Election 2000: Jesse Jackson Addresses Protest Rally in Palm Beach County
LOU WATERS, CNN ANCHOR: We reported on the protest in West Palm Beach county by the folks who say they were confused by the ballots there, may have cast their ballot for the wrong man. And 19,120 of those ballots have been tossed out because of it. Jesse Jackson now is in the group, and he is speaking. We'll listen to what he has to say.</s>JESSE JACKSON: ... And it's fair that must apply to Florida as well as it does anywhere in the world.</s>WATERS: "The issue today not about black and white but by wrong and right." Jesse Jackson speaking for the voters Palm Beach county. You know about the confusing ballot, or what some say was the confusing ballot, on election day, making them believe they were voting for Al Gore when in fact they were voting for Buchanan, Pat Buchanan. Jesse Jackson saying even Buchanan rejects the votes he did not earn. Jesse Jackson, with the folks in Palm Beach county, citing the irregularities that many are charging, and asking that every vote must count because not every vote has been counted. And again, we are expecting within the next hour or 10-20 minutes or so an emergency hearing in federal court in West Palm about these voter ballots and the so-called irregularities and it is going to be a busy day -- Natalie.</s>NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, all the while, the recount continues. Everyone watching Tallahassee for that. CNN's Mike Boettcher joins us again to bring us the latest on the numbers and the count -- Mike.</s>MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Natalie, I want to clear something up here. There are two separate counts of votes going on here that people are using. And in the audience, you might be a little confused by this. I know I am standing here, and I'm in the middle this. But there are two counts -- there is the official state count, when the counties recount those votes they send them here to Tallahassee. Their latest figures are, with 39 county reporting, is that there is a gap of 1,773 between Bush and Gore with Bush leading. But there is a second count being kept by the Associated Press, which on its own and other news organization is contacting local counties and is asking them what their results were on the county level. Now so far they have polled 45 counties and, of those -- with those 45 counties they are reporting a gap of 795 with Bush leading. So if you hear two different figures there is the state figure and then there is the higher figure. Frankly, the state has lagged behind the Associated Press accounting of the counties. We've been asking the state for more figures. We know they have more up there. And they say that they will be coming with those throughout the day. They want to make very sure that they don't make any more mistakes and -- because this is contentious and controversial enough as it is. And they say they want to make sure everything is right. So I just wanted to explain that's why you hear two different sets of figures. We will try to keep that very clear for you, Natalie.</s>ALLEN: As people can see -- you will see in a minute when we put the count back up there -- can we get that back up? People will be able to see that we've got AP down there in the corner, that means these are the numbered that we're getting from AP, who directly contacting the counties. So the AP is a little bit ahead of the -- as Mike said -- the state, which is releasing these from Tallahassee as they get them.