The George W. Bush Years

On November 7, 2000, presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore were in a virtual tie on election night in Florida. After the ballots were initially totaled by machines, Bush showed a 1,784 vote lead out of six million votes cast. Under Florida law, when the vote total shows a less than 0.5 percent difference between candidates, a machine recount is mandatory. The difference in this election was 0.01 percent. On November 10, after the recount, the Bush lead had been reduced to 327 votes. Later reports claimed 18 counties in Florida never participated in the recount, but despite that fact, the Gore campaign asked for a manual re-tabulation in four counties that were traditionally areas with Democratic support.

During the recount, it became apparent that there were irregularities among many of the ballots. Some ballots were not punched all the way through and couldn’t be read by the voting machines. The debris from those ballots were later called “hanging chads”. There were ballots that were only partially pushed through and unable to be tabulated by the voting machines. Those ballots were referred to as “pregnant chads”. There were also “butterfly” ballots in Palm Beach County that were controversial. Some voters claimed the placement of the holes on the ballot was confusing and they ended up voting for Pat Buchanan instead of Al Gore.

On November 14, 2000, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris set down guidelines to certify the election results for the State of Florida. The Florida State Supreme Court got involved and legal complications followed. Both campaigns had sent teams of lawyers to Florida. During the following month, some 50 individual lawsuits were filed. The Florida Supreme Court enjoined Harris from certifying the election and ruled hand recounts of questionable ballots could continue. On December 8, the Florida Supreme Court (4-3) decided that, in all counties where a statistically significant number of under voters were observed, recounts could continue. The following day, the U.S Supreme Court halted the Florida recount (5-4). After hearing oral arguments, the U.S. Supreme Court decided (7-2) that the Florida recount violated the “equal protection” clause of the U.S. Constitution. It also ruled (5-4) that the Florida Supreme Court’s decision had created new election law that was under the jurisdiction of the state legislature. It also held that no recount could be held in time to satisfy a federal deadline for the selection of state electors.

This is Candy Crowley’s copy of the U.S. Supreme Court decision faxed to her for use on air in Austin, Texas on December 12, 2000. Candy signed the fax and gave it to me for my collection.

We only expected to be in Austin for the election night coverage. Rooms were fairly scarce. CNN Political really liked Candy Crowley and, possibly as a small reward for her last night on a long, grueling campaign, secured rooms at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin. It was at a time when CNN carefully watched every penny on the road. It seemed unfortunate that we would only get to spend an hour or two and then have to check out. As it turned out, when the election resulted in a tie, we had to keep our rooms. All the rooms in Austin were filled. We ended up staying in the Four Seasons for the next 36 days. The hotel was so appreciative, they even treated us to a Thanksgiving feast, compliments of the hotel.