Unless further appeals change the situation, the election's outcome may be decided by Harris. "Unless I determine in the exercise of my discretion that these facts and circumstances contained within these written statements justify an amendment to today's officials returns, the state elections canvassing commission, in a manner consistent with its usual and normal practice, will certify the statewide results reported to this office today," Harris said last night.

Those results showed Gore continuing to narrow the ever-shrinking gap between the two candidates. Shortly before the 5 p.m. deadline, the Democratic stronghold of Volusia County finished its manual recount, awarding Gore a net gain of 98 votes. After a day of uncertainty caused by conflicting legal opinions, Palm Beach officials finally agreed to begin a full recount today, though whether the votes will be officially certified may be up to Harris. Miami-Dade County officials, after a sample recounting of one percent of the vote, decided not to hold a further recount.

Dershowitz, reached last night in Palm Beach, said he had no doubt that a complete manual recount would give Florida to Gore, and with it the presidency, which hinges on the Sunshine State's 25 electoral votes.

"If it were a complete manual recount, Gore would win with 10,000 votes," he said. "The majority of Americans voted for Gore."

Dershowitz added that experts from both parties knew that manual recounts were more accurate than machine returns subject to mechanical inaccuracies.

"Every expert will tell you that machine counts have a five percent margin of error," Dershowitz said.

He added that Tribe argued Gore's case in state court "brilliantly."