Who won the election of 2000?
Author: Matt Hipszer
Course/Level: 10th grade American Government
Materials:
HCPSS Curriculum Connections:
This activity would be completed during the unit: Influencing
Government (Unit 3).
Learning Outcome(s):
Students will demonstrate the ability to infer how voting and voting
behavior influences American government. Goal 2 (1056.00)
Analyze the roles of political parties, campaigns, and elections in the
United States’ politics. Objective B (1056.02) 1.1.4
Historical Thinking Skills Assessed:
Sourcing, Close Reading, Corroboration
Background Information for Teacher:
The election of 2000 will be remembered in many ways—as the most
disputed election in U.S. history, as one of the few times the winner of the
electoral vote did not win the popular vote, and for the U.S. Supreme
Court's role in the hotly contested Florida recounts. Neither Republican
George W. Bush nor Democrat Al Gore was declared the winner on election
night. A recount began in Florida the following day, called for by the state
constitution when less than 1,500 votes separate candidates. At the same
time, questions arose about ballot design in south Florida, with many
residents claiming they had mistakenly voted for Reform Party candidate Pat
Buchanan when they intended to vote for Gore. Questions soon turned to
lawsuits—over ballot design and the legality of the recount.
County election officials continued recounting until November 26,
when Florida secretary of state Katherine Harris declared Bush the winner
of Florida's electoral votes and thus the national election. By that time, it
was clear that Gore had won the national popular vote by more than 337,000
votes, and his legal team declared the electoral vote still undecided. Not
counting votes, the Gore team argued, was a disgrace to democracy.
Appearing before Florida judge N. Sanders Sauls, lawyers for Bush and Gore
argued their sides for 22 hours, with Sauls finally ruling on behalf of Bush.
Since the disputed votes would not change the outcome of the election,
there was no need to include them in the certification, Sauls said.
This lesson will look at some issues that arose over the recount and
ballot issues from the election of 2000. Students will be assessed on the
historical thinking skills of Sourcing, Close Reading, and Corroboration
as they answer the essential question: Who won the election of 2000?
Context Setting---The Hook
Students will quick write for 3 minutes on if they agree or disagree with
the following quote:
“The American system of elections routinely fails to count hundreds of
thousands of ballots because of errors by voters”
Discuss student responses.
Students will also preview the topic by looking at images and predicting the
event by answering: (10 Minutes)
***NOTE: this activity can be shortened by only looking at one or two of the
pictures. However, the picture of the butterfly ballot is necessary
background information for the students to have a better understanding of
the documents in this lesson.***
Who is in the picture?
What is happening in the picture?
Where are they?
When was the picture taken?
http://www.cafwd.org/page/-/images/blog/florida_hanging_chad_recount.jpeg
While security officials and disgruntled spectators watch, the Ryder truck transporting the contested Palm Beach
County ballots backs into a lower level garage behind the Leon County Courthouse on November 30, 2000.
MLA Citation
"Armed ballot convoy arrives in Tallahassee, Florida." Image. UPI. American Government. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web.
21 Feb. 2013.
http://americangovernment.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/275380?terms=Election+2000
Broward County, Florida officials manually count and recheck presidential election ballots on November 15, 2000.
The flaws in the punch-card ballot system contributed to the bitter presidential recount battle between George W.
Bush and Democratic challenger Al Gore.
MLA Citation
"Florida officials recount ballots after election of 2000." Image. UPI. American Government. ABC-CLIO, 2013.
Web. 21 Feb. 2013.
http://americangovernment.abcclio.com/Search/Display/265706?terms=Election+2000
The Orlando Sentinel published four election editions on November 8, 2000. The
first edition was headlined "Oh, so close," followed by "IT'S BUSH," then "IS IT
BUSH?" and lastly, "CONTESTED." The controversy over one of the closest
presidential elections in American history left the nation in doubt for several
weeks as to who the new leader would be.
"Election Day 2000 ends with no clear victor." Image. AP/Wide World
Photos. American Government. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 21 Feb. 2013.
http://americangovernment.abcclio.com/Search/Display/258892?terms=Election+2000
http://biostat.mc.vanderbilt.edu/wiki/pub/Main/StatGraphCourse/PalmVo
teBallotConfusion.png
Document Analysis
Students will read excerpts from a New York Times article titled, The 2000
Elections: The Palm Beach Ballot; Florida Democrat’s Say Ballot’s Design
Hurt Gore. Allow students to work independently to read and answer the
corresponding guiding questions. This activity will give students a better
understanding of the ramifications of the design of the ballot. Debrief
their answers as a class. (10-15 minutes)
Guiding Questions:
1) SOURCING: When was this document written and is it a reliable source?
Why/Why not?
2) CLOSE READING: What were some of the problems with the ballot in Palm
Beach?
3) CLOSE READING: According to the information presented in this document,
who should be awarded Florida’s 25 Electoral votes? WHY?
Corroborating Evidence and Constructing Interpretations---Close
Analysis
Inform students that after the election results were final there was a study
of the ballots in Florida to determine who would have won the election if
there would have been a recount. Students will then evaluate a series of six
quotes dealing with the Florida ballots in the 2000 and complete the chart
titled Who Won the Election of 2000?
Allow time to briefly discuss the quotes and who the sources thought won
the election.
Thoughtful Application