him a speedy recovery.
Mealtime. The Bushes dine at the home of unidentified friends. Laura Bush brings green salad with apples and walnuts, gravy, and a roasted turkey breast. Tipper Gore cooks dinner, served at the vice presidential residence. Broward County's stalwart vote counters settle for carryout pizza.
2:45 p.m. A setback for Gore. The seven judges on Florida's Supreme Court, scattered for the holiday, confer via fax and conference call and unanimously agree: Miami-Dade need not resume the recount.
Evening. The tug of war over the hand count goes on. Team Gore asks the U.S. Supreme Court to deny an earlier request from Team Bush to bar hand-counted presidential election ballots. Gore lawyers call Bush's request a "bald attempt to federalize a state court dispute."
8 a.m. Broward County, where Gore has picked up 245 votes so far, begins recording dimpled chads, following Palm Beach's lead.
Throughout the day Congressional Democrats are miffed by "Sore Loserman" signs brandished by Republican demonstrators outside canvassing boards. One Gore ally needs guards to exit the Broward County courthouse. Charging that the protests disrupt the recount effort, the Dems send a letter to the U.S. Justice Department asking for an investigation.
10: 50 a.m. Cheney comes home; promises doctors not to work all weekend.
3:10 p.m. The U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear an appeal from Bush on contested hand recount. Arguments are set for December 1 at 10 a.m.
5:10 p.m. Republican leaders of the Florida Legislature join the Bush legal team's hand-recount lawsuit.
3:20 p.m. CNN says it will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to let TV cameras in for the Bush appeal since Americans are "eager to follow" the issue.
Afternoon. In warm, sunny Crawford, Texas, Bush relaxes at his ranch. In cold, rainy Washington, Bush backers demonstrate on the street across from Gore's residence. Summoned by E-mail, they outnumber pro-Gore group. Gore goes out for ice cream.
7 p.m. Bushites drop plans to call for a statewide review of questionable military ballots. Instead they sue for a re-evaluation in four Florida counties.
11:52 p.m. Broward finishes its count. Gore's net gain: 567 votes. Bush's statewide lead slips to 465.
4 a.m. Palm Beach's count-a-thon halts as Republican lawyers dispute the order in which precincts are evaluated. Dems dispute the GOP disputation. At 5 a.m., counting resumes.
9 a.m. Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota says he "truly" believes Gore won Florida. "I've talked with most of my colleagues . . .," says the Senate's leading Democrat on NBC's Meet the Press, "and there isn't any interest in conceding anything at this point."
Midmorning. Bush and Gore each go to church. Bush waves to reporters, says nothing. Gore sound bite: "Good morning."
11:30 a.m. "If George Bush is certified the winner at 5 or 6 o'clock tonight, I think the great majority of the American people will say, 'Enough is enough,' " predicts Bob Dole on ABC's This Week.
2:45 p.m. Palm Beach needs more time to count fewer than 2,000 questionable ballots; faxes request to Secretary of State Harris's office for extension to 9 a.m. Monday, instead of 5 p.m. Sunday. Harris says no.
7:30 p.m. Two and a half hours past the deadline, Harris officially certifies the count; the tally shows Bush ahead by 537 votes: 2,912,790 to 2,912,253.
12:15 p.m. Like so much about the election, the week begins with the unprecedented: The Gore campaign files the first formal contest in the history of a presidential election, seeking to reverse the certified outcome of the Florida vote for George W. Bush. Gore attorneys challenge vote totals in three counties and ask a state judge in Tallahassee to order a hand count of some 13,000 ballots in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties that showed no votes for president during prior machine recounts. Simultaneously, the Gore legal team files an emergency motion to accelerate the contest proceedings.
12:52 p.m. In a show of Democratic support, Sen. Tom Daschle and Rep. Dick Gephardt hold a televised conference call with Gore and Joe Lieberman.
4:02 p.m. After the General Services Administration rebuffs Bush's attempt to take hold of the official presidential transition offices, Dick Cheney holds a press conference to announce that he and Bush will establish a privately funded office for transition planning.
8:55 p.m. Five minutes before the start of Monday Night Football, amid the flash of photographers' strobes, Gore delivers a nationally televised address defending his decision to contest the election. "Our Constitution matters more than convenience," he declares. All he is seeking, Gore says, is "a complete count of all the votes cast in Florida," noting that "many thousands of votes . . . have not yet been counted at all, not once."
11:27 a.m. The Groundhog Day election battle continues: Bush's lawyers file a motion objecting to Gore's request for an expedited trial.
1 p.m. A Republican-dominated committee hears testimony on whether the Florida Legislature should call a special session to appoint its own slate of electors. The Republicans fear that Gore, with help from Florida courts, might block Bush from winning Florida's electoral votes.
2:04 p.m. Gore strides out of the vice-presidential mansion and asks Bush not to"run out the clock" on further recounts. "This is not a time," Gore says, "for . . . procedural roadblocks."
10 p.m. In a blow to Gore's quick-count strategy, Leon County Circuit Judge N. Sanders Sauls rejects Gore's request to begin a recount of 14,000 undervotes the next day. Sauls puts off a hearing on the proposed recounts until Saturday.
4:45 p.m. Judge Sauls hinders Gore's quest for a new tally by December 12; Sauls rules all 1.1 million Miami-Dade and Palm Beach ballots must reach Tallahassee before Saturday, not just the 14,000 undervotes.
4:46 p.m. Leon County Circuit Judge Nikki Ann Clark rejects a Republican request that she recuse herself from a suit brought by Orlando-area Democrat Harry Jacobs. He seeks to toss out all 15,000 absentee ballots in the Bush stronghold of Seminole County, claiming that county officials improperly allowed GOP operatives to add missing voter ID numbers on 2,100 Republican absentee ballot applications. Clark has set a December 6 trial date.
7:45 a.m. The spectacle continues. A banana-yellow Ryder rental truck, loaded with 462,000 ballots, commences its televised journey from West Palm Beach to Tallahassee. It's no white Ford Bronco, but . . . no matter.
9 a.m. The Gore camp asks the Florida Supreme Court for an immediate hand count of 14,000 disputed ballots. Delay, they say, will make it a "virtual impossibility" to resolve Gore's contest by the December 12 deadline.
11:45 a.m. A Republican-controlled Florida legislative panel votes to recommend convening a special session of the Florida Legislature to designate the state's 25 electors. The vote comes a day after Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's comment that it would be an "act of courage" to call a special session.
1:10 p.m. Joe Lieberman asks Jeb Bush and Florida lawmakers to reconsider their desire to appoint a substitute set of electors. "It threatens to put us into a constitutional crisis," Lieberman warns.
1:30 p.m. After three days without public comment, George W. Bush takes questions with Colin Powell and Dick Cheney outside his Crawford, Texas, ranch. Bush scoffs at the suggestion that he seems out of touch and says, "One of our strategies is to get this election ratified, and the sooner the better for the good of the country."
6 a.m. The ballot brigade resumes, with two rental vans containing 654,000 Miami-Dade punch card ballots setting off from Miami for a Tallahassee courthouse.
8:32 a.m. Inflaming the absentee ballot controversy, Democratic voters file suit to throw out 9,773 votes in Martin County, two thirds of which went to Bush. GOP officials there, like their counterparts in Seminole County, were allowed to add voter ID numbers to some Republican applications for absentee ballots. Judge Terry Lewis sets a trial for December 6, the same date as the Seminole County case.
10 a.m. As throngs of protesters gather outside, the U.S. Supreme Court convenes to hear Bush's historic challenge to the court-ordered hand recounts in Florida. The justices' questions suggest they are divided about the legality of the Florida Supreme Court's intervention. A few justices hint the case should be resolved in state court. "We're looking for a federal issue," says Justice Anthony Kennedy. Asks Justice Stephen Breyer: "What's the consequence of our going one way or the other now in this case?"
Around 1:45 p.m. Republican John McKay, president of the Florida Senate, hedges on calling a special session to pick the state's electors. He opts to mull the matter over the weekend.
4:40 p.m. In another setback for Gore, the Florida Supreme Court dismisses a petition to immediately start recounting more than 12,000 undervotes from Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties. Less than an hour later, Gore receives another hit when the state Supreme Court rules that Palm Beach County's "butterfly" ballot was legal.
Around 5:45 p.m. A federal appeals court says it will hear a case brought by Florida voters and the Bush campaign challenging the constitutionality of selected hand recounts. It schedules a hearing for December 5.
11:42 a.m. The week begins inauspiciously for Al Gore: In a unanimous order, the U.S. Supreme Court sets aside the vice president's critical win in the Florida Supreme Court. The state court ruling had extended the deadline for verifying the Florida vote, enabling Gore to narrow Bush's lead by adding hand-recounted ballots to his tally. In an unsigned opinion, the justices in Washington remand the case to their Florida brethren, admonishing them that there is "considerable uncertainty" as to the precise grounds for their ruling.
4:15 p.m. George W. Bush says he is pleased that "the Supreme Court is going to make sure that the outcome of this election is fair." Bush declines to second Dick Cheney's call for Gore to concede.
4:43 p.m. Gore suffers a double judicial whammy. Leon County Circuit Court Judge N. Sanders Sauls rejects all of Gore's arguments in contesting the election results and his request for a count of more than 12,000 ballots in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties that registered no vote for president in machine recounts. Sauls declares from the bench that there is "no credible statistical evidence and no other competent substantial evidence" to establish a reasonable probability that Gore might win if granted a hand recount of the undervotes.
5:42 p.m. Gore's lead attorney, David Boies, announces he has appealed Sauls's ruling to the Florida Supreme Court. "What has happened today," Boies tells reporters, "is that we have moved one step closer to having this finally resolved." But in a momentary loss of spin control, Boies concedes, "They won, we lost."
12:32 p.m. If this is Tuesday, it must be . . . a Tallahassee courthouse. Spokesman Craig Waters announces that the Florida Supreme Court will hear Gore's appeal of Judge Sauls's ruling on Thursday.
2:52 p.m. As workers erect risers on nearby Pennsylvania Avenue for the inaugural, Gore declares from the White House driveway that he doesn't "feel anything other than optimistic" about his chances to win it all. Gore, who has declined to join lawsuits in Seminole and Martin counties, adds that it "doesn't seem fair to me" that GOP but not Democratic operatives in those counties were allowed to add and correct voter ID numbers on absentee ballot applications.
Around 7:30 p.m. Leon County Circuit Court Judge Nikki Clark denies a motion by the Bush camp to dismiss the Seminole County lawsuit. A Democratic activist there seeks to throw out 15,000 absentee ballots, most of them Bush votes, after a GOP aide filled in voter ID numbers on about 2,000 ballot applications.
7:00 a.m. Leon County Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis convenes a hearing in the Martin County lawsuit–in the courtroom next door to the Seminole County trial. Demo-crats in Martin County seek to invalidate 9,773 absentee ballots; as one trial recesses and the other begins, Bush lawyers shuttle back and forth between the two hearings. If the 25,000 absentee ballots in the two counties are thrown out, Bush loses more than 7,000 net votes–and the election.
11:00 a.m. After meeting with foreign-policy adviser Condoleezza Rice, George W. Bush says he has "pretty well made up my mind" on whom to name to his White House staff. His transition team's slogan: "Bringing America Together."
2:22 p.m. MSNBC reports a federal appeals court in Atlanta has turned down Bush attorneys' request to throw out manual recounts in three Florida counties, saying they failed to show the selective recounts harmed Bush.
5:16 p.m. Florida Senate President John McKay and House Speaker Tom Feeney announce a special session of the Florida Legislature. It will convene Friday, they say, to consider designating its own slate of electors should the results of the Florida vote remain tied up in the courts. The last time a legislature chose electors was 1876. House Dem-ocratic Minority Leader Lois Frankel fumes that "it is just plain wrong for the Florida Legislature to elect the next president of the United States."
10 a.m. In the vice president's mansion, Al Gore and Joe Lieberman watch the Florida Supreme Court hearing on their appeal of Judge Sauls's ruling. In Austin, Texas, George W. Bush meets with lawmakers, and James Baker fills him in on the hearing afterward. Bush lawyer Barry Richard argues that there is no "evidence to show that any voter was denied the right to vote." He calls Gore's contest "a garden-variety appeal." Gore lawyer David Boies contends that while time is running out, "the ballots can be counted" before the December 12 deadline for naming electors.
12:26 p.m. Circuit Judge Terry Lewis says he will consult with fellow Leon County Judge Nikki Clark–and then rule by noon Friday in the Martin County absentee ballot case.
1 p.m. A federal court rules that Dick Cheney is a Wyoming resident–not a Texan–clearing the way for him to serve as Bush's vice president. The 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution bars electors from voting for two residents of their own state; Cheney owned a Dallas home from 1993 until last month.
7 p.m. The Gores and Liebermans double-date at a movie. The title: You Can Count on Me.
10:45 a.m. Bush says this may be the day "we'll finally see finality." But if the Florida Supreme Court rules against him, he will "take our case back to the [U.S.] Supreme Court."
Noon. The GOP-controlled Florida House and Senate convene a special session to ready their own slate of electors.
2:22 p.m. Judges Lewis and Clark reject the efforts of Democratic voters to throw out 25,000 absentee ballots in Seminole and Martin counties. News commentators begin discussing a Gore concession.
4:01 p.m. The Florida Supreme Court stuns observers, reversing Judge Sauls in a 4-3 decision. The justices go well beyond ordering recounts of 12,300 undervotes in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties sought by Gore, directing instead that a manual recount of undervotes begin immediately in all counties where a hand count has not already occurred. The court also directs the lower court to add to Gore's tally 168 votes in Miami-Dade and 215 in Palm Beach from earlier hand counts excluded from the certified count. The added votes narrow Bush's statewide lead from 537 votes to just 154. Perhaps 45,000 undervotes statewide will have to be counted.
6:19 p.m. Bush adviser James Baker laments the Florida ruling, warning it could "disenfranchise Florida's votes in the Electoral College."
9:18 p.m. Bush's attorneys ask the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency stay of the Florida decision.
11:35 p.m. Judge Lewis directs that Florida counties complete their manual recounts by Sunday at 2 p.m. The Election 2000 roller coaster roars on.
11:00 a.m. After stopping the Florida
recount two days earlier, the U.S. Supreme
Court convenes to hear oral arguments on
whether the Florida Supreme Court overstepped its bounds in ordering a statewide recount of undervotes.
12:46 p.m. Audiotapes of the historic
Supreme Court argument air nationally.
The long wait for the decisive decision begins.
3:39 p.m. A committee of the Florida
House votes 5 to 2 to approve a resolution
to name presidential electors for George
W. Bush. A half-hour later, a Florida Senate committee approves a similar resolution by a 4-to-3 vote.
3:34 p.m. The Associated Press reports that the Florida House has voted to approve 25 electors for George Bush.
Just two Democrats join the 79-to-41 vote.
4:31 p.m. As expected, the Florida
Supreme Court upholds lower court rulings in the absentee-ballot application cases
in Seminole and Martin counties. Meanwhile, there is no word from the U.S. Supreme Court. For hours, the all-news
cable news networks have run scrolls on
the bottom of the television screen declaring that a ruling is expected any minute.
9:54 p.m. The U.S. Supreme Court, in
a 5-to-4 ruling split along ideological lines,
steps in to end the election and Al Gore's
quest for a final recount. It reverses the
Florida Supreme Court decision ordering
a statewide recount of undervotes, stating, in the per curiam section of its opinion, that differing vote-counting standards
from county to county and the lack of a
single judicial officer to oversee the recount violated the equal-protection clause
of the Constitution. The majority opinion
effectively precludes Gore from attempting to seek any other recounts on the grounds that a recount could not be completed by December 12, in time to certify a conclusive slate of electors. Several
justices issue bitter dissents. "One thing
... is certain," Justice John Paul Stevens
argues. "Although we may never know with
complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year's presidential election, the
identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is
the nation's confidence in the judge as an
impartial guardian of the rule of law." Justice Stephen G. Breyer adds that "in this highly politicized matter, the appearance
of a split decision runs the risk of undermining the public's confidence in the court itself."
10:10 a.m. It's D-Day for Al Gore. Gore
directs his Florida recount committee to
suspend its activities. Gore campaign chair
William Daley says Gore will give a nationally televised address in the evening.
Around 1:45 p.m. Based on Al Gore's
anticipated concession speech, the Florida Senate votes to recess and scrap its plan
to name electors for George Bush.
8:56 p.m. Al Gore calls Bush to concede the presidential race.
9:00 p.m. In a nationally televised address, as Gore's family and Joe and Hadassah Lieberman stand solemnly nearby, Al
Gore concedes he has lost his bid for the
presidency. He asks his supporters to support George Bush, declaring, "This is America, and we put country before party."
As to what he'll do next, Gore says, "I don't
know the answer to that one yet."
10:03 p.m. Following an introduction
from the Democratic speaker of the Texas
House of Representatives, President-elect
Bush tells the Democratic-controlled
chamber that "our nation must rise above
a house divided." Bush thanks Gore for his
gracious phone call earlier that evening
and says he is eager to move forward on
Social Security, Medicare, and tax relief.
In his sober victory speech, Bush repeatedly reaches across party lines, declaring that "the president of the United States
is the president of every single American,
of every race and every background." Thirty-six tumultuous days after the voters went to the polls, the presidential election
is over at last.
Compiled by David Whitman and Gary Cohen with Sheila Thalhimer and Mark Madden
