Wes Vernon
Friday, March 23, 2001

Conducted by the accounting firm of Johnson, Lambert and Co., the survey found, after analyzing 42,724 of the 62,605 ballots reported as "undervotes" in Florida, that a statewide recount of the Florida undervotes "would not have changed the outcome of the presidential election."

"Undervotes" are those ballots where there is little if any discernible marking for any presidential candidate.

The conclusions were publicized Thursday by the anti-corruption watchdog group Judicial Watch, which commissioned the survey.

The Johnson Lambert recount included 25,203 undervotes in the six nonmanual-recount counties of Collier, Hillsborough, Indian River, Miami-Dade, Pinellas and Sarasota.

The results of the firm's inspection "reveal the possible adjustments to the certified state totals had a manual recount been included in these counties."

Using the strict standard (no dimples, only clear punches, hanging or swinging chad), the survey shows Bush with a net gain of 116 votes. Using a more "moderate" standard that includes dimples, the president gains 107 votes. If a "more liberal standard" (using all dimples without conflicting presidential marks) is used to measure the outcome, Bush gains 116 votes.

When asked at a news conference why these findings were at variance with a survey by the Palm Beach Post, which gave a net gain to Democrat Al Gore, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton replied that the Palm Beach Post had counted "overvotes," where there were markings for more than one candidate. Other media outlets that have counted the Florida ballots have concluded there is no legitimate way to determine what was on the minds of people who marked their ballots for more than one candidate.

In addition, Johnson Lambert inspected ballots in Broward and Palm Beach counties and noted some discrepancies and errors in the methods used for the official recounts in those areas as well as in the other six counties.

For example, although the Palm Beach manual recount resulted in a net increase of 176 votes for Gore, "we did observe errors in the way some ballots were either adjudicated [or] recorded for the candidates during this manual recount."

Johnson Lambert added, "If our observations represent errors, Gore's 176-vote margin increase [in Palm Beach] would be reduced by 62 votes."

It also turns out that there is a 253-vote gap between the number of ballots included in the certified election results and the number of ballots found and inspected by the firm's auditors in the six previously cited counties without manual recounts. The higher figure was included in the certified results. The Johnson Lambert auditing firm cannot, with certainty, account for this disparity. The report says:

"The difference of 253 ballots is presumed to be the ballots the vote-counting machines or elections officials recognized as valid votes during the process of separating the ballots for this review. These have not been recorded anywhere. Whatever the cause, there is no way to know, at this time, how these 253 ballots would have been counted in any recount."

Broward County appears to have won the prize for inconsistency, as far as Johnson Lambert is concerned.

"Broward County began their recount using a strict standard for determining votes, which primarily required clear punches or chad hanging by one or two corners in order for a vote to be counted. About midway through the process, the standard was changed to a liberal standard, which allowed dimples and pregnant chads to be considered primary evidence in the voter intent. This change in standard resulted in additional votes for Mr. Bush or Mr. Gore of 446 and 884, respectively."

Thus, we have a prime example of changes that gave the appearance (whatever the intent) of skewing the results to help Gore steal the election, just as Bush supporters claimed all through last fall's 36-day "extended campaign."

At the news conference Thursday, I asked Fitton if Johnson Lambert's examination of 68 percent of the ballots reported as undervotes in the eight counties where the survey was focused represented the final word of its examination of the matter.

While he did not slam the door on the possibility of sending Johnson Lambert to take a look at the other 20,000 ballots, Fitton pointed to the accounting firm's comment that, based on the results of this inspection, "the results of the Florida election would not have changed with a manual recount of these counties."

And then the next sentence would seem to drive a stake right through the heart of Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe's loud insistence that Bush "stole the election." That sentence from these auditors who spent months in painstaking and tedious examination of the Florida results reads as follows:

"Further, based upon the scope of our inspection and the analysis of the results thereof, it is our view that the results of the Florida election would not have changed with a manual recount of all the counties in the state."

Don't expect Clinton acolyte McAuliffe to refrain from putting the famous Clintonian spin on this. It's just that this time the Clinton machine now lacks the taxpayer-provided resources of government at its disposal to smear and ruin anyone who points to facts not in accord with its approved line.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Presidential Race 2000
George W. Bush
Al Gore

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