VII.

Reaction and Effects

The country was deeply divided on the outcome of the Florida election dispute. Many Americans felt that Gore should have conceded much earlier instead of pursuing legal action. They argued that Bush was the rightful winner each time the votes were counted. Other Americans felt that the U.S. Supreme Court never allowed all the votes to be counted. Many were simply relieved that the whole spectacle was over. Many others were disappointed in the U.S. Supreme Court because they thought the court was supposed to be above political battles. In a poll taken by the Wall Street Journal right after the Supreme Court decision, 53 percent of those surveyed saw the ruling as politically motivated.

During and after the election dispute, some Americans argued that the electoral college system should be abolished. They did not feel that it was fair that a presidential candidate could win the national popular vote and still lose the election. However, others noted that the system gave a voice to smaller states by providing a minimum of three electoral votes for each state regardless of its population.

The ripple effect from the Florida election dispute will likely be felt in American politics for years to come. A panel was convened in Florida to investigate ways to improve the state’s election process. In addition, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and other civil rights organizations filed lawsuits against the state of Florida and seven counties. The lawsuits alleged that some African American voters were discouraged from voting, either by poor machinery or bureaucratic barriers, or even denied the right to vote because their names were missing from the official lists. In 2001 the Florida legislature passed the Florida Election Reform Act, which prohibited punch card ballot machines, provided for a uniform statewide ballot design, and set standards for reviewing ballots during a manual re-count. In addition, some of the Florida counties settled the lawsuits against them.

The U.S. Congress has pledged to consider various voting reforms. It has also promised to scrutinize the role of television network coverage on election night—their botched projections of the Florida vote and the whole practice of calling election results state by state. Some people argued that when the news organizations incorrectly called Gore the winner in Florida, they might have influenced voters who had not voted yet.

Some news organizations, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post, set out to conduct their own re-count of the Florida votes for historical interest. Their review produced mixed findings: If Gore’s request for a re-count in Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and Volusia counties had been successful, Bush still would have won the majority of the votes. If a full statewide re-count of the undervotes had been done, as ordered by the Florida Supreme Court but halted by the U.S. Supreme Court, Bush would also have received the most votes. If Gore had requested a full re-count of all the disputed votes statewide, both undervotes and overvotes (where a voter selected more than one candidate), he would have received the majority of the votes. But Gore never requested a full statewide re-count.

Some people speculated that the disputed election would affect Bush’s presidency and the public perception of his legitimacy. However, after the terrorist attack against the United States on September 11, 2001, much of that speculation ended as support for the president increased (see September 11 Attacks).