Introduction

     The US Presidential Election of 2000 featured George W. Bush and Al Gore. It will go down in history as one of the most closest elections¡¦ in US history. It also goes down as one of the most controversial. The final decision was based on just a few hundred votes in Florida. The controversy began when the media prematurely declared the winner twice based solely on exit polls. They finally conceded that the Florida count was just too close to predict. It would take a month before the election was ultimately certified after numerous court challenges and vote recounts. Republican candidate George W. Bush was declared the winner of the Florida¡¦s 25 electoral votes. This was a victory by a razor thin margin of popular votes. It was just the fourth time in United States history that a candidate had won the Presidency while losing the popular vote. How could this be and furthermore, how could this happen? Is this just the tip of the iceberg that election reform is necessary? We need to insure that every American vote counts. This is supposed to be the basis of getting Americans to the voting booths according to our founding fathers. So what can be done to make sure that every vote DOES count?
The Campaign

     Al Gore was chosen by the Democratic Party as their choice for nomination. Al Gore had previously served under US President, Bill Clinton, and was immediately the front runner as the party¡¦s top choice. His choice for Vice President was Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut. Leiberman was also the first person of Jewish dissent to be name to a national party ticket. His choice of Lieberman was determined to have been made to separate Gore from the scandals of President Clinton. It was necessary for Al Gore to distance himself as far as possible from the inherited connections. He declared himself as defender of the people against large corporations, special interest groups, and the powerful. He pledged to extend Medicare to assist senior citizens purchase prescription drugs, push for a universal health care system, lower crime rates, and maintain the strength of our standing army.
     Al Gore began his campaign trail by attacking George W. Bush¡¦s tax plans. A firm believer that these plans were only intended to benefit the most wealthy of America¡¦s citizens. His proposed tax plans were targeted at more of the US population- the lower and middle class citizens. Another important issue in Al Gore¡¦s campaign was the protection of Social Security. This is an issue as important to the American citizens as taxes. People are in need of being reassured that the program remains solvent for their use when needed. American pay into the system and they expect to be recipients in their time of need.
     George W. Bush was no stranger to politics. His father is George H. Bush, the 41st President of the United States. Son, George W. had his own career and experience working to his advantage in the state of Texas as Governor. Early in his second term as Governor, plans were being constructed for his run for the nation¡¦s highest office. Bush¡¦s choice for a running mate was Dick Cheney. Bush felt that he was the best man for the position given his history in elected and appointed offices. Cheney¡¦s resume includes serving as chief of staff under former president Gerald Ford, and secretary of defense for his father. This decision also gave George W. the solidarity it lacked when people questioned his experience. Cheney would be there to guide George W. in times of need.
     George W. Bush ran his campaign on the philosophy of renewed moral leadership. Something that had been lost in the Clinton-Gore administration. Bush focused on issues such as providing tax cuts and improving education. He also had a desire to change Social Security by letting people invest a portion of their funds in the stock market. Something that we are seeing as being a controversial subject yet today.
November 7, 2000 - Election Night

     The race between the candidates was expected to be a close one. However, no one ever dreamt the controversy that was about the unfold. As in the past, the media was covering the all important election. They had always relied on exit polls as the polls closed across the nation. In reality, the Florida results were just too close to call. Nevertheless, that did not stop the media from doing so. Not once, but twice, major news media outlets were erroneous in their report. Around 8pm, it was declared that Al Gore was the projected winner of the electoral votes in the state of Florida. However, a couple of hours later, the projection was retracted and restated as Florida as being too close to call. Then, just after 2am on November 8, the mistake was made for a second time. The major networks declared George W. as the winner. This even led to Al Gore calling the Governor to concede. However, as Gore prepared to address his supporters in Nashville, Tennessee, he was alert to the shrinking numbers in Bush¡¦s lead. The final total was now less than one half of a percent lead in favor of Bush. That immediately calls for a recount of votes under state law. Subsequently, Gore called Bush and retracted his concession. It wasn¡¦t over yet! One thing was, Al Gore had prevailed in the popular vote but without Florida¡¦s tally, the electoral vote was up in the air. The election wasn¡¦t over and the recounts began.
Dispute

     The results of the November 7, 2000 election were unknown for more than a month after the election. The endless counting and recounting of the Florida presidential votes swung the election continuously. Figures on election night gave 245 electoral votes to Bush and 255 to Gore. Under the electoral vote, it takes 270 votes to win the presidency. There were also two other states in the mix, New Mexico and Oregon. Like Florida, the voting was too close to call at the time. It was later that both New Mexico and Oregon declared in favor of Gore making the total now 246-267. This left the final determining factor up to the state of Florida.
     General concerns of the fairness and accuracy of the Florida count emerged. The small change in the vote count could determine the outcome, whatever it was. At last, the final and disputed official count gave the victory to Bush by a mere 537 votes.
     Immediately, the Gore campaign filed a dispute in the state¡¦s election results by requesting that questionable ballots in four Florida counties be hand counted. Bush counteracted by filing suit against manual recounts. The Bush campaign hired former Secretary of State, James Baker to oversee the legal rulings. The Gore campaign hired former Secretary of State, Warren Christopher on their behalf. This eventually led to the Gore campaign appealing to the Florida Supreme Court. It was ordered that the recounting procedure to move forward. Then the Bush campaign appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States. They agreed to take the case of Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board on December 1. On December 4, the matter was returned to the Florida Supreme Court for clarification. This was the birth of Bush v. Gore.
Florida Controversy

     Since the 2000 US Presidential Election, many studies have been conducted of the electoral process in the state of Florida. There have been a number of flaws that have been discovered in the process. Some of these controversies include:
„h News media call the state of Florida for Gore at approximately 7:48 EST. However, the western panhandle of the state is in the Central Time Zone. The polls were still open and people were still voting. It was also reported that the polls were closed in Florida while in fact the polls in the western CST were still registering votes. Did this error cause a number of voters, maybe as high as 15,000 not to vote? A survey done estimate by John McLaughlin & Associates feel that this mistake could have cost Bush around 5,000 votes in an area that is traditionally seen as Republican. The confusion to the voters in the state could have been avoided had the networks hadn¡¦t been too quick to make the call.
„h The brother of George W. Bush, Jeb Bush, was the governor at the time for the state of Florida. This lead to accusations by the Gore team of various improprieties charges. They felt that the brother connection was too strong and the assurances by Jeb for a Republican victory greatly adversed the final results. This also led to the requests for the removal of Florida election officials.
„h There were also a number of invalid overseas ballots. Some were missing postmarks and others will filled out wrong. A poll worker went so far as to fill in the missing information on over 100 of such ballots. The Democrats wanted the entire overseas ballot forms to be discarded. The largest group of disputed ballots was the military¡¦s ballots. The Republican argued in favor of keeping the disputed ballots.
„h There were almost 180,000 ballots that were omitted in the official final total. These had been mistakenly filled out and in some counties the voting machines returned the ballot to allow voters to try again. In yet other counties, the reject mechanisms were not in place, therefore, giving a voter only one chance to have marked the ballot correctly. It was later discovered that these reject mechanisms were disabled in counties with a trend in voting Democratic.
Decision

     Ultimately, Al Gore conceded the election to Bush. This was based on the decision of the Supreme Court on December 11, 2000 to end the recount. The basis of this decision was based on the various standards in different counties of Florida. It constituted an equal protection violation. The court vote was 7-2. Although Al Gore strongly disagreed with the decision, he finally conceded for ¡§the sake of our unity of the people and the strength of our democracy.¡¦
Electoral College Method

     The American people do not directly elect the president; the Electoral College does. This leaves many mixed feelings among American citizens and the need for change is pressing.
     Our founding fathers set up the Electoral College for several reasons. At the time, there was no radio or television. It was difficult for people to learn about candidates outside of their own states. It was felt that voters should choose electors who would take it upon themselves to learn about the candidates and ultimately decide. It was set up to be fair to all states. Each state receives one electoral vote for each of it US Senators and one vote for each of it US Representatives. The number of Representatives is based on population. The number of senators is different. Every state has two Senators. Therefore, small states have bigger advantage in the Electoral College than the popular vote. No state has less than three electoral votes.
     The voting process takes place after the election. There are meetings in state capitals and the casting of votes begins. To win, a candidate must receive at least 270 electoral votes out of 538. If the result ends without a majority, the House of Representatives select the President with the Senate choosing the Vice President.
Reform

     Do we need a change in our election process? Some think so. Today, the Electoral College just isn¡¦t working the way it thought to. With increasing technology, information spreads quicker and more efficiently than was ever imagined possible. Electors are not supposed to make up their own minds when they cast their vote. They were intended to follow the wishes of the people who voted for them.
     In most cases, the candidate who wins a majority of the popular vote will receive all of that state¡¦s electoral votes. The Winner-Take-All System could be the ideal system. If the popular vote declares a winner, shouldn¡¦t it be fitting that the electoral votes should be awarded to the candidate with the most votes? Without reform, Americans begin to wonder why bother. Why vote if their vote won¡¦t be counted?
Conclusion

     There are both advantages and disadvantages in the current Electoral College System. Some of the advantages include the contribution of the cohesiveness of the country by requiring a distribution of the popular support to be elected president. It can also enhance the status of minority interest. It maintains the political stability of the nations with the encouragement of a two party system. It also maintains a federal system of government and representation.
     Disadvantages that are considered are the possibility of electing a minority president. Also the possibility of the Electoral College¡¦s role in suppressing voter turnout. It also could fail to accurately reflect the national popular choice.
     It can be argued that we shouldn¡¦t change what our founding fathers intended. However, we must also remember that they denied the vote to blacks and women at first. They also didn¡¦t trust citizens to elect US Senators as well. Things change with time for good reasons. It is time to change the voting process in the United States today.