bush 537 votes
The State of Florida tonight declared Gov. In that contested 2000 race, the Republican candidate, Bush, slid into the White House on a razor’s edge, 537-vote victory in Florida over Gore, the … “Democrats saw Bush as a president who snuck in by the good graces of the Supreme Court, and Republicans saw Gore and Democrats as people who would change rules in the middle of the game just to hold on to power,” he says. © 2021 A&E Television Networks, LLC. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Florida is the deciding state. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. A congressional stalemate led to the creation of a commission that controversially awarded all 20 disputed electors to Hayes. The returns came back so close, their state law required an electronic recount which showed Bush won by 537 votes. That's all that separated Democrat Al Gore and his Republican challenger George W. Bush when, on November 26, 2000, three weeks after Election Day, the … The Florida election recount of 2000 was a period of vote recounting in Florida that occurred during the weeks after Election Day in the 2000 United States presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. “One of Gore's political problems throughout the five weeks was that he had conceded to Bush, then withdrew his concession, so he was widely seen as a bad loser,” he says. And the margin of votes in the electoral college that helped Bush win? The official results, which the state certified over Democratic protests, were: Bush 2,912,790, Gore 2,912,253. Fix it.’". No consistent standard was developed, which was a key issue in Bush v. Gore.”. Gore contested the results all the way to the state's Supreme Court, which ordered 70,000 rejected votes be counted. Credit: Wikipedia. Something in between? From director Billy Corben and his producing partner Alfred Spellman, with Adam McKay (HBO’s “Succession”) and Todd Schulman executive producing, the film details how the international custody battle over six-year old Elian Gonzalez triggered a political earthquake in Miami-Dade County in 2000, swaying the outcome of the presidential election. If you’re a current HBO subscriber, you might already have access to HBO Max — all of HBO plus even more blockbuster movies, must-see series, and new Max Originals. READ MORE: What Happens If There's a Tie in a US Presidential Election? Gore was referring to the fact that Florida’s governor at the time was Jeb Bush, Bush’s younger brother. '537 Votes' tells the story of what changed the fates of the 2000 Presidential elections when it looked like Al Gore might win. On November 26, 2000, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris certified that Bush had won the election by a 537-vote margin. “The Franken-Coleman recount of the Minnesota Senate race in 2008 took almost nine months to fully resolve. “Florida in 2000 took so long because of multiple legal challenges, stops and starts to the recount that carried it beyond the norm.”, READ MORE: How the 1876 Election Tested the Constitution. The Florida vote was ultimately settled in Bush's favor by a margin of 537 votes when the U.S. Supreme Court, in Bush v. Gore, stopped a recount that had been initiated upon a ruling by the Florida Supreme Court. Some recount results were … All Rights Reserved. Bush won the 2000 presidential Election against Vice President Al Gore after a controversial vote recount in Florida. And without Florida, neither Bush nor Gore had a majority of electoral votes. “In 1876, there was a much bigger dispute,” he says, referring to the election in which Republican Rutherford B. Hayes eventually emerged as president after neither major party candidate earned enough electoral votes to win without 20 disputed electors. After an intense recount process and the United States Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore, Bush won Florida’s electoral votes by a margin of only 537 votes out of almost six million cast (9 ⁄ 1000 of 1%) and, as a result, became the president-elect. The official results, which the state certified over Democratic protests, were: Bush 2,912,790, Gore 2,912,253. was still hanging by one, two or even three corners to the ballot—was called a ‘hanging chad.’” Busch says. Not surprising, Democrats were unhappy with the results, Busch notes, while Republicans were happy and relieved. However we got there, George W. Bush won Florida by just those 537 votes. The New York Post proclaims Texas Gov. A machine recount required by law left Bush ahead by 537 votes. 537 Votes is a high-octane feature documentary chronicling the political machinations that led to the unprecedented, contested outcome of the 2000 presidential election. Documentary film 537 Votes chronicles the political machinations that led to the unprecedented, contested outcome of the 2000 presidential election, including the chaotic voter recount in Florida that ended with George W. Bush winning by a razor-thin margin. It’s impossible to know what the world would have been like had Gore won — but it’s also impossible to say it wouldn’t have been a very different place. "537 Votes" premieres on HBO at 9 p.m. Wednesday and is also on the network's stand-alone streaming platform, HBO Max. For several weeks, the Gore team struggled to push back against Bush’s presumption of victory, as they argued in court for a recount of the slender 537-vote margin of … “Overall, about 80 percent of poll respondents told Gallup that they accepted the results as legitimate.”, One result of the outcome: Candidates learned not to concede too early, Busch adds. “When the lead shrank to about 2,000 votes in the early hours of the morning, TV reversed again, rescinded the call for Bush, and declared Florida as yet undetermined,” he says. Five hundred thirty-seven votes. The thrust of the documentary, which traces the complexities of the … What Happens If There's a Tie in a US Presidential Election? As accusations of fraud and voter suppression, calls for recounts and the filing of lawsuits ensued, the terms “hanging chads,” “dimpled chads” and “pregnant chads” became part of the lexicon. George W. Bush and his wife Laura appear at a presidential campaign rally in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Bill Cotterell is a retired … How Sandra O’Connor’s Swing Vote Decided the 2000 Election, 5 Presidents Who Lost the Popular Vote But Won the Election. As it became clear the final vote in Florida, which would decide the election, was basically a tie, Gore rescinded his concession during a phone call. Then, by a 5-4 vote, the court declared that time had run out to devise a remedy. Sample ballot from Palm Beach county, Florida, for the 2000 U.S. presidential election. Busch says recounts at the local or state level are not infrequent, but an event like this, at the presidential level, hadn’t occurred for some time. But for a presidential election we need finality much sooner, making everything more difficult.”. Do you count it as a valid vote as long as there is some evidence that a voter tried to cast a vote? 537 Votes posits that the custody battle over five-year-old Elián González ultimately affected the race between George W. Bush and Al Gore. What Is the Electoral College and Why Was It Created? In effect, the latter ruling made Bush president. The same is the title of the latest documentary on HBO from Miami filmmaker Billy Corbin. The importance of the recount in Miami-Dade County made it a hotspot for political antics. With new insights, the documentary exposes the key players who contributed to the chaos in the contested Florida county, including interviews from insiders and political operatives at the time such as Roger Stone, Joe Geller, Chairman of the Miami-Dade County Democratic Party, and Al Cárdenas, Chairman of the Florida Republican Party. That stopped the process, with Bush ahead.”. 537 Votes is directed by Billy Corben, executive produced by Adam McKay and Todd Schulman, and produced by Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman. In winning the race, Bush captured 271 electoral votes, one more than the needed majority. “One law firm alone eventually handled forty election-related lawsuits for the Florida secretary of state.". Gore then sued Harris because all of the recounts had not been completed when she certified the results. Do you only count it if three of the four corners are knocked out? “The case presented difficult questions about court intervention in a process that both sides thought was infected with politics from the opposing side.”, READ MORE: How Sandra O’Connor’s Swing Vote Decided the 2000 Election. With the Florida win, Bush led Gore in electoral votes nationally 271-266, and, out of legal options, Gore conceded. With Fernand Amandi, Ann Louise Bardach, Mitchell Berger, Brad Blakeman. The 5-4 vote meant that the previously certified total declaring Bush the winner by 537 votes, issued on Nov. 26, would stand. But it's winning the Electoral College that counts. As Florida's electoral votes became too close to call, controversy ensued over hanging chads, dimpled chads and butterfly bullets. “A chad that was not punched out all the way—i.e. Republicans feared recounting votes could give Al Gore a lead in the electio. The visually confusing paper punch-card "butterfly ballot," in which two columns of candidate names were separated by a middle column with marks to be punched through, was blamed for some Gore votes going to Pat Buchanan due to a misalignment of the names and marks. “There was much squabbling about when, how, and whether to do such hand recounts,” according to The Voting Wars. “When an election is this close, and closely fought, a recount along these timelines is to be expected,” says Rick Hasen, professor of law and political science at the University of California, Irvine, and author of The Voting Wars: From Florida 2000 to the Next Election Meltdown. “There was a lot of maneuvering, but not the same scenario,” Hasen says. The case, according to Hasen’s book, put the Florida election under a microscope, examining election machines, voter lists, vote-counting rules, the state’s poorly drafted election statutes, partisan election officials and the role of courts. Palm Beach canvassing board member Judge Charles Burton (L) takes a close look at a questionable ballot with Republican attorney John Bolton (R) and democratic attorney Gerry McDonough (C) at the Palm Beach county Emergency Operations Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, on November 18, 2000. The little square that is supposed to be knocked out is called the ‘chad.’”, At issue: Some holes were not completely punched out of the ballots. The Florida Supreme Court ignored the warning signal and pressed forward with its call for a recount, and the case was returned to the U.S. Supreme Court. When the Supreme Court halted the final Florida recount in December 2000, Bush led Gore by 537 votes. Further fueling the fire: Katherine Harris, Florida’s secretary of state, charged with overseeing an impartial election, was a Republican who served as co-chair of Florida’s Bush for President election committee. The documentary does, however, relate the current political situation in America to those 537 votes that led to George W Bush becoming the President and it works as a stark reminder against the Trump camp to motivate voters to get out and show their support for Biden and Harris. Florida vote: Bush wins 2,912,790 to 2,912,253, a difference of 537 votes. Your younger brother is not the ultimate authority on this.''. The … After election day, with the margin of victory hinged on Florida, weeks of chaotic ballot recounts, lawsuits, counter lawsuits and public protests ultimately ended with George W. Bush winning the presidency by … https://www.history.com/news/presidents-electoral-college-popular-vote But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! In a 5-4 vote, the justices also ruled that no alternative method of recount could be established in a timely manner. “The court divided along ideological lines with the conservatives backing Bush, the more conservative candidate, and the liberals backing Gore, the more liberal candidate,” Hasen says. Two days later, on Sunday night, Katherine Harris certified the vote tally in Florida, and Bush’s lead stood at 537 votes. Andrew E. Busch, professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and co-author of The Perfect Tie: The True Story of the 2000 Presidential Election, says as votes were counted and Bush’s lead grew, TV networks retracted their premature call of Gore, instead giving the state to Bush. The result of the 2000 presidential election ending in such a close call wasn’t a huge surprise: According to The Perfect Tie, the Gallup tracking poll showed nine lead changes during the fall campaign, with Bush holding a slight lead in the final week of the campaign, and Gore gaining a swing in momentum on Election Day. According to Busch, the Supreme Court had telegraphed its displeasure with how things were going in Florida a week or so before by sending the first Bush plea to the court back to the Florida Supreme Court by a 9-0 vote, “saying basically, ‘We would rather not get involved, but you are messing this up. '537 Votes' premieres on HBO on October 21 at 9/8c. After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News, Kill Chain: The Cyber War on America's Election. “Election officials had to devise standards by which to count the ballots with hanging chads. Lawsuits were flying everywhere as Republicans and Democrats went to courts in Tallahassee, Miami, Fort Lauderdale and a handful of other counties where lawyers were raising questions about the way votes had been counted or cast. Bush’s eventual margin of victory in Florida was 537 votes out of some 6 million cast. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. By late November the Florida state canvassing board certified Bush the winner by 537 votes, but the election still was unresolved, as legal battles remained. That was followed by Gore’s response: ''You don't have to be snippy about it,'' and, ''Let me explain something. READ MORE: 5 Presidents Who Lost the Popular Vote But Won the Election. The 2000 election dispute also contributed to the growing polarization in American politics, according to Busch. After a wild election night on November 7, 2000, during which TV networks first called the key state of Florida for Gore, then for Bush, followed by a concession by Gore that was soon rescinded, the results for who would be the nation’s 43rd president were simply too close to call. Electoral college: Bush wins, 271 electoral votes to 267. And then some of those marks failed to get properly punched through. The recount having been ended, Bush won Florida by 537 votes, a margin of 0.009%. Directed by Billy Corben. George W. Bush of Texas the winner of its presidential election by 537 votes out of nearly 6 million cast. “Ever since 2000, both parties have maintained a stable of attorneys prepared to swarm over the next Florida on a moment's notice.”. Opening on … © 2021 Home Box Office, Inc. All Rights Reserved. In five other states this was also true. George W. Bush the winner of the presidential election, while the New York Daily News is more circumspect in their front page assessment which hit the newsstand the morning after the presidential election November 8, 2000. The international custody battle over six-year old Elian Gonzalez triggers a political earthquake in Miami-Dade County in 2000, swaying the outcome of the presidential election. The ballots, themselves, became an issue of contention. That's all that separated Democrat Al Gore and his Republican challenger George W. Bush when, on November 26, 2000, three weeks after Election Day, the state of Florida declared Bush the winner of its 25 electoral votes in the race for U.S. president. With the decision, Bush became the first president since Benjamin Harrison, in 1888, to lose the popular vote, but win the general election. In the 36 days that followed, Americans learned Gore had won the popular vote by 543,895 votes. How the 1876 Election Tested the Constitution. “The initial problem was failure of the exit polls, for which they later overcompensated.”. 1800: Prelude to a duel. In the 2000 presidential election in Florida, Nader won 97,488 votes, while Al Gore lost the state (and, therefore, the presidency) by 537 votes to Mr. Bush. “The first was a 7-2 determination that the Florida recount, as it was being conducted, was unconstitutional on the grounds that there were no clear standards that were being applied consistently to all ballots. Florida is the deciding state. The margin of 537 votes, less than 0.01% of … “Some counties in Florida used a card-punch system for voting,” Busch says. Instead, Mr Bush officially carried Florida by 537 votes after recounts were stopped. Over the next few weeks, with no winner yet determined, officials conducted an electronic recount, in which ballots were re-fed into the same machines, but Gore asked for a hand recount. READ MORE: What Is the Electoral College and Why Was It Created? Al Gore. It's basically impossible to watch HBO's "537 Votes" without thinking about Nov. 3. Bush, according to The New York Times, asked, ''You mean to tell me, Mr. Vice President, you're retracting your concession?'' They would position a card puncher over the square belonging to the candidate they wanted and would push it through the square, creating a hole that would be read by a vote-counting machine. “I think independents were generally relieved that the partisan bickering was over,” he says. The decision resulted in one of the most controversial Supreme Court decisions in American history. Documentary film 537 Votes chronicles the political machinations that led to the unprecedented, contested outcome of the 2000 presidential election, including the chaotic voter recount in Florida that ended with George W. Bush winning by a razor-thin margin. “Voters would get a card with little perforated squares that lined up with names on the ballot. With the margin of victory hinged on Florida, George W. Bush won the presidency by a mere 537 votes. “At that point there were actually two key votes,” Hasen says. After lawsuits, challenges and recounts, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a recount of undervotes in all of Florida's 67 counties, which was quickly appealed by Bush, and the case headed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Just 537 votes. Vice President Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804. It is complete and accurate chad that was not punched out all the way to fact. Palm Beach county, Florida, George W. Bush won Florida by just those 537 votes failed to properly... Effect, the Court declared that time had run out to devise a remedy which to count the with... ” he says outcome of the most controversial Supreme Court, which ordered 70,000 rejected votes be counted key,! 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