Throughout the day and evening, registered voters in America go to the polls to cast their votes in the 2000 presidential election. There are also elections for US and state senators and congressmen/women, state governors, state ballot initiatives (like school vouchers in Michigan, for example), as well as many local offices.

7:00 p.m. US Television networks begin projecting who won in the various states as polls close across the country. Polls close in most of Florida, but not the panhandle region

*Gore's Democrats ask for a hand count of ballots in four counties in Florida citing reports of voting irregularities and voter confusion over the ballot layout in Palm Beach. This will turn out to be the most crucial decision of the Gore campaign, though we won't know that until more than a month later. The four counties are: Volusia, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, and Broward. These counties lean heavy toward the Democratic Party, and the Gore campaign believes that more votes are there for Al Gore than were counted by the machine counting process.

*Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan admits his belief that most of the 3,400 votes he got in Palm Beach County county – known for its Democratic support – were accidentally cast for him due to the ballot confusion, and were meant for Al Gore.

*The Bush campaign threatens to demand recounts in Wisconsin, Iowa and New Mexico – where Gore narrowly won – if Gore does not withdraw his challenges.

*A US District judge refuses to stop manual recounts.

*The responsibility of certifying election results resides with each state's Secretary of State. In Florida, this person was Republican Katherine Harris. She announces that the 5 p.m. November 14 deadline for certifying election results stands. The Democrats say they'll fight the deadline in court.

*Volusia County files a lawsuit wanting an extension of the deadline. Broward County chooses not to go ahead with a full manual recount.

*A Florida county circuit judge upholds the 5 p.m. deadline but Palm Beach decides it will resume its recount tomorrow. Miami-Dade County decides not to conduct a full hand recount. The county does a manual recount of one per cent of the votes but it shows little change from the original results.
Volusia County finishes its hand recount by the 5 p.m. ET deadline, with Gore gaining 90 votes.

*A circuit court judge in Palm Beach will hear a legal challenge that claims poor ballot design led Gore supporters to vote for Pat Buchanan.

*A 2 p.m. EST deadline for counties to submit to the state a written justification of a manual recount expires.

*Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris asks the Florida Supreme Court to halt any hand counting of ballots and to consolidate lawsuits in a state court. The Florida Supreme Court denies the motion.

*A state judge rules that the Palm Beach County board can set its own rules on which ballots are valid.

*Broward County canvassing board reverses an earlier decision and decides to conduct a full manual recount.

*Late in the evening Harris says she will not accept results of any hand recounts when it comes time to certify final totals on Saturday.

*Lawyers for Bush submit written arguments to the US Federal appeals court in Atlanta to end the recounts. Democrats also filed papers with the federal court to oppose the Republican bid.

*Attorneys for the Gore campaign file an emergency motion in Leon County state court challenging the certification of the results of the Florida presidential election.
The Florida Supreme Court rules Palm Beach County can proceed with a manual recount of ballots.

*Midnight tonight is the deadline for receiving oversees absentee ballots. There are an estimated 2,300 of these ballots for Florida, which will no doubt have an impact on the final results.

*A court hearing is scheduled to decide if a re-vote in Palm Beach is constitutional. The circuit judge says he will issue a written order next week on whether he has the authority to order a re-vote Voters there say the ballots were so confusing that some people voted for the wrong candidate.

*The Florida Supreme Court blocks the secretary of state from any vote certification until it can rule on the Democrats' motion to allow hand recounts to be counted.

*Miami-Dade County reverses its earlier decision. It will conduct a full manual recount.

*The Florida Supreme Court holds a hearing on whether Harris should consider hand-recounted ballots before she certifies results of the presidential election.

*Florida Circuit Judge Jorge Labarga says he lacks authority under the US Constitution to order a new presidential election in Palm Beach County.

*Lawyers for Bush file two appeals with the US Supreme Court in an attempt to shut down manual recounts in Florida. Miami-Dade County decides to stop recounting ballots believing it cannot meet the Sunday evening deadline imposed by the court. The decision is upheld by a Florida appeals court after the Democrats try to get the county to continue the recount. The Democrats say they will take the matter to the Florida Supreme Court.

*A state judge rules that Palm Beach County election officials must consider "dimpled chad" punch-card ballots but can reject questionable ballots if the voters' intent can't be determined.

*Republican vice-presidential candidate Dick Cheney, who has a history of heart problems, suffers a slight heart attack.

*Television networks in the US say they will change the way they cover elections. ABC News says it will never again project the Winner of a state during a presidential election until all of the polls have closed and CNN names an independent advisory panel to evaluate its election coverage.

*Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris certifies the count, showing Bush ahead by 537 votes, and declares him the Winner The Bush team responds by getting its transition team ready. President Bill Clinton's administration has refused to give the Republicans office space and money for transition purposes until the election is finally settled. However, the White House does offer to give Bush national security briefings which Gore, as vice-president, already gets in order to help both men prepare for the presidency while the election is being settled.

*The Gore team files three challenges objecting to the certification of Bush as the Winner The challenges are to order Miami-Dade County to recount 10,000 disputed ballots, to include the late results of Palm Beach County in the final certified tally, and to require Nassau County to send in its recount results instead of its election night numbers. Arguments for both sides will begin Friday.

*Another lawsuit arises. Apparently, Republican volunteers in Seminole County corrected mistakes made by overseas ballot applicants that should have made those ballots invalid. This lawsuit seeks to throw out 4,700 of these ballots.

*The case regarding whether Palm Beach County's butterfly ballots were legal is moved to the Florida Supreme Court. Canada has its federal election. The votes are all counted by hand and Jean Chretien's Liberals win a clear majority.

*The US Supreme Court hears 90 minutes of oral arguments from both sides on Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board. Remember that Gore had won this case at the Florida Supreme Court level. That court had ruled that the results of manual recounts must be considered in the final vote certification. This marks the first time the high court has ever intervened in a presidential election. It is also the first time that audio from the Supreme Court was delivered to the media within hours of the actual hearing (no cameras have ever been allowed in the courtroom). People gather outside the court house to show their support for either Bush or Gore and to wait in line in hopes of getting a glimpse of history in the making. Only the first 50 people were seated throughout the hearing and others were allowed in for three-minute intervals.

*Florida Supreme Court rejects a Gore campaign request to immediately begin the hand count of 14,000 disputed presidential ballots from Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.

*Florida Supreme Court affirms lower court's decision that the butterfly ballot used in Palm Beach County was not so confusing as to disenfranchise voters.

*11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta says it will hear two separate but related cases challenging the Florida ballot hand count. The cases, brought by individuals but joined by the Bush campaign, argue that recounts by hand are unfair and unconstitutional.

*The US Supreme Court issues its ruling in Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board. Was it proper for the Florida Supreme Court to extend the certification deadline and order selective hand-counting results be included in those totals? Usually the US Supreme Court will either "affirm" the lower court's decision (agree with it), or "overturn" it (reverse it). This time, however, they did not understand that reasons for why the Florida Supreme Court ruled the way it did, so they sent the case back to that court for clarification. When the Florida Supreme Court explains why it ruled the way it did, the US Supreme Court will have another look at the ruling's validity.

*A Leon County circuit judge turns down Gore's request to recount 14,000 disputed ballots from two Florida counties saying there's no evidence a recount would overturn Republican George W. Bush's lead in Florida.

*The Florida Supreme Court issues its ruling. They reverse the lower court's ruling that went against Al Gore and order that 383 votes be added to Gore's total in Florida – 215 from Palm Beach County and 168 from Miami-Dade. This drops Bush's lead to a mere 154 votes of about six million cast in the state. And this is before any votes are manually recounted. Most importantly, the court orders a statewide manual recount. Bush's team files a 41-page appeal to the US Supreme Court asking for a halt to any recounts.

*Two Florida circuit court judges rule that about 25,000 absentee ballots from Martin and Seminole counties should not be thrown out.