The Presidential Election of 2000

Introduction to the election

Party Democratic Party

Republican Party

Green Party

Presidential Candidate

VP Albert Gore, Jr.

Governor George W. Bush

Ralph Nader(2.74% of Popular Vote)

Vice Presidential Candidate

Joseph Lieberman

Richard Cheney

Election Night

• 7:50 pm EST (10 minutes before polls closed in Republican Florida Panhandle) some networks declared FL for Gore– Based on exit polls

• Actual vote tally favored Bush• 10 pm EST Networks put FL as “undecided”• Approx. 2:30 am EST with Bush leading by in FL

100,000 votes networks started declaring for Bush– Fox News was first– This meant Bush won – Gore called to concede

The Next Day

• By 4:30 am EST Bush’s lead dwindled to just over 2,000 votes in FL

• Networks again retracted predictions• Gore rescinded concession• The race was on!• Florida state law require mandatory machine recount

for elections this close• Reduced Bush’s lead to about 300 votes• Overseas ballots increased Bush’s lead to about 900

votes• But there were questions—from Democrats—whether

the machine counting was reliable

Election Problems?

• Hanging Chads• Butterfly Ballots• Overseas Military Ballots• Intent of Voters– How do you determine

that?

Butterfly Ballot

Votomatic Machines

Reading the Chads

Chads

The Legal Battle Begins

• Gore requested hand recounts of 4 counties in FL– Broward– Miami Dade– Palm Beach– Voluzia

• State Law provided for this

• Florida Sec. of State, Katherine Harris set Nov. 14 Deadline

• Vote couldn’t be completed because of disputes

• FL Supreme Court extended deadline to Nov. 26

• Miami-Dade County halted recount

• Palm Beach County failed to meet new deadline

• November 26th State Canvassing Board certified Bush winner of Florida

The Legal Battle Continues…

• Florida Supreme Court ruled that Gore should have his recount– Including 70,000 votes previously rejected by

machines!

• December 12th U.S. Supreme court ruled 5-4 that statewide recount was unconstitutional

• Also, that Florida recount couldn’t be completed before the “Safe Harbor” Deadline

• Ordered that certified total should hold

Now the Legislative Branch gets into the fray

• January 6, 2001 joint session of Congress met to certify electoral college vote

• 20 House Members filed objections to Bush getting Florida’s electoral votes

• A 1877 law stated that a senator needed to co-sponsor objections

• No one would stand against Supreme Court ruling

• V.P. Gore (serves as President of Senate) had to rule these objection out of order)

2000 Election by the Numbers

2000 Election by the Numbers

Party Democratic Party

Republican Party

Presidential

Candidate

VP Albert Gore, Jr.

Governor George W. Bush

Electoral College Votes

266 271

Popular Vote

50.966.582 (48.4%) 50.456,062 (47.4%)

The Aftermath• January 20,

2001President Bush is inaugurated

• “The President of the United States is the President of every single American, of every race, and every background.”

Helping this to never happen

again

• Help America Vote Act (HAVA) passed to help upgrade election technology

• News organizations tightened criteria to “call” states during elections

America The Durable

What I like to remember for this debacle is that we still had a peaceful transfer of power.