[Dr. Frank fan]

But if the question were, "Can one figure out who got the most votes in Florida if given a year to do it?" the answer might be different if the margin of error shrinks considerably as the allowable time exands.

Even this is a doubtful claim. The more these ballots are handled, the greater the chances of them being physically altered (even unintentionally). There is also the matter of a chain of custody, and security, to prevent tampering - the longer you have to keep them locked up, the greater the chances for hi-jinks.

That's why in elections, under law, there is something called a "deadline". Ballots counted in legal fashion and reported to the duly constituted authorities by this "deadline" are considered to be Legal Votes.

Ballots which aren't, aren't. Rendering this whole thing moot. Bush got more Legal Votes than did Gore. We've known this for almost a year. All else is trivia.

[ConsistentLibertarian]

People are getting pretty worked up here over trivia. If the media reported that the price of eggs had gone up in Bolivia, I predict one wouldn't see the same sort of response on FR.