Many Americans woke up surprised to discover that the 2000 Presidential Election wasn't over. The final margin in Florida, before the machine recount, was reported to be in favor of Governor Bush by 1,784 votes, out of nearly 6 million votes cast. Several early edition newspapers had gone to print after Florida had been called for Bush, resulting in editions that were incorrect. Some of them, like the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, were recalled and a revised edition printed. As of Wednesday, Bush had 246 of the 538 electoral votes and Gore was
 
just ahead with 260. Twenty-five of the remaining seats were in Florida. Results deciding Oregon's 7 electoral votes were still unannounced. Oregon was the only state that had abolished polling stations (citizens voted by mail-in ballot or took their ballots to drop-off points), and the count was slow in coming. The results of the overall popular vote also showed Gore in the lead, but not by much. Gore was said to have 49 percent of the vote to Bush's 48 percent. Green Party candidate Ralph Nader had the other 3 percent. A full machine recount of the votes in Florida was ordered. Florida law stated that an automatic machine recount would take place if the margin of victory was 0.5 % or less. This amounted to taking the ballots and running them through the machines again. Jeb Bush, Florida's Governor and brother of candidate George W. Bush, officially recused himself from the recount process.                  
 
Wednesday morning brought the first specific reports of voting irregularity in Florida. Attention soon focused on the design of the ballot in Palm Beach County, which many voters found confusing. This ballot design used 2 pages for voting on a single office. The candidates were staggered one on the left page, then one on the right page, and then back to the left page again. The name corresponded to holes that ran down the center between the 2 pages. These punch-card style voting machines required the voter to pick up a pointed stylus, line it up with the hole corresponding to his candidate of choice, and to push it down into the hole and through the voter card underneath the ballot booklet. Some voters found the left, right, left, right design confusing. George Bush and Al Gore were the first two candidates listed on the left side, but the hole corresponding to Al Gore's name was the third one down, not the second one. The second hole belonged to Pat Buchanan, whose name was the first one listed on the right side of the ballot. Ironically, this ballot design was chosen in part because it allows for larger print, and it was an attempt to accommodate the county's large elderly population. Unfortunately, as many as 3,000 voters who intended to vote for Al Gore ignored the right side of the ballot and punched the second hole down and thus accidentally voted for Pat Buchanan (The punch card itself is slipped in beneath this ballot from above). Voters in Palm Beach County were sent a sample ballot by mail, but it did not show the holes down the center.