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10:15 a.m. November 21, 2000: Florida Judge Refuses to Set ‘Objective Standard’ for Ballot Recounts, Refuses to Authorize Garbage-Can Search for Missing Chads

2000-11-21 10:15 a.m.

Florida Circuit Judge David Tobin refuses Republican requests to set what they call “an objective” standard for election ballot review in the recounts going on in several Florida counties. “I’m not going to manage the minutiae of each ballot being counted,” Tobin says. He also denies a Republican request to authorize a garbage-can search for missing chads (the tiny pieces of paper removed from punch-card ballots when a voter punches through the card with a stylus to indicate a vote). [US News and World Report, 12/13/2000]