We don't normally cover national news. But in this case, if we don't report this story, it's unlikely that you'll read or hear about it in any other Keys media.
Ever since the presidential election, frustrated Democrats have been whining, "If they had only allowed all those disputed votes in Miami-Dade County to be counted, Al Gore would be our new president!"
The Gore people have repeatedly speculated that he would have picked up as many as 600 votes in Miami-Dade, enough for the win.
"And, someday, somebody will go in and count those votes and we'll see who really won!" the Democrats threatened.
Well, as they say, be careful what you wish for; you might just get it. Last week, the Palm Beach Post counted the 10,600 previously "uncounted" ballots in Miami-Dade County. Those were the infamous "undervotes" — ballots that the counting machines registered no vote for president.
The result of the Palm Beach count? George W. Bush would have gained six votes more than Gore if all the dimples and hanging chads on all those thousands of ballots had been included in the statewide totals!
You may recall that the Miami-Dade canvassing board— controlled by Democrats— abandoned its manual recount on Nov. 22 after counting 140 of the county's 616 precincts. And the Gore forces howled to high heaven, claiming that action cost Gore the presidency.
But the Post's count shows that Gore would have actually lost ground. Counting everything—from the faintest dimple to chads barely hanging on ballots—251 additional votes would have gone to Bush and 245 more votes would have gone to Gore. Ouch! The truth hurts, don't it!
But the counting by the media is still not over. Later this month, a consortium that includes the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, as well as the Palm Beach Post plans to begin looking at the undervotes in all of Florida's 67 counties.
The Miami Herald and USA Today are also conducting a similar review, using accountants.