The Florida election results were very slim with 500 or so votes between Bush and Gore. What is not generally considered is that thousands upon thousands of military absentee votes were mysteriously lost and never counted. Military absentee votes are never counted unless the election results come within certain percentages, which clearly happened in the case of Florida, Gore, and Bush. The misplaced military absentee votes were never found.
I believe had those thousands of votes been found the results would have been much different, and the opposition knowing this purposely destroyed the votes from military absentee.
“Military absentee votes are never counted unless the election results come within certain percentages”
I agree with most of your assessment except this. These votes, when they’re not mysteriously “lost” are counted, as are all absentee ballots, whether the national race was close or not. Why? Local elections and amendments. A few votes can and do change the outcome of small, local races.