By Dan Keating
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 27, 2001
KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- Florida voters who spoiled their ballots because they punched more than one presidential candidate's name were three times as likely to have included Vice President Gore as one of their choices as George W. Bush, a Washington Post analysis has found.
According to the Post's analysis, the biggest problem for Gore was in "overvotes," ballots invalidated because voters indicated multiple choices for president. Although the number of ballots thrown out for that reason was known shortly after the Nov. 7 election, The Post analysis for the first time shows the voting patterns contained in those ballots. Gore was by far most likely to be selected on invalid overvoted ballots, with his name punched as one of the choices on 46,000 of them. Bush, by comparison, was punched on 17,000.
The study found that the 8,000 voters whose ballots were thrown out because they chose Gore and one of the two other presidential candidates listed near him voted more than 10 to 1 Democratic in the U.S. Senate race.
Gore victories in Broward and Palm Beach counties made the overall totals for the counties examined favor Gore by 56 to 42 percent. The Post findings were consistent, however, no matter which candidate won the county. Even in the counties won by Bush, Gore was included on more of the overvote ballots than Bush, and more of the voters who spoiled their ballots in the presidential race voted Democratic in the U.S. Senate. The analysis showed this pattern in all eight counties.
Gore may have lost even more votes from those whose ballots were not counted because they reflected two votes for president. In the eight counties examined, people who overvoted for president but cast a valid vote in the U.S. Senate race favored the Democrat 70 to 24 percent.
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© 2001 The Washington Post Company
