Broward County, Florida, officials accept 'dimpled' and '1-corner' chad

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From CNN Correspondent Susan Candiotti

PLANTATION, Florida (CNN) -- The three-member canvassing board in Broward County, Florida, voted unanimously Sunday to change the standard used during an ongoing manual recount of votes to include ballots with so-called "dimpled" and "one-corner" chad, while agreeing to continue segregating those ballots.

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By doing so, the county would be able to readily calculate the tally should the Florida Supreme Court intervene and force them to return to the "two-corner" standard.

The Broward County canvassing board is made up of two Democrats and one Republican.

What is a chad?

Under the "two-corner" standard, two corners of a chad (a piece of paper marking a voter's choice for a presidential candidate) must be punched from the ballot for the vote to count.

A dimpled chad shows the imprint of the tool used to mark the ballot, but without any of the chad corners torn from the ballot.

County Attorney Andrew Meyers was planning to argue the new standard in front of the Florida Supreme Court on Monday on behalf of the canvassing board.

Republicans upset

Broward Republican Party chairman Ed Pozzuoli said he was upset with the decision but hoped the Florida Supreme Court would rule that the "two-corner" standard applied.

Once the manual recount of the 588,000 ballots from all 609 precincts in the county is complete, the canvassing board will examine the "dimpled" and "one-corner" ballots to try to determine the voters' intent.

Seventy teams of workers began their fifth day of recounting Sunday at 8 a.m. Each counting team consists of four people: two ballot counters and one representative of each of the two major political parties.

County authorities have predicted they will complete the recount Monday.

Asked Friday if that goal would be met, Broward County Commissioner Suzanne Gunzburger said, "Ask us Sunday."