MIAMI, Oct 31 (AFP) - The controversial 2000 presidential election took five weeks to produce a result, introduced the world to such oddities as butterfly ballots and pregnant chads and turned Florida into a national joke.
The following is a summary of what happened in the southeastern state that sent George W. Bush to the White House.
On Election Day of November 7, 2000, tens of thousands of Florida votes were rejected, because of defective voting machines, confusing ballots, incompetent poll workers or simply errors on the part of voters.
This was nothing new, but the balloting was so close it did matter this time, particularly as the outcome of the race hinged on Florida.
For the next 35 days, Republicans and Democrats would file suits and countersuits, force partial vote recounts and accuse each other of trying to steal the vote.
Eventually, the US Supreme Court put an end to the squabbling, voting 5-4 to end the recounts, effectively recognizing Bush's 537-vote lead which gave him Florida and the White House.
The "Florida debacle" was largely blamed on the now obsolete punch-card system used in large parts of the state, the country's fourth most populous.
Counting machines rejected thousands of ballots, often because of machine malfunction or because voters had failed to fully puncture the mark next to the candidate of their choice, only indenting and causing a "pregnant chad," or partially perforated it, leaving a "hanging chad."
Ballots in predominently black precincts were discarded at a rate three times higher than elsewhere in the state, according to a Miami Herald study. Some experts said voting machines sent to those precincts were older and more prone to malfunction.
Civic rights groups also claim a number of African-Americans -- who generally vote Democrat -- were wrongfully purged from voter rolls as convicted felons.
At the same time, ballots were cast by thousands of felons who can't vote in Florida unless they are granted clemency, according to a Palm Beach Post study.
In Palm Beach county, election authorities produced the now infamous "butterfly ballot" whose confusing alignment of candidates' names caused thousands of people to vote for two presidential candidates, or the wrong ones.
Hundreds of Jews in the area who intended to vote for Democrat Al Gore are convinced they mistakenly cast a ballot for far right-wing candidate Pat Buchanan, who has been accused of anti-semitism.
10/31/2004 02:33 GMT - AFP