Bush election slips enter archives of US history

THE six million ballot papers that led the United States presidential election to a legal showdown and squeezed George Bush into the White House in 2000 are to be preserved for posterity.

The notorious voting slips that made a household name of the term "chads" have officially become part of history following a decision by Glenda Hood, the Florida secretary of state, that they should be sent to the state archive in Tallahassee. "They are the most important election records of the 20th century," said Ion Sancho, the elections supervisor for Florida’s Leon County.

The state’s vote-counting debacle delayed the election outcome for 36 days due to ambiguities on ballot papers, including dimpled chads - circles which had not been properly punched through to indicate voters intentions - and hanging chads, where the circles were still dangling from the ballot paper.

Mr Bush was ultimately declared the winner over Al Gore, his Democratic opponent, by just 537 votes when the US Supreme Court stepped in.

One of Mr Gore’s lawyers, Barry Richard, acknowledged yesterday that the papers, which will fill 450 large filing cabinets inside a temperature-controlled archive in the state capital were "a historic relic" - but said it might be better to sell them.