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VOLUME 20 ‘NUMBER 981 NOVEMBER 9 - 15, 2000 MR
Gore gets most votes,
but denied presidency
Blacks call for investigation
of alleged harassment of
African-American voters.
By Joe Follick
Tampa Tribune staff writer
TALLAHASSEE
The next president of the United
States is destined to emerge from a
historic chaos in Florida, where
Republican George W. Bush’s bal
lot card-thin victory is being chal
lengedbyavoterecountamid murky
charges of voting irregularities.
A full day after the polls closed,
the outcome — will it be Bush or
Democrat Al Gore? — was still un
known.
Although hoperemained that the
recount could be completed by to
day and the presidential winner
finally declared, if the margin be
tween Goreand Bush remains very
close, the nation might have to wait
up to eight days longer as absentee
ballots mailed from overseas are
counted.
The recount — required by
Florida law because the margin of
victory was so slight — showed
Goreclosingthe 1,784-votegap that
separated him from Bush after the
ballots werecounted early Wednes
day morning. Without Florida, nei
ther candidate can claim the neces
sary 270 electoral votes to win the
race.
As of 9 p.m. Wednesday, the re
count had sliced nearly 200 votes
off Bush’s lead. The shift toward
Gore was more significant before a
glitch was discovered in Pinellas
County. Officials there will redo
their recount thismorningbecause
a poll worker failed to run an un
known number of ballots through
the computer Wednesday, Pinellas
Supervisor of Elections Deborah
Clark said.
The county retracted an an
WINNERS
State and Richmond County
U.S. Senator ............c0......... Zell Miller
U.S. 10th District ...... Charlie Norwood
22nd State Dist ..... Charles W. Walker
23rd State Dist. .............. Don Cheeks
114th House Di5t......... Sue Burmeister
115th House Dist. ...........Jack Connell
116th House Dist. .... Aberta Anderson
117th House Dist. ................Ben Allen
118th House Dist. ... Henry L. Howard
119th House Di5t...... George DelLoach
Dist. Atty ...................... Dannie Craig
Judge-Probate ............ Isaac S. Jolles
Clerk - Superior Ct. Elaine C. Johnson
Sheriff ...................... Ronnie Strength
Chief Magistrate ...... William Jennings
Serving Metropolitan glA&m, South Carolina and the Central Savannah River Area
nouncement that Gore had gained
404 votes and Bush dropped 61 in
its recount.
Both political parties sent law
yers.and volunteers to monitor the
recount in each county.
State officials acknowledged the
historical gravity of the election’s
amazing outcome.
“The state of Florida is in the
international spotlight,” said Bob
Butterworth, the state’s attorney
general.
That spotlight illuminated some
of the darker corners of Florida’s
election process. Democrats pre
dicted numerous lawsuits regard
ingvagueaccusationsofvoter fraud,
intimidation and ballot irregulari
ties.
Wednesday night, three Palm
Beach County residents filed a law
suit asking that a new election be
held in the county because of ir
regularities in the ballot.
Then election officials there an
nounced they were tossingout more
than 19,000 ballots because voters
punched their ballots more than
once for presidential candidates.
Those votes were never included in
the county’s Election Day totals.
Most observers predict any law
suits will be handled quickly.
Florida was pronounced a must
win state months ago by Gore and
Bush, and each acknowledged the
race was too close to callin the days
leading up to Tuesday’s vote.
But nobody envisioned this.
“Fromthebeginning, I’ve always
said Florida would be a hard- fought
state,” said Gov. Jeb Bush, who led
hisbrother’s presidential campaign
in Florida. “Never in my wildest
See FLORIDARECOUNT, Page 2A
INSIDE
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Gore: 260 electoral votes
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District 9 voters must return to the polls
®Hatney, McDaniel
to face off in Nov. 28
runoff election.
By Timothy Cox
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Promoters could easily bill the
loneundecided local school board
race as: The teacher meets the
preacher.
In their quest to win the Super
District 9 representative for the
Richmond County School Board,
candidates Mildred McDaniel
and the Rev. Johnny R. Hatney
failed to garner at least 51 per
cent of voters on their respective
sides, prompting a runoff elec
tion scheduled for Tuesday, Nov.
28.
For McDaniel, gettinganother
Study: Number of blacks using Internet on the rise
JACKSON, Miss.
(AP) More blacks are taking to
cyberspace, according to a report
issued by a Washington-based
group.
The report by the Pew Internet
& American Life Project found
that black people are the fastest
growing group of Internet users.
And blacks who use the Internet
tend to use it more than whites,
the researchers said.
Nationwide, about halfthe white
population has access to the
Internet, compared with 36 per
cent of African Americans.
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Johnny Ray Hatney
opportunity to cop a victory over
Hatney is a welcomed chance at
upsetting the well-known Augusta
minister. “I realize he’s a minis
ter and they can have a good fol-
The study found that African
Americans with Internet access
are 69 percent more likely than
online whites to listen to music, 65
percent more likely to seek reli
gious information and 38 percent
more likely to seek job informa
tion.
Lee Rainie, director of the study
released last month, said because
of increased usage of the system,
black Internet users are becoming
a target group for online busi
nesses.
Black Entertainment Television
runs the popular BET.com web
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Mildred McDaniel
lowing,” said the 33-year educa
tor who specialized in vocational
education in Richmond County
schools. She also appears unfazed
by the former Augusta city coun
site, many magazines that cater
to African-American fashions and
issues have web pages, and
BlackPlanet.comisoneof the fast
est-growing community sites on
the Internet.
Ben Bradley said he is doing his
part to provide content to
entertain black web surfers. His
web site,
Mississippilnteractive.com, pro
vides information for alumni of
Mississippi’s historically black
universities.
The site contains pictures from
football games, links to school
BULK RATE
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NO. 302 AUGUSTA, GA
cilman who enjoys a notable
reputation as pastor of Good
Hope Baptist Church.
In the Tuesday, Nov. 7 gen
eral election, Hatney garnered
-8,972 votes or 44.3 percent com-.
pared with McDaniel’s 5,767
votes or 28.4 percent. A wifeand
mother of two adult children,
McDaniel said she’s banking on
her extensive education back
ground to attract voters. “I know
Ican bring to the table what the,
children need,”said the Spelman*
College graduate. Hatney, -3
graduate of Paine College, ram
on aplatform of “children first.”
His congregation consist of
about 1,500 members. ,
Concerning the candidates’’
chances for success in the up:
See DISTRICT 9, page 3A : :
sitesand Bradley said he has plans
to establish discussion boards <™
And Rainie said he believesthe
trend of heavy black usage of:the
Internet will continue. The study
found that 46 percent of blaz
who do not have access to I
computer network plan to g 4
online. Only 40 percent of off-hite
whites had such plans. Tel
And while whites outnumber
blacks on the Internet, Rainie gaig
that has become more of a socie
economic issue than a racial ggg.'
See INTERNET, page 2A f;;;