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Re: Florida records retention schedule question



On Tue, 5 Dec 2000, Christine Crawford-Oppenheimer wrote:

> I was talking to a new neighbor over the weekend, and a question came
> up which I am sure will be of interest to many people, and I suspect
> there is someone on the list who can answer it. Does Florida have a
> records retention schedule that applies to the ballots from this
> election, and if so, what is the retention period for ballots?  A
> columnist in _Time_ magazine raised the scenario that two years into
> the G. W. Bush administration (as it appears it is going to be)
> someone might manage to make a full recount of the Florida ballots and
> discover that Al Gore actually carried Florida, and what then? So
> we're curious to know if this would even be a possibility.

Even if some hardy (or masochistic) group of souls were to gather all
Florida ballots and perform their own count, the result likely would
remain just an informal count.  As I understand the maze of court
cases, one of the issues before the various courts concerned the
validity of the cutoff dates established to end the counting.  I
believe the courts have upheld the deadlines, which have long passed,
so, barring a stunning (and highly unlikely) reversal, it would appear
they can count until Doomsday and it won't make a difference.  Given
the closeness of the official vote, whether Bush or Gore came out
ahead by a few votes isn't going to affect the public perception very
much, especially two years down the road.

Just sign me, "member of the loyal opposition under the reign of
George II."

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James Stimpert                       E-mail:    James.Stimpert@jhu.edu
Archives (Arts and Sciences)
MSE Library
Johns Hopkins University             Voice:     (410) 516-8323
3400 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD  21218                 Fax:       (410) 516-7202

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