Conventional wisdom today describes the “Brooks Brothers riot” as a violent intimidation of vote counters, helping bring to an end the attempt to complete a fair recount in Florida after the 2000 presidential election between Al Gore and George W. Bush. But that’s just a media myth that stuck.
Did the “Riot” Stop “the” Recount?
There were multiple recounts in Florida following the election. Failing to distinguish between them led to some of the resulting confusion in media accounts. By law, Florida conducted two machine recounts required by the closeness of the election. Bush led following both of those recounts, though his lead shrank by “more than 1,400 votes in the recount.” The third recount consisted of a set of separate recounts requested in a handful of Florida counties, Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and Volusia. Each county leaned Democrat.
On December 8, the Florida Supreme Court handed the Gore team a loss by ruling against the selective county approach, but also handed them a win by ordering what we will call the fourth recount, a statewide (more or less) recount of undervotes.
The Recount in Miami-Dade
The Miami-Dade manual recount comes from the set we call the third recount. Gore requested the recounts justified under Chapter 102.166 of the 2000 Florida statutes. That section describes procedures for a protest of election returns. The law permitted the Board to grant a recount request by doing a sample recount, after which the Board would decide whether those results justified additional action.
Miami-Dade decided against proceeding at first. The sample recount yielded only six votes for Gore, so the Board concluded its count wasn’t justified. They later reversed. The Chicago Tribune reported the Board chairman, David Leahy, estimated the count might be completed by December 1.
A New Deadline
On Nov. 21, 2000, a case involving the other three counties Gore had selected gave all four counties a definitive limit on their recount deadlines. The Court’s ruling in Palm Beach County Canvassing Board, v. Harris said the manual recounts could run through 5 p.m. on Nov. 26, 2000 unless the Division of Elections was closed that Sunday. Otherwise the recount results were due by 9 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 27, 2000.
Recall Leahy said Miami-Dade’s recount would take until Dec. 1.
On Nov. 22, 2000 the Board changed its procedures in an effort to speed things up and hopefully meet the court-ordered deadline. First, it would focus exclusively on undervotes. Undervotes were ballots where the machine counter registered no vote for president. Miami-Dade had about 11,000 of those.
Second, the Board moved the recount to a smaller room. The Board had a vote-counting machine specially programmed to separate undervotes from other votes, but that machine was on the the 19th floor, not the 18th where the board had originally done its counting. Accordingly, the Board agreed to move the limited manual recount to a smaller room on the 19th floor to allow faster access to the machine.
The Miami-Dade Canvassing Board vacated what it had done to that point on the full hand recount, planning to submit the results of its limited recount ahead of the deadline, if possible.
Republicans Object
Republicans objected to Miami-Dade’s strategy for speeding up the recount. Media accounts from that time did an adequate job of conveying the nature of one of the GOP concerns.
CNN, via Jane Stutton/Reuters:
Leahy said the votes that could not be machine read would be read by the three-member board which can get through about 300 ballots an hour.
"I think its do-able. I think we could accomplish it," Leahy said.
The decision was made over the objections of the Republican Party, which said the county should recount all or none of its ballots and which hinted a legal challenge could follow.
CNN correspondent Frank Buckley (from rush CNN transcript):
Once they went up there to the 19th floor, Republicans began a very loud and raucous protest on the 19th floor, saying they couldn't have proper access to observe. They were Saying, [sic] let us in, they were saying cheaters, they were saying the whole world is watching.
The GOP, then, objected to recounting only undervotes and moving the hand recount largely away from public observation.
What’s the Problem?
Why were Republicans so against what at least one Democrat called “reasonable, rational and appropriate” measures by the canvassing board?
Both measures ran afoul of Florida election law:
102.166(5)(c): Manually recount all ballots
102.166(6): Any manual recount shall be open to the public
The Miami-Dade Canvassing Board circumvented Florida election law. That led to the so-called “Brooks Brothers riot.” Media accounts nearly always omit that key fact. We plan a series exploring the various ways media outlets, especially our most trusted sources, misreported the event.
Obliterated Narratives
The facts recounted above destroy a number of popular narratives about the Brooks Brothers riot.
Pre-planned: Pre-planned for the only one of the four counties that tried to skirt the law?
Intended to shut down “the” recount: The illegal recount, yes. Otherwise, no.
Intimidated the Board into abandoning the full manual recount: The Board said it could not complete the full manual recount in the allotted time. The Board’s explanation fits the facts. Anything else is a conspiracy theory.
Instead of reporting the full truth about the Brooks Brother riot, legacy media wove a misleading narrative that depended on leaving out one of the biggest parts of the story.
Afters
Via C-SPAN, Republicans cheer the announcement that the recount will move from the 19th floor back to the 18th floor (0:49).
<iframe width=512 height=330 src='https://www.c-span.org/video/standalone/?c4920882/brooks-brothers-riot' allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' frameborder=0></iframe>
Also via C-SPAN, full version of previous video (6:39): Reporter says Republicans considering suing the Board for only counting undervotes instead of all the ballots:<iframe width=512 height=330 src='https://www.c-span.org/video/standalone/?160729-1/miami-afternoon-news' allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' frameborder=0></iframe>