The Federal Election Commission’s state-results table records Florida at 2,912,790 votes for George W. Bush and 2,912,253 for Al Gore: a difference of 537. Ralph Nader received 97,488. The table’s Florida total is 5,963,110 recorded presidential votes. That makes the Bush–Gore margin about 0.009 percent of that total. [1]
The denominator matters. Those are recorded votes for candidates, not a claim that every ballot cast contained a valid presidential vote. A ballot can fail to register a presidential choice while still counting in other races. Nor does a certified margin measure the number of people affected by registration errors or confusing instructions. [1][2]
Certification supplies the official result under the process that was completed. It does not convert unresolved marks into known intentions. With a margin this narrow, several distinct failures could be consequential. Determining that a failure existed and determining exactly how the result would change after correcting it are separate tasks.