[Is the final result in yet?] Associated Press Writer Wednesday, September 11, 2002; 2:49 AM

MIAMI –– Former Attorney General Janet Reno trailed political newcomer Bill McBride in the Democratic race for Florida governor early Wednesday after a day marred by elections system glitches that sent hundreds of people home from the polls without voting.

Thousands of votes were still being counted in three large Florida counties – Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach – where Reno hoped to catch up. But her campaign was already talking about possibly challenging the results.

"When that many people are turned away from the polls, it raises enough concerns that we're going to have to take a good, hard look at the legitimacy of the election," Reno campaign manager Mo Elleithee said.

"We need to wait-and-see what the numbers look like and what the full impact of today's voting irregularities are," he said.

With 90 percent of precincts reporting, McBride had 566,756 votes, or 46 percent, while Reno had 524,661 votes, or 42 percent. State Sen. Daryl Jones had 12 percent.

Citing election troubles in several counties, Secretary of State Jim Smith said results would likely not be fully tallied until 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. Wednesday.

The Democratic nominee will face Republican Gov. Jeb Bush this fall.

Florida's first big test of its new voting system since the 2000 presidential election debacle turned sour as soon as polls opened Tuesday. Ballots were chewed up in the new touchscreen voting system, some polling stations opened late and hundreds of would-be voters were turned away.

Voting machines were not properly shut down at seven precincts in Miami-Dade County, said Giselas Salas, assistant supervisor of elections. Police were called to pick up voting cartridges so county elections officials coult tally the uncounted votes.

Problems were reported in at least 14 counties, including six of the seven that were sued after the 2000 vote. In Union County, officials counted every ballot by hand after the optical-scan system showed that every vote cast was for a Republican candidate.

As problems mounted, Bush ordered polls statewide to stay open an additional two hours. Reno and McBride both said they supported the move.

Two months ago, Reno led McBride by 25 percentage points. But she lost the support of prominent Democrats who consider the Tampa lawyer a better candidate to deny Bush a second term.

Reno angered many in Florida's Cuban community with her role in the federal raid in 2000 that took Elian Gonzalez from his Miami relatives. The boy was sent back to Cuba with his father.

Some Democrats also worried Reno is perceived as too liberal to beat Bush, who was unopposed in his bid for a second term. Florida is about equally divided between Democrats and Republicans.

Reno took a folksy approach in her campaign, emphasizing her Miami roots in TV ads and traveling the state in a red pickup truck. She held her own party at a South Beach club to poke fun at a "Saturday Night Live" skit on NBC that parodied her days as attorney general.

But her grass-roots campaign drew criticism from Democratic officials and political experts, who said Reno needed to get on television earlier to reach millions daily instead of just hundreds.

Meanwhile, McBride raised much more money than Reno – $4.2 million to $2.6 million, according to their latest filings.

He filled the airwaves with commercials, and he picked up endorsements from some of the state's Democratic heavyweights, including Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas and Reps. Robert Wexler and Corrine Brown, as well as the state teachers union and the state AFL-CIO.

He also benefited from ads launched against him by the state GOP accusing him of mismanaging his law firm and avoiding details about how he would pay for his proposed programs. He responded to the ads with some of his own, saying the attack showed Bush fears him more than Reno and challenging the governor to a debate. It was then that his poll numbers began to rise.

-- Anonymous, September 11, 2002

Answers

I think there are some precincts still to be counted. Plus the absentee ballots that are still trickling in. I think they have three days before the final count is official. Not sure.

-- Anonymous, September 11, 2002

http://elections.metro-dade.com/index.html

this site is up and down as the info is uploaded.

Here are the precincts pending, from this site:

http://elections.miamidade.gov/ELE02253/NOTPREC.HTML

0020 0026 0028 0033 0053 0110 0114 0119 0131 0137

0139 0148 0151 0157 0168 0177 0188 0202 0206 0219

0221 0222 0228 0229 0230 0232 0237 0238 0239 0242

0243 0244 0245 0254 0258 0259 0260 0261 0262 0263

0264 0265 0271 0272 0275 0278 0280 0282 0283 0286

0287 0288 0290 0304 0309 0322 0323 0329 0341 0345

0348 0356 0365 0372 0373 0379 0383 0386 0433 0452

0501 0504 0507 0508 0511 0512 0518 0547 0554 0580

0592 0617 0648 0708 0709 0733 0739 0744 0771 0781

0792 0908 0921 0930 0948 0979 0992 0996 D039 D043

D062 D083 D212 D213 R084 R094 R097 R100 R101 R102

R103 R104 R105 R106 R107 R108 R109 R110 R111 R112

R113 R114 R115 R116 R117 R118 R119 R120 R121 R122

R123 R124 R125 R126 R127 R128 R129 R130 R131 R132

R133 R134 R135 R136 R137 R138 R139 R140 R141 R142

R143 R144 R145 R146 R147 R148 R149 R150 R151 R152

R153 R154 R155 R156 R157 R158 R159 R160 R161 R162

R163 R164 R165 R166 R167 R168 R169 R170 R171 R172

R173 R174 R175 R176 R177 R178 R179 R180 R181 R214

R215 N182 N183 N184 N185 N186 N187 N188 N189 N190

N191 N192 N193 N194 N195 N196 N197 N198 N199 N200

N201 N202 N203 N204 N205 N206 N207 N208 N209 N210

N211 R072 R015 R016 N013 N015 N023 D300 D400 R300

R400

The secretary of state was just on tv and blasting dade and broward for the shodding polling debacle. Nothing definite as yet about what they are going to do before November.

-- Anonymous, September 11, 2002

Maybe they should hold the election in another state, lol!

-- Anonymous, September 11, 2002

They'll just have to keep recounting until Reno wins . . . (/sarcasm)

-- Anonymous, September 11, 2002