Why Were the Elections of 2000 and 2008 significant?

In the original vote count, Bush was winning by a small number of votes. However, Florida law required a recount of votes in an election with such close results. When the deadline passed for the counties to recount their votes, state officials announced George W. Bush the winner. However, Gore argued that the recounts were not conducted properly and that it was unfair to stop the recount when larger counties hadn't finished reviewing the ballots. Florida's state-level Supreme Court ordered yet another recount, this time by hand, in disputed counties. With such close results, including ballots not counted before, this recount could change the results.