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Deadline in Florida for overseas absentee ballots passes

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November 18, 2000 

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (CNN) -- As the George W. Bush campaign increased its slim lead in Florida as a midnight deadline in Florida for overseas ballots passed, the courts dealt the Republican candidate a double-whammy.

Bush's 300-vote margin grew to 760 as 65 of Florida's 67 counties reported their absentee ballots from overseas.

But there were reports this morning of large numbers of the ballots being thrown out for technical reasons.

The day started out on a high point for the Bush campaign as a state judge ruled that Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris acted properly in not considering ongoing manual recounts in the vote totals in the presidential election.

It went downhill from there: First, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Harris could not certify the election's results Saturday as she intended until the court heard arguments on an appeal of the lower court's decision. Then a federal appeals court refused to order a halt to the recounts, which are being conducted in Broward and Palm Beach counties and will begin soon in Dade County.

At stake are Florida's 25 electoral votes and with them, the presidency. Democratic candidate Vice President Al Gore has 255 of the necessary 270 electoral votes for election and Bush has 246.

Source : www.cnn.com