The Miami Herald presents an in-depth study of Florida's 2000 presidential election, drawing on the independent vote review conducted by the accounting firm of B.D.O. Seidman, and answering the question that millions of Americans are still asking:
If the Supreme Court hadn't halted the Florida recount, who would be the 43rd President?
Americans woke up on November 8, 2000 unsure who their next president would be. A population accustomed to knowing the outcome of electoral contests before the polls closed-and often much earlier than that-would endure another thirty six days of high-stakes political and legal maneuvering before the U.S. Supreme Court stopped recounts in the State of Florida, effectively sealing the race for Texas Governor George W. Bush.
It was one of the closest elections in U.S. history. The loser, Al Gore, had actually won the popular vote. The winner, Bush, had taken the election with only one more electoral vote than was needed. Meanwhile, the attention of the American people shifted to Florida, the fourth most populous state in the Union, and one of the most diverse, divided, and fastest growing. Florida's 25 electoral votes would have put either candidate over the top and into the White House. But for those thirty-seven days, partisans from the Democratic and Republican Parties remained divided over the result of the Florida election, the outcome of the Presidential Race, and the future of America.
Now, in The Miami Herald Report, one of the nation's most trusted newspapers investigates the organizational, technological, and institutional shortcomings that plagued the Florida election and resulted in one of the most bitterly contested transfers of power in American history. The Miami Herald, which won a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting on Miami's corrupt 1997 mayoral elections, delves into the deeply flawed 2000 contest, revealing:
* That Florida election officials had known for decades that the state's obsolete punch-card ballots constituted a serious problem-yet 24 of the state's 67 counties still used them in 2000.
* That not only were the motives of some public officials-entrusted with the fair outcome of the race-called into question, but also that Florida's Secretary of State, Katherine Harris, revealed in an email obtained by The Herald that she saw herself in Biblical terms as a defender of the unborn.
* That votes were uncounted in disproportionate numbers in poor and minority voting districts-and that many registered American voters were prevented from voting altogether while droves of unregistered citizens, convicted felons, and non-citizens cast illegal ballots in the presidential contest.
Including the complete B.D.O Seidman survey, The Miami Herald Report finally provides the answers that Americans have been demanding since the night of November 7, 2000. It also reveals that the shortcomings in the Florida electoral process turned up in dozens of other states, and that these shortcomings will need to be addressed-and soon-if Americans' faith in the fair outcome of their elections is going to be restored.
