Election 2000
Revisited
Disclaimer:
Although this site is political in nature, it is not the intent of the webmaster to cause any anti-Republican sentiment. The webmaster totally supports the efforts of the Bush administration in our War Against Terrorists. The site tries to present an objective study of an event in American History. The webmaster is not an historian, but understands that history has a way of repeating itself, unless we learn form it.
Oh do we remember those weeks last November and December. America was getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving and start the Holiday Season and Floridians were counting ballots - dimpled, chad, pregnant chads. Counting and counting and counting.
Remember that day in December when the Supreme Court of America put a halt to the recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court? Now if that wasn't politically motivated (on the part of both judicial institutions, I may add)! Let's face it The United States of America's Supreme Court halted democracy in action that day. But I digress.
As former Vice President All Gore said on the night that he conceded the election, "we are a nation of laws and the presidential election of 2000 is over". We are a nation of laws. I continue to be enormously proud of America. We the people, accepted the decision of the court and embraced our new president, George W. Bush. What a country!
According to the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, November 12, 2001, "An extensive media analysis of the 175,000 uncounted ballots showed that former Vice President Al Gore had opportunities to overcome George W. Bush in a recount. But the review also found either candidate's margin of victory would have been so narrow that the slightest variation in how ballots were counted could have swayed the outcome."
According to the Sun-Sentinel, the only way that former Vice President Gore could have won the Florida vote was to demand a recount of the entire state of Florida. If a recount of the entire state of Florida was conducted, then Gore would have won the state by 171 votes.
As I see it, and as documented in the various media accounts below, more voters in Florida wanted Gore to be president than wanted Bush. Many ballots were classified "over-votes". People voted for Gore (punched the appropriate spot) and also wrote-in his name. Technically these ballots were over-votes and were not counted. Over 170,000 votes statewide were disqualified under customary Florida election practices. This is a disgrace.
When one considers the now famous "Butterfly Ballot" in Palm Beach County, to put it simply - it was a mess.
It is abundantly clear that the will of the people of the state of Florida was not heard on November 7, 2000. We must remember that we live in an imperfect world govern by imperfect leaders. We are a country of laws, but just because a law is legal does not mean that it is ethical.
As a result of this election, the state of Florida has mandated election reform. This includes state of the art voting equipment to be in place by the 2002 mid-term elections.
Here are the links to various media sources who participated in the study:
Sun-Sentinel
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
University
of Chicago
Associated
Press
Chicago
Tribune
LA
Times
In Any Case, Our Commander-in-Chief
President George W. Bush
God Bless The
President
God Bless The United States of America
A Look To The Future
Clear
The Bushes
