11.   By the time the smoke cleared, there had been a months-long fight over disputed ballots.

12.   Circuit Judge N. Sanders Sauls in Tallahassee refused for the third time a request by Gore to order a manual recount of disputed ballots.

13.   County officials said the equipment was sent to precincts with the largest number of address changes and disputed ballots in the last election.

14.   Disputed ballots were placed in a separate pile for later discussion.

15.   In Palm Beach County, though, officials still had several thousand disputed ballots to review.

16.   In one corner sat the Canvassing Board, scrutinizing stacks of the disputed ballots, encircled by lawyers representing the Bush and Gore campaigns.

17.   In virtually every Florida county Saturday, election officials complained of confusion and uncertainty over how to begin the count and how to evaluate disputed ballots.

18.   It is especially uncommon for the high court to issue a stay, as it did on Saturday when it stopped the recount of disputed ballots in Florida.

19.   It was only natural that Republicans here continued to criticize the dimpled ballots as the count of the disputed ballots began.

20.   Just look at the disputed ballot in Palm Beach County, Fla.