Question

12.) What was the controversy surrounding the 2000 election at the end of voting? Who won the popular vote? Describe the processes that led to a “resolution” of the 2000 Presidential Election.

Answer 1

There were instances where the presidential candidates lost the popular vote and won the electoral vote in the past. One such election was the 2000 US presidential election which stood to decide the president. According to the US electrol law, if the winning margin of the number of votes are less, a manual recount has to be initiated. During the 2000 election Bush led the vote count in Florida by 1784 votes. Manual recounts were time consuming and few of the constituencies were not able to complete the count before the deadline. The machine counts reduced the margin to 900 votes from 1784 leading to manual count. According to the law a recount was initiated and Al Gore, the democratic candidate won the popular vote in Florida but Bush won the election in the electoral college and went on to become the president in 2000. Popular vote is cast by the people and electrol vote is cast by the one elected by people in the electoral college.