It is somehow fitting that the resolution of the most extraordinary election in US history should now rest in Florida, a state of uniquely American contradiction.
This sun-drenched land at the southernmost tip of the US displays some of the gaudiest and most traditional of sensibilities: there is Disneyworld in Orlando, a living commercial for Americana; but also Little Havana, a poor and crime-ridden part of immigrant Miami that is only minutes away from the glitz and riches and white sand shores of South Beach.
There is Daytona Beach, where car racers and the "spring break" kids come for sleepless days and nights of beer drinking and wildness. And all over the state are the retirees, the elderly people who come from all over the US to live out their lives in tranquil paradise. That is, of course, until the hurricanes hit. Every decade or so brutal storms wipe out hundreds of homes and take lives, leaving the state in tatters.
At this moment it is the state's political landscape that has left the election of the 43rd US president in tatters. Some 1,800 votes appear to separate Vice-President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush. The recount is unlikely to decide the election conclusively. That is because, in part, some 3,000 voters in Palm Beach, a traditional Democratic stronghold, are claiming their votes were not counted as intended.
In a confusing ballot used only in this single one of Florida's 67 counties, many voters contend that their votes for Mr Gore were counted as votes for Mr Pat Buchanan, a right-wing minor party candidate. And in fact, results showed Mr Buchanan winning 3,407 votes in Palm Beach, or 7.9 per cent of the vote, an unlikely and extraordinary feat in a liberal district.
"It bothered me all day long," said Ms Sue Blum, an elderly Palm Beach voter. She said she worried that her vote had not been counted correctly because the ballot was so confusing. "And then when I heard that the ballots were bad and Buchanan got those votes I knew something was wrong."
The switchboard at the election board's headquarters in Tallahassee was lit up yesterday afternoon with complaints from people like Mrs Blum.
Mr Gore dispatched a legal team headed by former secretary of state Mr Warren Christopher to oversee the recount and contemplate a possible legal challenge. Mr Bush was reportedly also sending a team to Florida, headed by the former secretary of state, Mr James Baker.
There were also reports that a locked box filled with uncounted ballots was discovered in a church in Miami. Between investigation into voting irregularities, recounting of votes, and the arrival of some 2,300 posted votes cast by Americans living overseas, the resolution of this election could take several days - or longer.