2000 Presidential Election - summary overview
Candidate | Political Party | Popular / % | Electoral / %
George W. Bush - R 50,455,156p 47.9%p 271 50.4%
Richard Cheney
Albert Gore Jr. - D 50,992,335p 48.4%p 266 49.4%
Joseph Lieberman
Ralph Nader - Green 2,882,738p 2.7%p 0 00.0%
Winona LaDuke
....a joint session of Congress met to certify the electoral vote. Twenty members of the House of Representatives, most of them Democratic members of the Congressional Black Caucus, rose one-by-one to file objections to the electoral votes of Florida. However, according to an 1877 law, any such objection had to be sponsored by both a representative and a senator. No senator would co-sponsor these objections, deferring to the Supreme Court's ruling. Therefore, Gore, who presided in his capacity as President of the Senate, ruled each of these objections out of order.
More than one hundred million people voted for either Mr. Gore or Mr. Bush. In this popular vote, Al Gore received more votes than George W. Bush. The final vote would show that Mr. Gore received about five hundred forty thousand more votes than Mr. Bush. But that alone did not make Mr. Gore president of the United States.
In Florida
Florida State law calls for a recount when the difference in votes between two candidates is less than one-half of one percent of the votes. This meant Florida had to count the votes again. State recounts normally involve the governor. But the Florida governor said he would not be involved. That is because Governor Jeb Bush is a brother of George W. Bush.
The election in Florida involved several problems. Some voting machines counted the votes incorrectly. Some African Americans said election workers prevented them from voting.
The Florida Supreme Court ordered the disputed ballots counted again.
Bush campaign officials quickly appealed to the United States Supreme Court. A majority of the high court justices declared the Florida court ruling unconstitutional. They said Florida law did not explain how officials should judge the ballots. They ruled that the disputed ballots should not be re-counted. The Supreme Court justices said not enough time remained to settle the problem before the Electoral College held its required meeting.
On December 18, 2000, Electoral College members met in each state capital. They made the election official.
The joint session of Congress certified the electoral votes from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Bush took the oath of office on January 20, 2001.
