Prior to the 2000 Presidential election, nobody envisioned that in a country of tens of millions of voters, the election could turn on just a few hundred votes. Thus, any potential minor inaccuracies in vote counting did not loom large in advance as a real issue.
Of course, as it happened, every single vote truly mattered. Who can forget the hanging and dimpled chads, the uncertainty for weeks as to who won the election, and the multiple lawsuits all the way up to the Florida Supreme Court and then the United State Supreme Court? Ironically, the United States Supreme Court, which previously had trumpeted states rights, stepped in and ruled, effectively resolving the election in favor of George W. Bush, even though Al Gore, as history tells us, received over 500,000 votes more than did Bush.
Here we are four years later. Are we heading to deja vu all over again? Bush and John Kerry are in a statistical dead heat, Ralph Nader is back on the scene once more, and it looks like it will be a dogfight for every single vote.
No longer can we rest assured that the victory outcome of the prevailing party will be large enough to cover up voting errors and irregularities. The 2000 election taught us differently.
So, what are we to do? There has been study and there have been talks as to better ways to count votes. For example, e-voting, or electronic voting has been suggested. But, unfortunately, like traditional voting, so far, problems have emerged in terms of accuracy.
More should be done to ensure the most precise methods of vote counting possible. Presidential elections, as other elections, truly matter.
No matter whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, most of you likely would agree that our country would be in a different place had Al Gore been President the past four years. His reaction to the 9/11 crisis likely would have been dissimilar, and he almost certainly would have dealt with Iraq and Hussein differently than did Bush.
Remember to vote in November, and hopefully your vote will be counted. Better that the populace decides the election than the United States Supreme Court.
Eric Sinrod is a partner in the San Francisco office of Duane Morris (www.duanemorris.com), where he focuses on litigation matters of various types, including information technology disputes. His column appears Wednesdays at USATODAY.com. His Web site is www.sinrodlaw.com, and he can be reached at ejsinrod@duanemorris.com. To receive a weekly e-mail link to Mr. Sinrod's columns, please send an e-mail with the word Subscribe in the Subject line to ejsinrod@duanemorris.com.
Reprinted here with permission from USAToday.com.