The Florida election has been closely scutinized since the election, and several irregularities are thought to have favored Bush. These included the notorious Palm Beach "butterfly ballot", which produced an unexpectedly large number of votes for third-party candidate Patrick Buchanan, and a purge of some 50,000 alleged felons from the Florida voting rolls that included many voters who were eligible to vote under Florida law. Some commentators still consider such irregularities and the legal maneuvering around the recounts to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the vote, but as a matter of law the issue was settled when the United States Congress accepted Florida's electoral delegation. Nonetheless, embarrassment about the Florida vote uncertainties led to widespread calls for electoral reform in the United States, and ultimately to the passage of the Help America Vote Act, which authorized the United States federal government to provide funds to the states to replace their mechanical voting equipment with electronic voting equipment. However, this has led to new controversies, because of the security weaknesses of the computer systems, the lack of paper-based methods of secure verification, and the necessity to rely on the trustworthiness of the manufacturers.
| Presidential Candidate | Electoral Vote | Popular Vote | Pct | Party | Running Mate (Electoral Votes) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| George W. Bush of Texas (W) | 271 | 50,456,002 | 47.87 | Republican | Richard Cheney of Wyoming (271) |
| Al Gore of Tennessee | 266 | 50,999,897 | 48.38 | Democrat | Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut (266) |
| Ralph Nader | 0 | 2,882,955 | 2.74 | Green | Winona LaDuke (0) |
| Patrick J. Buchanan | 0 | 448,895 | 0.42 | Reform | Ezola Foster (0) |
| Harry Browne | 0 | 384,431 | 0.36 | Libertarian | Art Olivier (0) |
| Howard Phillips | 0 | 98,020 | 0.09 | Constitution | J. Curtis Frazier (0) |
| John Hagelin | 0 | 83,714 | 0.08 | Natural Law/Reform | Nat Goldhaber (0) |
| Other | 0 | 51,186 | 0.05 | ||
| ''No electoral vote cast (DC) | 1 | ||||
| Total | 538 | 105,405,100 | 100.00 | ||
| Detailed results by state: see U.S. presidential election, 2000 (detail) | |||||
| Other elections: 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 | |||||
| Sources: U.S. Office of the Federal Register (electoral vote), Federal Election Commission (popular vote) | |||||
Primaries
See: US presidential primaries of 2000
Overview, and timeline (election day and beyond)
The 2000 Presidential election was one of the closest elections in the history of the United States. Other close elections include the elections of 1800, 1876, 1916, 1960, 1968, and 1976.
The results of the November 7 election were not known for more than a month after the election, because the counting and recounting of Florida presidential ballots, which swung the election, extended for more than a month. The Florida vote was the closest of all of the states and state law provided for an automatic recount due to the small difference, and there were general concerns about the fairness and accuracy of the voting process, especially since a small change in the vote count could change the result. The final (and disputed) official Florida count gave the victory to Bush by 537 votes.
The Democratic Party lodged a dispute over the state's election results requesting that disputed ballots in three heavily-Democratic counties be counted by hand. During the recounting process, the Bush campaign hired George H. W. Bush's former Secretary of State James Baker to oversee the legal process, and the Gore campaign hired Bill Clinton's former Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Numerous local court rulings went both ways, some ordering recounts because the vote was so close and others declaring that a selective manual recount in a few heavily-Democratic counties would be unfair. Eventually, the Gore campaign appealed to the Florida Supreme Court whose liberal judges ordered that the recounting process proceed. The Bush campaign subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States which took up the case Bush v. Gore on December 1. On December 4, the court nullified the decision of the Florida Supreme Court saying that the court's decision to bypass state election laws, which stated that results had to be certified by a certain date, was dubious at best saying that there was "considerable uncertainty" as to the precise grounds for their ruling.
Early in the afternoon of December 12, the Republican-dominated Florida House of Representatives voted nearly on party lines to certify the state's electors for Bush. Later that afternoon, the Florida Supreme Court upheld lower court rulings authorizing recounts in several south Florida counties.
All the lower court rulings became moot when around 10pm on December 12, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down two decisions in favor of Bush, the critical one 7-2 and the other 5-4, effectively ending the election. The court's majority cited differing vote-counting standards from county to county and the lack of a single judicial officer to oversee the recount, both of which, it ruled, violated the equal-protection clause of the United States Constitution, and so any recount could not be completed in a constitutional manner.
At 9pm on December 13, in a nationally televised address, Gore conceded that he lost his bid for the presidency. He asks his supporters to support Bush, saying, "This is America, and we put country before party." During his speech, Gore's family and Joe and Hadassah Lieberman stood quietly nearby.
Texas Governor George W. Bush became President-elect and began forming his transition committee. Bush tried to reach across party lines and bridge a divided America, stating that "the president of the United States is the president of every single American, of every race and every background." Bush took the oath of office on January 20, 2001.
The U.S. Electoral College vote was so close that a shift from Bush to Gore in almost any state won by Bush would have swung the election to Gore (271 Electoral College votes for Bush and 266 for Gore).
Vice President Al Gore came in second even though he received a larger number of popular votes (Gore got 500,000 more popular votes than Bush) and this contributed to the controversy of the election. This was at least the fourth time that a candidate who did not receive a plurality of the popular vote received a majority of the electoral college vote, the first time probably being in the 1824 elections although popular vote records do not exist for earlier elections. Until this election, the 1876 elections had been the most contentious in U.S. history. However, it should be pointed out that if the American system were based on the popular vote, rather than the electoral college, then the turnout of voters would have been different. Voter turnout in states that favor one party heavily tends to be lower. Because of this, the popular vote cannot be used to predict who would have won an actual popular vote election.
Florida election results
On election night, it quickly became clear that Florida would be a contentious state. The national television networks, through information provided them by the Voter News Service first called Florida for Gore, then Bush, then as 'too close to call'. The Voter News Service was an organization backed and supported by television networks and the Associated Press to help determine the results of presidential elections as early as possible, through early result tallies and exit polling.
Due to the narrow margin of the original vote count, Florida law mandated a statewide recount. In addition, the Gore campaign requested that the votes in 3 counties be recounted by hand, which is within their rights under Florida election law. The Bush campaign then sued in federal court to stop the hand recounts. This case eventually reached the United States Supreme Court, which ruled 5-4 to stop the vote count, effectively declaring Bush the winner. The US supreme court also found that the additional recounts requested by Gore to be unconstitutional, in a 7-2 vote. Ultimately, Gore conceded the election and asked that his supporters also acknowledge Bush as the new president.
| Presidential Candidate | Vote Total | Pct | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| George W. Bush (W) | 2,912,790 | 48.850 | Republican | ||
| Al Gore | 2,912,253 | 48.841 | Democrat | ||
| Ralph Nader | 97,421 | 1.633 | Green | ||
| Patrick J. Buchanan | 17,412 | 0.292 | Reform | ||
| Harry Browne | 16,102 | 0.270 | Libertarian | ||
| John Hagelin | 2,274 | 0.038 | Natural Law/Reform | ||
| Howard Phillips | 1,378 | 0.023 | Constitution | ||
| Other | 3,027 | 0.051 | - | ||
| Total | 5,962,657 | 100.00 | |||
| Source: CBS News State Results for Election 2000 | |||||
Controversy in Florida
Following the election a number of studies have been made of the electoral process in Florida by Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties. A number of flaws and improprieties have been discovered in the process. Listed below are the various controversies that have arisen.
The "butterfly ballot"
See also: ChoicePoint and Greg Palast
Response to the problems
Since the Presidential Election was so close and hotly contested in Florida, the U.S. Government and state governments have pushed for election reform, usually consisting of installation of modern electronic voting machines.
Electronic voting was originally seen as a panacea for the ills faced during the 2000 election. In years following, such machines were questioned for a lack of a redundant paper trail, less than ideal security standards, and low tolerance for software or hardware problems. The U.S. Presidential Election of 2000 began the debate about election and voting reform, but it did not end it. See Electronic voting: problems.
Nader was the most successful of third party candidates, drawing 2.74% of the popular vote. His campaign was marked by a traveling tour of "super-rallies"; large rallies held in sports arenas like Madison Square Garden, with filmmaker Michael Moore as master of ceremonies. After initially ignoring Nader, the Gore campaign made a big publicity pitch to (potential) Nader supporters in the final weeks of the campaign, downplaying Gore's differences with Nader on the issues and claiming that Gore's ideas were more similar to Nader's than Bush's were, noting that Gore had a better chance of winning than Nader. In the aftermath of the campaign, many Gore supporters blamed Nader for drawing enough would-be Gore votes to push Bush over Gore, labeling Nader a "spoiler" candidate.
Major campaign sponsors
Republican Party
Democratic Party
Media post-electoral studies/recounts
In 2003, US citizens living in the state of Florida were asked who they voted for in the 2000 Election as part of the Statistical Abstract Census. The results showed President Bush receiving more than 1000 votes more than former Vice President Gore.Abstention of D.C. elector
One elector from the District of Columbia abstained from voting in the Electoral College, in protest of the fact that D.C. still has no representation at all in Congress.See also:
References/external links
zh-cn:2000年美国总统选举