American presidential Elections 2000

This essay presents a descriptive record of the crisis created in the American political system by the disputed presidential vote in the state of Florida, discusses its resolution and the public reaction to it, and contemplates suggested reforms of the presidential electoral system. In the conclusion it presents as illustration of the potential problems inherent in the election of the American President the three historical occasions on which the choice of the President was the result of more than the relationship between the popular vote and the vote of the electors and one case in which, like in the Gore v. Bush contest, the winner of the popular vote lost in the Electoral College.