St Pete Times' Tom Tobin, pulls out his FL recount file to look at then-overlooked optical scan overvotes: "The recount will forever be remembered for punch card voting machines and the tiny paper "chads" they produced. We think of big South Florida counties, rich with Democratic votes, where Gore sent lawyers and operatives by the planeload.

"In hindsight, however, his best chance was in the 41 counties that had optical scan ballots, which required voters to fill in ovals or arrows. Of particular interest were 3,491 spoiled ballots, most of them optical scan, later examined by the media consortium. The voters who cast these ballots selected either Bush or Gore for president, but also wrote in their candidate's name or otherwise marked the ballot to emphasize their choice.

"Their intent could not have been clearer, yet they had turned their votes into "overvotes." The problem was that many of Florida's county election supervisors interpreted the law to say that overvotes should not be counted at all, even in a manual recount — a position that was certainly open to challenge in 2000. The law has since been changed to cut down on overvotes and consider them in recounts.

"In any case, 62 percent of the 3,491 overvotes in question were clear selections for Gore, and would have been enough to push him over the top."