The 2000 presidential election was a tight race between republican George W. Bush and democrat Al Gore. Florida was one of the swing states of this election and would therefore play a decisive role in the outcome. The results, however, were not so straightforward. After winning Florida by the small margin of 0.5%, Bush’s victory was not easily received. Florida residents as well as Gore himself demanded a recount on the grounds that the machine’s that analyze the ballots could have easily made a mistake.
The ballots designed so that in order to cast a vote one must punch a hole through the indicated mark on the paper. Because Bush won Florida by such a narrow margin, people began to wonder if it was possible that the hole-punch ballots could have provided inaccurate results. Under this assumption, a recount began. Media organization began analyzing the ballots— especially in countries known to be historically democratic. Iconic terms came about to describe the errors of the whole punches that could have led to a miscount. “Hanging door chad” meant that the whole was still attached by the corner. “Swinging Door char” mean that the whole was attached by just one side. Dimpled Chad” referred to when there was just a dent on the paper. The list goes on.
Finally, on December 8, 2000 the supreme court halted the recount. Judges on the court insisted that the recount violated the constitution, and therefore must stop. Following the court decision, Gore accepted defeat to Bush. AS a result, George W. Bush became the 41 president of the United States.
Great post Kate! I love how the public invented weird names to describe the different types of failed hole punches on ballots. Today voting systems are much more convenient, accurate, and secure. Done with machines, the votes no longer have to amount for human error. Also, the machines are not connected to wifi, which means they cannot be "hacked". While there are new machines, some states still use voting by hand techniques. You can read about the different voting methods for each state here:
ReplyDeletehttps://ballotpedia.org/Voting_methods_and_equipment_by_state
Loved the post! The Bush v Gore case, taken by the Rehnquist court, it significant because it signified a shift from the court endorsing judicial restraint to judicial activism. Rehnquist entered the court favoring states rights but this case was one of the most activist cases in United States history.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! It was interesting to learn about the significance of the Bush v Gore case – the voting system was very unorganized back then especially due to the failed hole punches on the ballots. These bad techniques brought up issues that needed to be changed.
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