11.   It might even be the fairest solution to have a manual count statewide.

12.   Last night, the Palm Beach County elections board voted to meet again this afternoon and make yet another stab at getting a manual count under way.

13.   Machines are used to eliminate such tampering, he said, but manual counts are subject to political bias.

14.   Republican state legislators also filed a brief with the Florida court urging it to drop its earlier ruling and impose the original deadlines for the manual counts.

15.   That plan was originally devised to inoculate him against the possibility that Gore would overtake him in a manual count.

16.   That would help clear the way for the manual count to continue through the end of the week, when the absentee ballots are due.

17.   The court in its rulings next week should make clear that manual counts, which are allowed under Florida law, are to be included in the final tally.

18.   The county has completed a manual count of four precincts at the request of the Democrats.

19.   The Florida Supreme Court had refused to block the manual count that his campaign had sought in several predominantly Democratic counties.

20.   The manual count moved much more slowly in Palm Beach.