Judge Nikki Clark hears pre-trial motions in her Leon County courtroom prior to the start of hearings on the Seminole County absentee vote controversy in Tallahassee, Florida December 5, 2000. The lawsuit, filed by a Democratic voter in Florida's Seminole County, alleges Republican tampering with absentee ballot applications and seeks to have all 15,000 absentee votes in the county thrown out - a move that would net Gore a pickup of 4,800 votes and hand him the White House.

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