10:30 a.m. November 19, 2000: Lieberman: Count All Florida Votes or Risk Accusations of Election Theft

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Lieberman (D-CT) says on CBS’s Face the Nation that every last vote should be counted in Florida, or millions of citizens will say, “We were robbed.” [US News and World Report, 12/13/2000] Lieberman later tells reporters, referring to the Bush campaign, “It seems to be that they’re doing everything they can to stop the recounting of votes because they’re slightly ahead and they fear that after the recounting they won’t be.” Senator Bob Graham (D-FL) later agrees with Lieberman, saying that if necessary, every single vote in Florida should be manually recounted. “What we’re trying to achieve here is an election that has credibility by the American people. That credibility would likely be enhanced if all Florida voters had their ballots hand counted,” he says. However, Bush campaign lawyers say such a move would unfairly “keep the state and the nation on hold.” [Guardian, 11/20/2000]