In the 2000 presidential election, both Bush and Gore knew that their triumph depended on Florida and its 29 electoral votes. But they were also aware that the results would be at odds.
However, no one imagined then that it would be by such a narrow margin: initially, both candidates obtained around 49% of the votes of the 6 million cast in the state, with a slight advantage of 1,784 ballots for Bush which was then reduced to 537.
The difference was less than 0.5%, which is why the Florida law required repeating counts in the counties where the margin had contracted.
Two days and an automatic recount later Bush was still in the lead, but not by much: his margin of victory had been reduced to only 327 votes, while reports of fraud and alleged irregularities in the ballots were growing.
The law of Florida states that if the difference is less than 0.25%, then the strenuous and prolonged manual counting should be opened. The numbers favored him and Gore soon requested it for four counties.
But the time began to pass, the tensions to grow and December arrived without a definition of who would be the new president of the United States.
It was then when the Secretary of State of Florida, Katherine Harris, close to the then governor Jeb Bush, brother of the Republican candidate, alleged that she found no reason to continue the counts.
She declared George W. Bush as the victor in Florida and, with that, the state votes needed for the presidency finally had a name.
Gore did not sit idly by: he appealed to the Florida Supreme Court to get an order for the recount.
But the next day, the US Supreme Court intervened, ordering the suspension of the recount and, therefore, Bush became the new tenant of the White House.
Since then, that election is a bad memory for Florida, which saw its reputation damaged nationally by doubts about the competence of local authorities.
