Campaigns and Elections: The 2000 Election

In 2000, the presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore was so close that it ended with a fiercely contested recount of Florida votes. After more than a month the Supreme Court stopped the recount (Bush v. Gore) and Bush was awarded Florida’s electoral votes. That spurred a bipartisan movement for electoral reform designed to prevent the type of nightmarish confusion that rocked the country for weeks after Election Day.

To that end, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in 2003, which required states and municipalities to update their election procedures with electronic voting machines, improved methods of voter registration and better training for poll workers. But HAVA left it to each state to work out the details of its new rules, and the results were uneven. Some states rewrote their laws in ways that made it tougher for many people to cast ballots. Others eased access to the polls.

By 2011, many states had passed voter ID laws that were tougher than HAVA required. Those laws disproportionately affected the poor, the elderly and people of color, all groups that lean toward Democrats. Some Democrats charged that Republicans were trying to suppress the vote. Republicans countered that they were trying to ensure that everyone who voted had the legal right to do so. One legacy of the 2000 election is the modern day dispute over voting rights.