While the races in Florida last week appeared to be decided by thousands or tens of thousands, the presidential count there in 2000 was being measured in hundreds. The Court further held that it had "considerable uncertainty" as to the reasons given by the Florida Supreme Court for its decision. An elector from the District of Columbia "cast a blank ballot", effectively abstaining, so DC cast only 2 of its 3 electoral votes for a candidate for both President and Vice President. Wednesday, November 8 dawned with some uncertainty as to who would be the next president. This immediately reduced the Bush margin from 537 to 154 (537215168 is 154). rythionic. The Associated Press, 11 Nov 2001. c. 271. Print and broadcast media cited often contradictory exit-polling numbers, and the races in Oregon and New Mexico would remain too close to call for some days. In the Election of 2000, Florida was. Direct link to Mr. S's post B.K., sounds like you are, Posted 5 years ago. An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector. Regarding the second issue, the court ruled that the statutory scheme must be interpreted in light of the Florida state constitution's declaration that "all political power is inherent in the people," with any ambiguities therefore construed "liberally." United States presidential election of 2000, American presidential election held on Nov. 7, 2000, in which Republican George W. Bush narrowly lost the popular vote to Democrat Al Gore but defeated Gore in the electoral college. Fewer than 600 votes separated the candidates, and that margin appeared to be narrowing. Gore received the most votes, with 48.4% of the popular vote compared to 47.9% for Bush. Gore request for recounts in four counties: Florida Supreme Court order: accepts completed recounts for Broward, Palm Beach, Volusia and Miami-Dade (139 precincts); applies the above "prevailing standard" (but with no overvotes) to remaining Miami-Dade and other 63 counties. County officials tried to discern voter intent through a cloud of hanging chads (incompletely punched paper ballots) and pregnant chads (paper ballots that were dimpled, but not pierced, during the voting process), as well as overvotes (ballots that recorded multiple votes for the same office) and undervotes (ballots that recorded no vote for a given office). This page was last edited on 31 January 2023, at 18:06. These lawsuits escalated to the U.S. Supreme Court where the final, 5-4 decision was made, ending the recounts and giving the state of Florida's Electoral votes to George W. Bush. "Florida recount study: Bush still wins: Study reveals flaws in ballots, voter errors may have cost Gore victory." In one of the most controversial decisions that the Supreme Court concluded, the case ended up with a 5 to 4 ruling for Bush on Dec. 12, 2000, a move that puzzled reporters as some said they ruled in favor of Bush, while others said the same about Gore. Canvassing boards of Alachua, Bay, Bradford, Charlotte, Columbia, Escambia, Franklin, Gulf, Hendry, Hernando, Holmes, Lake, Manatee, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, St. Johns and Washington Counties, Election day decisions by 17 Optiscan counties not to "manually review overvotes that couldn't be properly read by machine", Canvassing boards of Alachua, Bay, Charlotte, Citrus, Columbia, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Holmes, Jackson, Lake, Leon, Manatee, Monroe, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, St. Johns, Suwanee and Washington Counties, Election day decisions by 19 Optiscan counties not to "manually review undervotes that couldn't be read by counting machines", Canvassing boards of Collier, DeSoto, Dixie, Duval, Glades, Hardee, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Jefferson, Lee, Madison, Marion, Miami-Dade, Nassau, Osceola, Pasco, Pinellas, Sarasota, Sumter and Wakulla Counties, Election day decisions by 21 punch-card counties not to "attempt to determine voter intent on undervotes that couldn't be read by counting machines", The above 21 boards plus Palm Beach County Canvassing Board, Election day decisions by 22 punch-card counties not to "attempt to determine voter intent on overvotes that couldn't be properly read by machine", Decision not to review dimpled ballots with clear indications of intent, Decision to change county's certified vote from the mechanical recount total back to the election night vote total, Decision not to include Palm Beach County's vote recount results (all but 53 precincts) submitted before certification deadline, Decision not to include Miami-Dade County's vote recount results (139 precincts) accomplished before certification deadline. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. The next day, the Florida Supreme Court allowed manual recounts in Palm Beach and Broward Counties to continue but left it to a state judge to decide whether Harris must include those votes in the final tally. [10] Voters from reliably Democratic states in the Northeast had also been migrating to Florida since the 1950s. No. On November 21, the Florida Supreme Court ruled unanimously that manual counts in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade Counties must be included and set 5:00p.m. on November 26 as the earliest time for certification. [4], An analysis of the NORC data by University of Pennsylvania researcher Steven F. Freeman and journalist Joel Bleifuss concluded that, no matter what standard is used, after a recount of all uncounted votes, Gore would have been the victor. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. United States presidential election of 2004 - Britannica the same name, a blank space or a historical or fictional name (1): the same name, a blank space or an uncertified person's name, the same name, a blank space, a historical or fictional name or an uncertified person's name. "But," it said, "Gore could not have won without a hand count of overvote ballots, something that he did not request.". Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards. [78] The 175,010 ballots examined contained undervotes (votes with no choice made for president) and overvotes (votes made with more than one choice marked). Cerabino, Frank. Was there anything else that he could have done? But in 2000, the prize was the presidency of the United States. [2] That deadline arrived two hours after the release of the Court's decision. Despite the continued economic growth that Gore could attribute to his economic stewardship with Clinton, early in the general election campaign it appeared that Bush might easily defeat Gore, who appeared wooden and dismissive of Bush in the campaigns debates and who was criticized repeatedly by the Bush campaign as an exaggerator. In punchcard counties, 1 in 25 ballots had uncountable presidential votes. Where a ballot is so marked as to plainly indicate the voter's choice and intent, it should be counted as marked unless some positive provision of law would be violated. Bush, and Democrat Bill Clinton. Under Florida election law, a machine recount of all votes cast was required because the margin of victory was less than 0.5 percent. To some, voting is a right that should be guaranteed regardless of any incompetence, error, failure, or irresponsibility on the part of the voter. All were among 10,310 undervotes in the county. What good and Ideas came from china ? Overall, the results were justtoo close to callon election night. Gore had first called Bush to congratulate him on his victory, called again to rescind the concession. Rowman & Littlefield. (The case had also been argued on the basis of Article II jurisdictional grounds, which found favor with only Justices Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and William Rehnquist.) Will the current Florida conundrum need a resolution from the same source? It was anecdotal evidence at best, and local authorities argued persuasively that the police presence near a polling place was pure coincidence. [2] Gore phoned Bush the night of the election to concede, then retracted his concession after learning how close the Florida count was.[3]. Declared George bush the winner of Florida after intervention from the Supreme Court of the United States and gave bush the state by a margin of 537 votes. Direct link to Edward (Eddie) W.'s post One big question that I h, Posted 2 years ago. [4] Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting's analysis of the NORC study and media coverage of it supported these interpretations and criticized the coverage of the study by media outlets such as The New York Times and the other media consortium members for focusing on how events might have played out rather than on the statewide vote count. [4] Once it became clear that Florida would decide the presidential election, the nation's attention focused on the manual recount. Do I believe that these people inadvertently cast their votes for Pat Buchanan? The standards that were chosen for the NORC study ranged from a "most restrictive" standard (accepts only so-called perfect ballots that machines somehow missed and did not count, or ballots with unambiguous expressions of voter intent) to a "most inclusive" standard (applies a uniform standard of "dimple or better" on punch marks and "all affirmative marks" on optical scan ballots). [37] Because there was no clear indication of what the voters intended, those numbers were not included in the consortium's final tabulations. [15]. The Constitution has it structured the way it is, and they did it that way. Following the 2000 presidential election, the bush - brainly.in For the results of the subsequent election, see United States presidential election of 2004. 2000 Electoral College Results. United States presidential election of 2000, American presidential election held on Nov. 7, 2000, in which Republican George W. Bush narrowly lost the popular vote to Democrat Al Gore but defeated Gore in the electoral college. [19]:215216 Also, before the election, the Secretary of State's office had expunged tens of thousands of citizens identified as felons from the Florida voting rolls, with African-Americans identified on some counties' lists at up to five times their share of the population. Their predictions came not long after the official closing time for voting in the state, when relatively few votes had actually been counted. She was also an ally of Republican Gov. "Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes: Online Sunshine", "Bush leads Gore by 327 votes in Florida recount, Associated Press reports", "A State Legislature Cannot Appoint Its Preferred Slate of Electors to Override the Will of the People After the Election", "Gore concedes presidential race after the fight of his life", "The Butterfly Ballot: Anatomy of a Disaster", "Florida's flawed "voter-cleansing" program", "Do Voting Rights Notification Laws Increase Ex-Felon Turnout? The 2000 United States presidential election in Florida took place on November 7, 2000, as part of the nationwide presidential election. On December 4, the Court ordered the Florida Supreme Court to clarify its ruling that had extended the certification date. Most of the variation occurred in Votomatic overvotes, the least likely ballots to yield votes in a recount. That part of the vote count was completed on November 18, increasing Bush's lead to 930 votes. Because Clinton had been such a popular president, Gore had no difficulty securing the Democratic nomination, though he sought to distance himself from the Monica Lewinsky scandal and Clintons impeachment trial. If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website. Great Britain,France,Germany,Russia,Italy,Japan, Explain five reason why self examination is important. Due to the narrow margin of the original vote count, Florida Election Code 102.141 mandated a statewide machine recount, which began the day after the election. appealed the florida supreme court's decision to allow a hand recount. 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. hide caption. It would have made the election longer, yes, but was it REALLY unconstitutional? What followed was a five-week war over the ballots, the rules, the law and the courts. The same day, a state judge upheld that deadline but ruled that further recounts could be considered later. Ultimately, the contest focused on Florida. If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked. The NORC study (see below) did not address either of the concerns about overseas absentee ballots and Nassau County's certification change, as their effects were already included in the baseline totals. Volusia County started its recount on November 12. County custom standard: what each individual county canvassing board considered a vote, in regard to both undervotes and overvotes. That decision was announced on live worldwide television by the Florida Supreme Court's spokesman Craig Waters, the Court's public information officer. That study was conducted by a group that included the Miami Herald, USA Today and Knight Ridder newspapers. Bush led the election-night vote count in Florida by 1,784 votes. In addition, some counties had provided an extra 432 total ballots, while others produced 1,333 fewer ballots than expected. Karl Rove, in full Karl Christian Rove, (born December 25, 1950, Denver, Colorado, U.S.), American political consultant and principal architect of U.S. Pres. The standards considered by BDO Seidman were: The study notes that because of the possibility of mistakes, it is difficult to conclude that Gore would have won under the strict standard or that a high degree of certainty obtained in the study's results. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. our elections: badly kept lists, shoddy ballots during the 2000 Presidential Election. Reflections on the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election - Brookings Africa? Map of the United States showing the number of electoral votes at stake in each state, colored red or blue according to whether Bush (red) or Gore (blue) won the state. Meanwhile, Republicans relied on their own 52-page manual for the same purpose. ", "Irish-American Republicans - Our Achievements", "Miami Mayor Denies Gore Urged Him to Publicly Support Recount", "Vote-swapping Web sites are legal, appeals court (finally) says", "Nader's Traders vs. State Regulators: Examining the Controversy over Internet Vote Swapping in the 2000 Presidential Election", "Florida Supreme Court Stays Certification of Florida Presidential Ballots; Counties Counting Overseas Absentee Ballots", "Text: Bush Campaign Adviser James A. Baker III", "Text: Gore Campaign Chairman William Daley", "The Butterfly Did It: The Aberrant Vote for Buchanan in Palm Beach County, Florida", "Buchanan camp: Bush claims are "nonsense", "THE 2000 ELECTIONS: THE PALM BEACH BALLOT; Florida Democrats Say Ballot's Design Hurt Gore", "PALM BEACH COUNTY CANVASSING BOARD v. HARRIS", "Palm Beach County Canvassing Board v. Harris", "SUPPLEMENTAL BRIEF OF THE PALM BEACH COUNTY CANVASSING BOARD, FOLLOWING REMAND FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES", "The Lawyers' Role in Selecting the President: A Complete Legal History of the 2000 Election", "Did Illegal Overseas Absentee Ballots Decide the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election? Initial election returns showed that Gore had won the popular vote, but neither candidate had garnered the 270 electoral votes required to win the presidency. Some media reports focused on undervotes (chad blocked hole, wrong ink or pencil used, partial oval mark not detected, humidity affected scanner, ballot feeder misalignment), while others also included overvotes (hole punched or oval filled plus a write-in name, other multi-marked ballots). The hotly-contested battle for the presidency between George W. Bush and Al Gore was ultimately decided by the Supreme Court. Gore garnered 255 electoral votes to Bushs 246, but neither candidate won the 270 electoral votes necessary for victory. By late November the Florida state canvassing board certified Bush the winner by 537 votes, but the election still was unresolved, as legal battles remained. "Florida Review Shows Narrowest Margin." Before long, other networks were hearing the objections and reaching the same conclusion. The best answer I can give you is "it's complicated". The Herron memo gave postmark and "point of origin" criteria that Herron maintained could be used to challenge overseas ballots. It was the closest presidential election in American history, with only several hundred votes in Florida determining the winner out of more than 100 million ballots cast nationwide. Nonetheless, Republicans put significant advertising resources into the state, and later polls indicated that the state was very much in play as late as September 2000. On November 17, Judge Terry Lewis of Leon County Circuit Court permitted Harris to certify the election results without the manual recounts, but on the same day the Florida Supreme Court stayed that decision until it could consider an appeal by Gore. While Democrats did make their way down to Florida, there was nothing like the certainty or the passion that ignited Republicans. Later in the evening, the networks reversed their call, moving to "too close to call", then later giving it to Bush; then they retracted that call as well, finally indicating the state was "too close to call". Even so, when we think of that time, many of us conjure up memories as sharp as barbed wire, roll our eyes or sigh out loud when anyone mentions "Florida 2000.". B.K., sounds like you are a believer in state's rights. A larger consortium of news organizations, including USA Today, The Miami Herald, Knight Ridder, The Tampa Tribune, and five other newspapers next conducted a full recount of all machine-rejected ballots, including both undervotes and overvotes. Tanner, Robert and Sharon L. Crenson. Brady, Henry E.; Collier, David (2004). Since then, we have seen several elections in which exit polling over-sampled voters with college and post-college educations possibly because these voters are more willing to complete an exit poll "ballot" as they leave their polling place. Al Gore conceded the election to Bush, but disagreed with the US Supreme Court's ruling. In particular, from summer 1999 to spring 2000, Florida's voter list was subject to an unusually high number of problems. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Gore called Bush to concede the election, but in the early hours of the following morning it became apparent that the Florida race was much closer than Gores staff had originally believed. How such recounts in the case at hand could be made to fit into the statutory scheme, which, as Harris interpreted it, contemplated a quick certification followed, if necessary, by an election contest during which a court (rather than the canvassing boards) would be empowered to correct errors. 9 terms. [14]:89 On November 13, the federal court ruled against an injunction. By November 10 the machine recount was complete, and Bushs lead stood at 327 votes out of six million cast. Bush also probably would have won had the state conducted the limited recount of only four heavily Democratic counties that Al Gore asked for, the study found. Florida Attorney General Robert Butterworth in his advisory opinion to county canvassing boards wrote:[60]. Also at issue was the so-called butterfly ballot design used in Palm Beach county, which caused confusion among some Gore votersprompting them to inadvertently cast their votes for third-party candidate Pat Buchanan, who received some 3,400 (some 20 percent of his total votes statewide). With Bush at 246 electoral votes and Gore at 266, the Florida results likely determined the outcome of the 2000 presidential election. [77] NORC investigators were able to examine 175,010 ballots, 99.2% of Florida's total,[78] but county officials were unable to deliver "as many as 2,200 problem ballots" to NORC.