Saturday, January 6, 2001:

Congressman Peter Deutsch (Florida CD 20) attempted to raise a point of order that a quorum was not present before the tabulation had even started... that is, before Alabama's vote was even counted. The Congressman was gaveled down by Vice President Al Gore as no Senators had signed on.

Objections were raised to the counting of Florida's electoral vote [immediately after it was read by teller Congressman Fattah of Pennsylvania] in the following order: Alcee L. Hastings (Florida CD 23), Carrie Meek (Florida CD 17), Corrine Brown (Florida CD 3), Eddie Bernice Johnson (Texas CD 30), Elijah Cummings (Maryland CD 7), Sheila Jackson Lee (Texas CD 18), Maxine Waters (California CD 35), Barbara Lee (California CD 9), Cynthia McKinney (Georgia CD 4), Patsy Takemoto Mink (Hawaii CD 2), and Eva M. Clayton (North Carolina CD 1). Each time, the Chair ruled their objections out of order (as no Senators had signed on).

After this, Cynthia McKinney (Georgia CD 4), Maxine Waters (California CD 35), and Eddie Bernice Johnson (Texas CD 30) all tried to move that the House "rise" from the tabulation Joint Session to debate the issue of Florida's electoral vote separately on grounds that the provisions Title 3 of the US Code cannot bind one house of Congress in violation of that house's own rules (and, therefore, they would not need the concurrence of a Senator to do so)-- the Chair ruled against them. (In between McKinney and Waters, Congressman Bob Filner (California CD 50) rose to object solely "in solidarity" with the others who had already objected to the counting of Florida's electoral vote-- since he hadn't even bothered to present his objection in writing as required by statute, the Chair ruled against him).

Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (Illinois CD 2) rose to ask the Chair if a Senator could still sign an objection even though the Joint Session was already underway- the Chair answered in the affirmative but, of course, no Senator would end up doing so in any event.

The final attempt was Maxine Waters (California CD 35) asking unanimous consent that the Joint Session be suspended for absence of a quorum (a variant on the tactic Peter Deutsch (Florida CD 20) had brought up in the first instance at the very beginning of the Joint Session)-- the GOP side of the chamber erupted with cries of "No" and "Object" but the Chair ruled that even the objections were unnecessary as, without concurrence by a Senator, the unanimous consent request was itself out of order.

With that, the objectors (from the Congressional Black Caucus) walked out of the tabulation Joint Session in protest. The count continued from Georgia on without further objection.

With 270 votes needed to win, Congress tabulated the Electoral vote on 6 January 2001 2:48 PM EST as follows:

Bush: 271
Gore: 266
Abstention: 1

Monday, December 18, 2000:

There was one Elector defection from the DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. To protest what she called D.C.'s "colonial status", Elector Barbara Lett-Simmons cast a blank ballot instead of voting for Gore.

With 270 votes needed to win, the Electoral vote total stands at:

Bush: 271
Gore: 266
Abstention: 1