This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

On November 26, 2000, the Florida Election Canvassing Commission (Canvassing Commission) certified the results of the election and declared Bush the winner. P filed a complaint in Leon County Circuit Court contesting the certification on the grounds that the results certified by the Canvassing Commission included 'a number of illegal votes' and failed to include 'a number of legal votes sufficient to change or place in doubt the result of the election.' Specifically P protested: the rejection of 215 net votes for P identified in a manual count by the Palm Beach Canvassing Board as reflecting the clear intent of the voters; The rejection of 168 net votes for P, identified in the partial recount by the Miami-Dade County Canvassing Board; The receipt and certification after Thanksgiving of the election night returns from Nassau County, instead of the statutorily mandated machine recount tabulation, in violation of section 102.14, Florida Statutes, resulting in an additional 51 net votes for Bush; The rejection of an additional 3300 votes in Palm Beach County, most of which Democrat observers identified as votes for P but which were not included in the Canvassing Board's certified results; and The refusal to review approximately 9000 Miami-Dade ballots, which the counting machine registered as non-votes and which have never been manually reviewed.

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