The return of fuzzy math

By DAVID USBORNE Herald correspondent

FORT LAUDERDALE - Al Gore must prevail not only in the courts. His hopes of undoing George W. Bush's certified lead in Florida ultimately hinge on mathematics.

His lawyers assert that there are enough uncounted votes out there to win him the state. But are there?

Some of the totals are a matter of record, such as the new votes turned up for Gore in the Palm Beach manual count that was rejected by Secretary of State Katherine Harris.

Others, however, have been conjured up by Democrats through a process of surmise and wishful thinking.

Lying within the contest suit that the Gore camp filed in a Tallahassee court on Tuesday is the assumption that three counties, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Nassau, mishandled their recounts, and that if the ballots from those three were tabulated correctly, under supervision of the court, a further 1826 votes for Gore would show up.

Armed with those numbers, of course, the Vice-President would more than erase the lead that was declared for Bush of just 537 votes.

But how, exactly, do the Gore people come up with so high a number?

They begin with two figures that are more or less solid. When Palm Beach ended its manual recount, two hours beyond the deadline, it had found a net gain of 215 for Gore.

Then add the 160 Gore votes recorded by Miami-Dade before it abandoned its manual recount.

Gore also believes 51 votes should have been his out of Nassau County. They accrued to him following a machine recount shortly after election day which county officials actually certified.

But the officials reversed themselves later because the recount somehow lost 218 voters.

With those new numbers, at least, Gore would see his total jump by 426 votes. And this is where, to cite the old campaign mantra, things get fuzzy.

Gore wants the courts to reinstate some 4000 ballots in Palm Beach that bear dimples rather than punch holes.

His lawyers say that if Palm Beach had treated dimples in the way Broward Country did, Gore would have a further 800-odd votes.

Democrat lawyers also believe that an examination of the 9000 votes outstanding when Miami-Dade abandoned its handcount would yield 600 more Gore votes.

And, voila, we come to 1826. Are they dreaming? Only if the courts authorise additional counts will we ever know.

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