Presidential Election 2000 Essay, Research Paper

Presidential Election 2000

It is hard to believe that it will be a year since the Bush vs. Gore campaign was in it?s

final stages, or so we thought. The Bush vs. Gore campaign was at its climax in late

October of 2000. The people of the nation were casting their votes and the two leading

Candidates were neck and neck. The tension was sky high on Election Day, November

7th, 2000. Behold, we were to have a new president; well, possibly.

Election experts have called ?evolution? instead of a ?revolution? in changing the way

the country goes about its elections. Never in history has such controversy risen as in

Election 2000: Bush vs. Gore. Election 200 has raised ?serious concerns over the

integrity of the voting system. Filled with demonstrations of voting machines and

oversized punch card ballots. The election was ultimately made complicated due to the

counting of ballots which were now being re-counted on a local level because of what

we now call ?Dimples and Chads?

Dimples and Chads are funny names to be given to election ballots; but then again,

what wasn?t funny about this election as a whole? Election ballots are set up to be

like punch-in cards. A person casts their vote and a hole is punched into a ballot

where the space for the candidate is provided. It seems to be easy enough. However,

that was not the case in this presidential election. For some reason, ballots went up

the walls in malfunctions. These bogus ballots were given the names ?Dimples and

Chads?. Dimples are the given name to ballots in which the vote seemed to be intended

but were not quite punched through but sort of made to look like a ?dimple?. Chads, on

the other hand, are votes in which a part of the punched vote has gone through, but the

whole thing is not punched out. It is called a Chad when the vote is punched but

still attached to the ballot in some way. As a result of these complications in

votes, debate was brought about as which votes were going to be counted and which

were not. Yet more complications of ?Pregnant Chads? added fuel to the fire. A

pregnant chad is where an indentation, but not a perforation appears. Making the spot

look rounded or ?pregnant?. Also, it arose to who was trying or attempting to vote for

who. Thus, the debate over dimples and chads began.

However, experts such as Doug Lewis, executive director of the Election Center in

Houston, Texas, said we shouldn?t be too alarmed. He says that the founders of the

Constitution purposely designed the process to be flawed because they didn?t trust in a

centralized authority. He also says that a perfect election is one where none of the

imperfections go into the eyes or ears of the public. He believes that ballot design and

voting equipment should be re-examined and changed so that there should be more

?legal precision? about what is constituted a vote. In due course, the candidates, nor the

nation were satisfied with the way things were turning out. There was debate here and

controversy there, surrounded by confusion and disorganization. Thus, the vote

re-counts began. Recounts of the votes began in every state necessary. People were

sat down to examine and count every vote in question by hand for hours, days and

weeks at a time. Bush had received 2,909,135 votes and Gore received 2,907,351

votes, a winning advantage of 1,784 for Bush. We all know those numbers would

change a few more times. You would figure Bush would win victoriously win. However,

Gore would not accept this outcome. His disappointment would be backed up by the

misunderstanding of votes in the nation. I?m sure there must have been many recounts

in several if not all states. Conversely, things did not heat up or get as difficult as they

did in the state of Florida.

In the end, after all the appeals introduced by Gore and all the recounts done in Florida

as well as many other states. It all came down to the Electoral votes of the nation,

which favored George W. Bush. Our new President was officially announced in January

of 2001.

All of the agonizing bickering among candidates and political parties and all the

recounting of votes among Florida and other states. Not to mention all the court

hearings concerned with whether dimples and chads were to be counted as votes or

under votes. All of these consequences, resulted in the longest election process the

nation has ever had to endure. What does that say about the same process for the

many years to come? Change for the better is never without consideration. With

technology today, why can?t the voting process be done over the secure internet? The

butterfly ballots were confusing and especially to the elderly. Many have poor eyesight

and no help when voting. Do Americans believe that Florida Secretary of State,

Katherine Harris and George W. Bush?s own brother have nothing to do with the votes

in Florida? Ms. Harris has been attempting to get on with the Bush Administration for a

long time now, in fact it was said that she will be or has already ran for Congress. This

woman declared Bush the President before the votes were even completed.

Although, I am registered to vote, I did not vote in this election. For one reason,

I work for the U.S. Government and I did not want to show a bias for either candidate

being that I had to accompany both on their campaigns as part of their security teams.

For the other reason, who is to say that one of the uncounted voted would not have

been mine anyway? Or any other American.

The media had a lot to do with this confusing time. First they report Gore has won then

Bush then Gore again then finally Bush. Maybe the media should have stated that Gore

did win fact win but the only thing he did win was the popular vote not the electoral vote.

An elector is one who is entitled to participate and vote in the election. An electoral

relates to an elector or an election and finally an electoral college is a body of electors;

especially : one that elects the president and vice president of the U.S. So, why is it

that Americans even vote when all in all it comes down to the electoral vote?