The presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore is the closest race in modern political history. The election could possibly be seen as, “endless” because it took 36 days, over 5 weeks to recount and determine the winner of the state Florida. Determining whether or not the election was legitimate because of this issue is hard to say. However, it is clear that the votes were tampered with and it took too long to figure out who won the state. Al Gore received 540,000 more votes in the popular vote in that nation than Bush, which in this election particularly is a significant number more. The decision allowed Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris's previous certification of George W. Bush as the winner of Florida's 25 electoral
... of Florida, under the Electoral College, electoral votes for the candidate running for office receive a plurality of their popular vote. Therefore, whoever gets the majority of the national electoral votes wins the election. Bush won by a narrow margin of these votes resulting in a mandatory machine recount, which afterwards concluded that Bush’s victory margin, was even narrower. This allowed Al Gore to request a recount in the counties of his choice, so naturally he chose the counties whose votes were historically democratic. The uncertainty continued through the circuit courts all the way to The Florida Supreme Court who ruled in Bush v. Gore that there was not enough time to recount the popular vote ballots without violating the United States constitution. The recounting of the ballots would have violated the Fourteenth Amendments “Equal Protection Clause”.
In 1888, Benjamin Harrison won a seat in the White House. He lost popular votes because he carried electoral votes on his side. Furthermore, the margin between electoral votes was less than one percent, but Harrison still became president despite the 100,000 popular votes difference! Election of 2000 came up with the same scenario. Gore won people’s support but lost electors’; therefore he had to accept G.W.... ...
Florida with 25 electoral votes did not have an official winner because the result was inside the margin of error for machine counting. Gore knew the only way to figure this out was to have a manual recount of several counties ballots. As Palm Beach County was recounting its ballots, Florida Secretary Harris, a Republican and co-chair of the Florida Bush campaign, officially certified the election for Bush. In reaction to this decision, Gore and Palm Beach filed suit against Bush and Harris in Florida Supreme Court demanding that the recount should go on. On November 22, Bush appealed to the United States Supreme Court against Palm Beach County Canvassing Board stating the decision was in violation of a federal statute requiring electors to be finished at a given point before the Electoral College met.
The election of 1896 was a race between William McKinley, the Republican, and William Jennings Bryan, the Democrat. McKinley was the governor of Ohio and Bryan was the an attorney from Lincoln, Nebraska. This election is seen as the start of a new era in American politics, also known as the “realignment” election. (“The Election of 1896”). This election was mostly the city against the country and their battle for dominance in American politics. In the 1800s, American presidential contests had been a vote on whether the country should be governed by agrarian or industrial interests. This election marked the end of trying to win the White House with agrarian votes and definitely shifted where the country was heading.
The Presidential Election of 1992 In 1992, the incumbent president, George Bush, was seeking reelection. It was the general consensus that he would be the 'hands down, no contest winner'. When the smoke had cleared and the votes were tallied, many were shocked at the results. Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton defeated the incumbent in a landslide!
Last year’s circumstance was the first of its kind in over a century. There have been many close elections, but none have resulted in the popular candidate losing to his opponent. The Electoral College cast the final vote in that election. The people who went out to the polls in November, many of whom believing that they were indeed voting for president, did not.
The Bush V. Gore case was one of the closest elections in presidential candidacy history, as it ultimately decided the 2000 presidential nomination between Texas governor George W. Bush and vice-president Al Gore (time.com) The case was conclusively decided on former Texas Governor, George Walker Bush, in a precise presidential vote, effectively naming Bush the 43rd president of the United States (time.com). The court’s decision was correct with the siding of Bush because the Majority Opinion argued that the Florida’s vote recount was unconstitutional according to the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. For the Dissenting Opinion, the case could be argued that if the ballots were not polluted on Florida’s side of the vote, there would have been a accurate outcome of the votes. The case could be argued that the deadline for the recounts was placed in an unrealistic timeframe to fully complete the manual recounts in the select four Florida counties.
Likewise, there will likely be many recounts in any given election. With the problem of voter fraud likely increasing under a National Popular vote, recounts will be necessary and the validity of a selected President will always be questioned. “A dispute over the outcome of an Electoral College vote is possible—it happened in 2000—but it’s less likely than a dispute over the popular vote (Posner, Richard
Beginning at the time the Electoral College was put into place, many debated over its pros and cons. As time has gone on, more and more people have begun to show support for a change in the system (Saad 2013). After George W. Bush defeated AL Gore in the 2000 election by losing popular vote, but winning the college, leading to a “legal recount contest”, many began to question the fairness of the college (Cohen, 2010). This marked the “third time in the nation’s history” the less popular candidate has taken office (Longley). However, the Electoral College should remain in place because it ensures the continuation of a Representative Democracy, maintains a two party system, and because currently no plausible plan has been produced as a means of replacement.
On March 16th, I watched the movie Recount directed by Ray Roach. After watching the movie, I was asked to, “Criticize whether the election of 2000, between G.W. Bush and Al Gore was legitimate.” I strongly believe the election was beyond unfair. From the very beginning of the movie you can tell that the votes were coming in close.. Ron Clane asks if the Democrats were going to win and another man responds, “Yes, but it will be a squeaker,” suggesting that this is a close match between the two of them. Both Republicans and Democrats knew that Florida was going to be the state that ultimately chose the next president of the United States, and when people started demanding recounts, Republicans did all they could in their power to stall or even stop recounts from being considered. Pat Buchanan went on television and stated that he believes people voted for him in the belief that they had actually voted for Al Gore. An example of Bush’s party trying to stop the votes from being counted was the fact that they purposely disrupted the hand counts that were
According to the YouTube film, “Fahrenheit 9 11”, provided factual information on the the way George W. Bush actually won the election. Al Gore who was running for president at the time was actually winning according to the media at one point. Multiple news channel presented, Al Gore, as the winner of many states. However, Fox 5 News provided
Each state held a close percentage ranging from an average 2-6 percent difference in votes between candidates. Florida had been anticipated as a Republican victory, which led to disappointment among Republican voters when its electoral votes were awarded to Al Gore. I continued to watch as each state was announced and electoral votes were awarded to either candidate. About an hour later, Florida became “too close to call” and CNN among other st...
It was quite apparent that the American people voted to have Vice President Al Gore as our president. He won the nations popular vote. However, our constitution provides for an Electoral College in Article II, Section I. This body of electorates has the final say. The final voice was not that of the people but that of our government. Many don't understand how the Electoral College works. For those of us who don't know how the Electoral College works allow me to explain. The Electoral College is made up of electors. The number of electors equals the number of each states representatives in both houses of Congress. These electors vote on whom will be our next President and Vice President based on the popular vote of that state. If the state votes mostly republican then the states whole "electoral" vote is cast in favor of the Republican candidate.
The year is 2016 and American is under a new lead with Donald Trump taking office as the 45th president of the United States of America. American politics and the election process has never been more in question than they are now. With having the most outlandish and chaotic election to occur in a very long time, people are starting to question if the election for the President of the United States is rigged. Most people think their votes do not count what so ever when they go to vote for their candidate. The electoral college is an outdated, faulty, and inconsistent system that was implemented hundreds of years ago and altered to the benefits of politicians. While there are evident benefits of having the electoral college intact, it is too
At the end of every electoral season, the losing candidate makes a conceding statement that acknowledges the new president in power. Despite this not being an obligatory action, candidates are aware of this tradition and continue to uphold it. Even if a candidate were to refuse to accept the results as legitimate and not concede, they would be at no fault with the law. Essentially, this tradition is just to signal the end of any remaining debates. However, the consequences of not doing this brings forth another problem that could potentially threaten the authority of our state. But, before we get into that, let’s examine the possible ways a candidate can justify their refusal to accept the legitimacy of the