Early voting for next month's presidential election got under way in Florida on Monday, with Democrats in particular urging supporters to use their early ballot as a means of avoiding a repeat of the recount fiasco in the 2000 election. Both Republican President George W. Bush and his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, have focused a large part of their campaign effort in Florida. The state decided the election for Bush four years ago only after a bitter five-week legal battle over ballot recounts and is again one of about 10 tightly fought states in the race toward the Nov. 2 election. Early voting, with limited polling stations open for people wanting to avoid a crush on Election Day, was starting around the state at different times during the morning. In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court eventually halted ballot recounts and Bush beat Vice President Al Gore by 537 votes, and so won the Electoral College votes needed to clinch the White House.
