What is your view on the outcome of the elections in the USA?

Someone should make a survey about whether or not we should change the electoral voting system to a straight popular system in our country.

I couldn't vote. I was unsurprised at the congressional and state results. I don't know the presidential result.

Or to a system where the electoral votes in a state can be split like maine and nebraska

I'm not certain about how Nebraska does things, but Maine doesn't quite split their votes: 2 votes will go to the person who won the popular vote and the remaining two will be split according to the popular vote. In practice, the latter two votes normally end up going to the same person anyway.

thanks daver :)

I'm completely appalled by the situation in Florida. They found a ballot box this morning that had been left in a church overnight (in a heavily Democratic area), for crying out loud! How many more are out there? Regardless of who wins, how can the outcome of this election hinge on a state where there's an incredibly close race, and ballot boxes get left unattended for hours? After all, the States sends observers to _other_ countries to make sure this crap doesn't happen?

Are you talking about the missing boxes in Broward county?

Actually, no. I was talking about a story on CNN about a ballot box apparently left overnight in a church in Miami-Dade County. Seems, however, that CNN kinda jumped the gun on this one, and I -- believing them -- went right along with them. Turns out the box was just full of other supplies. Mea culpa: as a j-school grad, I should know better than to rely on the reliability of "breaking news."

So I'm not completely appalled by Florida any more. Just mostly. :) And yes, I agree the electoral system should be chucked ASAP. My friends in Massachusetts would love their votes to count for something compared with votes in, say, Wisconsin.

I don't know what the results are.

Why wasn't that an option?

CNN jumped the gun on a lot of things lately. Having an election this close really does suck if you think about it. Especially since Gore may lose after having more votes.. that isn't right.

Let me explain why I am disappointed with the outcome of the elections. Because the house and senate are split very evenly and the presidential race was SO close, whoever wins will be expected to make very moderate decisions to appease the other half of the people. To me that means that it doesn't matter who gets elected, bush or gore, because they will be almost the same president either way! More people should have voted for independents like I said before if they wanted to instead of trying to win the election for one of the top two. I hope this election makes it clear how this works and people start voting more independently and courageously! By the way, I guess we all know that ralph nader did NOT get the 5% he was hoping for, but he isn't discouraged.

I am amused by the current state of things. It's almost as much fun as watching the British royal family.

It's all very funny.....

I feel sorry for the next President of the USA.

He will be given 25% of USA's karma from the moment he is sworn in to the moment he leaves office.

I like Blue!

I like Red!

Your system is fudgeed up magerly!

Expected, Disappointed, doubt much effect. I have my doubts that we even have a two party system.
I love it being this close. I want to see it go to recount, then wait for absentees, then go to the new congress, then go for re-elelection now that people see what a difference their votes make.

I don't KNOW the results yet (I'm in NZ)

*sigh* There people go again, always blaming the Wizards!

I think people will have to send observers to the USA next time round to ensure fairness and probity!

Jemmy - I couldn't believe that there would be net users who wouldn't know.

For your information, the Republicans won the House and narrowly the Senate. The outcome of the Presidential race is that Gore has a majority of votes but the Electoral College system means that the winner will be decided once close votes in Oregon and in particular Florida are re-counted. More information is available on any news site on the web - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news has lots of info.

Noone has won yet have they?

I knew that Bush had won, but they stiol have to do a recount. What is the difference between Bush and the Republicans?

No one could have expected this!

It's okay kirsty, I'm in the US and people here don't know the result either (or don't want to accept the result). It's a mess!

I couldn't vote I live in Canada, so the US election doesn't pertain to me, but here in Canada, we're having our elections soon... !!!!!

i am amazed and excited at what has happened. i think that things are starting to look as if they are going to get ugly now, lawsuits, both parties starting to talk down the tactics of the other, questions, possibly more recounts in other states, etc....... i hope that we go with the recount and move on.

I thought for sure Gore was going win in a landslide! How could it not be? I mean everytime I turn on my TV all I see is people voicing their support for Al Gore! I saw nobody supporting Bush. I mean not only is he a bonehead, he's also a drunk. How in the world could he get votes!!?? Something stinks in Florida!

Dubya's brother Jeb is the gouvenor of Florida. Now you know what stinks!

anonymous#2: The US popular media is overwhelmingly Democratic, and what they present on tv is quite biased.

Perhaps Gore supporters are also more vocal in their support of him than are Bush supporters.

Since character obviously matters to you, you might want to consider that Gore is a liar, a cheater, a schemer, and cannot even hear his opponent out without interrupting him.

Bush was "a drunk" decades ago.

I don't particular care for either candidate, but to me, Bush seems the less offensive of the two major candidates. He appears to have better character. I don't see how a candidate's supposed platform matters at all if they're a proven liar.

Well, the Republicans are a political party and Mr Bush was the Republican candidate for President of the USA. There is lots of information on that BBC News site that has all the details of candidates and parties on it.

what?!

In LA,CA the prognosis depended on what channel you watched. Channel 11 for instance spoke of Gores chance to achieve a tie, never a victory. The way the numbers were presented emphasised one candidate or another. I chose a Bush station, though I preferred Gore just because their display had more current & diverse data.
I would love to see a bill passed that prohibited broadcasting early returns and even all proactive campaigning. Let them have unlimited websites, and have the only media coverage be equal reference to site or mailer addresses, or equal debate time for ALL candidates. I might go a step further and prohibit campaign research.
The very notion of 'winning' the race is problematic. We should choose the candidate who is closest to our opinions, not the candidate who can change their platform or appear to change their platform to suit our opinions. A common denominator president does not have the backbone required to make the sweeping changes made decades earlier.

I can't believe that all those Democrat voters who fudgeed up their ballot in Florida now want to vote again. I saw the ballot, and it seemed very clear to me. They punched it two times, and that is called an informal vote. If you screw the ballot up you are able to get another one before you cast it, not after the candidate you wanted loses. I'm sorry, an informal vote is an invalid vote. there is no going back after the fact. Stiff Crap dickheads. Next time read the instructions.

Oh just wait till we get a popular vote with live reporting and the ability to change your vote for whatever reason. Besides, how do you know Rand and Gallup and the electoral board haven't been producing pure fiction for us. Are you certain it's really a two party system? Look at all the loss of privacy, wars, new weapons technology, etc. that have passed in Clinton's office while the public was glued to the Monica Lewinsky story. If you ask me, the president is a null figure head clown like Elizabeth created these days to divert te public from actual politics. Now that's an age of 'bi-partisan' comandeering.

You're even more right wing than the Bush clan! Amazing!

As I type this, a show on PBS speaks of how Napolean controlled the media. Imagine what could happen these days. Why, Al Gore-ithm could be exactly that.

I find the situation very amusing.

I read that there are supposed to be 13 levels of superiority above the President. I think all supposed 'world leaders' are just puppets and fall guys anyway. Those that pull the strings are not elected, and can do whatever they want anonymously.

I would have the same attitude if it were the Republicans complaining that they were too stupid to read voting instructions before voting for the leader of the free world.

I agree with kristalrose i think we should pay attention as best we can to what is actually happening in our country and why; then fight for what we believe the best we know how. Voting is not the only way to give your voice; what is more it may not always even be the best way. You can make a change even if you don't live in a democracy. The most important changes in our country arguably came before the decisions were ever formally put before the entire body of the people. What has listening to the media this past week gotten me? Absolutely nothing, except confusion and waste of time.

One other point: I can see why people in Palm Beach would like to revote. It's not because the ballots were unfair, if the outcome were not so close they wouldn't care. It's because they believe the people of the U.S. would really rather have Al Gore as president than George Bush. I feel confident that if the entire nation were to vote again Al Gore would be elected. My first thought was screw them.. the election is done, you can't go back; you can't change the system in the middle of an election. That isn't true. We can start to change the system anytime; anywhere. If half the country demanded a new election it would cause chaos, however. So the thing to do appears to be to swallow the fact that the will of the people will not be done this election. We should kick ourselves for not foreseeing that this could happen. It's our fault, not the fault of a ballot.

Some might argue no one could have expected this. My point is we SHOULD have expected this; and we should start looking around us and figuring out FOR OURSELVES what is actually going on.

More people voted for Gore (49,222,339) than for Bush (48,999,459). But because of the American system, Bush will probably be the next Prez. That sucks.

If I remember correctly, a pressident has won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote before.

If we voted 90% Ms. X, but the media and ballot computers said 10% ms. X & 90% Mr. Y, we would have no way of denying it.

But as Kaleb says there are people you can research who have more power. PITAC (clintons tech advisors) is full of folk like the VP of sun, the Bar is composed of folk like the VP of Coke (these people create our anti-trust guidelines).

The FDA is full of Monsanto sympathisers and ex-employees. There are conflicts of interest everywhere.

Gore is trying to gore us of our freedoms and the media with the corrupted politicians and courts are attempting to discredit and overthrow the government that we have chosen.

The same thing happened here last election I believe: the candidate with the most actual votes lost, leaving us with a conservative weasel as "leader".

A mage is a wizard, you wanted "majorly" rather than "magerly".

I didnt think their was an outcome...

What outcome?

thanks for corecting my really bad speling.

You do know SC has a spellcheck feature right? I found it has helped me - there are a few words I would get wrong over and over again, but since every time I did the SC spellcheck picked me up on it I eventually got it right

Yes i do know about it but i never use it as it links to another page an i just can't be bothered to look through a list of words to find the correct word.

I never thought I would care to know the difference between hanging chad and pregnant chad. Actually, I'm not sure that I do care.

Not so fast, apparently many of the states that the media claimed as a Gore victory are now looking more and more like a possible Bush victory as the counting continues...no to mention that the overseas ballots and absentee ballots still have to be counted. Therefore the assumption that Gore won the overall vote is now in doubt. Of course the media doesn't explain it that way, they've screwed up enough already.

I voted for Harry Browne and my husband voted for Ralph Nader. So neither one of our candidates won. I think that Bush and Gore are really being childish.

Maarten: Both candidates knew the rules before they began the game. Neither party voiced any concerns with the electoral college process.

The electoral college cuts campaigning into strategic moves. Popular vote stands to gain much more media covearage, so I think there might be a push towards it.

I think the electoral college process sucks, personally, but I also think it's slimy for a candidate to voice no complaints about it until they happen to have lost under that process.

What else would ever inspire that sort of change? I think it will be a great service if he at least encourages a change, even if he does not win. It will open the door to a multiple party system and increase public involvement especially if results are reported in real time and people bring out the vote to shift total numbers instead of writing it off as a 'the states will be what they will be' kind of thing. Using alternative public checks in the system is the cleanest sliminess I've witnessed in a while.

I STILL don't know the results!!

They don't know it here either!

Yes, but did you expect that outcome? By about 8pm I did.

I think Gore and Bush should have an old-fashioned gun duel.

That acutely sounds better then New Mexico's method.

I always figured we'd be as well off if they pulled a name out of a hat. Unfortunately, it seems your idea is a bit too close to the truth. I'm all for instatement of popular vote, but instead wer're getting 'my lawyer can beat up your lawyer'.

I wonder if Gore would still be in favor of trigger locks?

Do they know them now? All i know is something about you guys have to have a recount? What's the real story over there?

Real story? Real story? The official media soap opera is that it's hinging on a few dozen to a few hundred votes in different counties of Florida which will then be contested and counter-contested in supreme court. Peanuts, get your Peanuts! I wouldn't be surprised if we've already had our last traditional voting.

The real story is pretty difficult to work out. The basic gist is that the election result is very close, and there have been some irregularities in the counting of the ballots, so some counties are having recounts. The system is pretty different to NZ.

Why is there a problem recounting the votes? It was on tv last night about it going to court over it. Why?

The laws that pertain to recounting on these grounds have never been tested before. The first time any law is actually implemented usually results in the courts making an interpretation of the laws actual intent by how they will actually implement it. Laws are challenged when someone with power actually cares about the results as is the case here.

Has it been worked out who won yet? Everyone over here seems to be rooting for Bush.

Good question. The only reason there is a problem is that the people from the side that is losing (by a slim margin) want them recounted, but the people from the side that is winning (by a slim margin) are afraid that they will no longer be winning if a recount is made. They are basically using every legal argument they can to get it to go their way, so I could try and explain all of those, but the basic issue is that the result is extremely close - and closer than a reasonable margin of error, given the way the votes are counted (which is kind of dodgy in some parts).

I voted for A winner
but my winner didn't win

*hee, hee, sorry I couldn't resist*

An Interesting Perspective on the U.S. Election

1. Imagine that we read of an election occurring anywhere in the Third World in which the self-declared winner was the son of the former prime minister and that former prime minister was himself the former head of that nation's secret police (CIA).

2. Imagine that the self-declared winner lost the popular vote but won based on some old colonial holdover (electoral college) from the nation's pre-democracy past.

3. Imagine that the self-declared winner's 'victory' turned on disputed votes cast in a province governed by his brother!

4. Imagine that the poorly drafted ballots of one district, a district heavily favoring the self-declared winner's opponent, led thousands of voters to vote for the wrong candidate.

5. Imagine that members of that nation's most despised caste, fearing for their lives/livelihoods, turned out in record numbers to vote in near-universal opposition to the self-declared winner's candidacy.

6. Imagine that hundreds of members of that most-despised caste were intercepted on their way to the polls by state police operating under the authority of the self-declared winner's brother.

7. Imagine that six million people voted in the disputed province and that the self-declared winner's 'lead' was only 327 votes. Fewer, certainly, than the vote counting machines' margin of error.

8. Imagine that the self-declared winner and his political party opposed a more careful by-hand inspection and re-counting of the ballots in the disputed province or in its most hotly disputed district.

9. Imagine that the self-declared winner, himself a governor of a major province, had the worst human rights record of any province in his nation and actually led the nation in executions.

10. Imagine that a major campaign promise of the self-declared winner was to appoint like-minded human rights violators to lifetime positions on the high court of that nation.

None of us would deem such an election to be representative of anything other than the self-declared winner's will-to-power. All of us, I imagine, would wearily turn the page thinking that it was another sad tale of pitiful pre- or anti-democracy peoples in some strange "elsewhere".

So who's won????!!!!!

Still no final answer. It looks like it will be George Bush, but no-one wants to admit it. The Electoral College (who decide the final votes from each state) don't meet until Dec 18 (I think).

There are two real problems here.

The first problem is that Florida's technology for recording votes is only accurate to within about 3 decimal places (this is considered poor, but even states with "good" vote-recording systems only get results to about 5 decimal places). This election is closer than that, and there is simply no way to tell who really won. Oops.

The second problem is that there is no independent oversight of the election process to figure out something to do about the first problem. Any decision will be tainted by the political affiliation of the person or people who made it. Oops.

We tried to fix this the last time it happened, in 1876. And the system is indeed better than it was then. But it's still not good enough.

Florida had 180,000 incorrectly recorded ballots -- either double punched, or not punched well enough to determine intent. It's reasonable to assume that about half of them went to Bush, and about another half went to Gore. But if the margin of error on that assumption is 2% (and there is reason to think it's higher), we're talking about 3,600 votes either way. Saying Bush (or Gore) won by anything less than that amount is meaningless.

Then again, there are those who argue that the distinction between them is meaningless anyway. And speaking as someone who wanted Gore to be president, I am stunned that he has continued his campaign when the long-term health of the Democratic Party would have been better served by his conceding after the first automatic recount.

What outcome? I can't see any outcome yet...

I never vote because the system is flawed.
Why would someone think that the person they vote for is the best person? I have NEVER heard someone say that this is the best person to be the President. I always hear, this candidate is BETTER than the other. It is literally choosing the better of 2 evils. The way our screwed up system works you can guarantee that the best person would never make it. By definition you have to be blind to justice to be voted president. Does anyone remember or have access to the little blurb that was published a while ago that went something like... what organization has X amount of CONVICTED check bouncers, X number of convicted felons and so forth., there was around 14 different items. Some more included Adultery, thievery and DUI's. The answer was the House of Representatives and the Senate. And these include some of the same people who denounced the President for getting a little kinky.
I am sorry, but Monica is / was not blameless, there are women out there that will do weird (not complaining) things for a guy in power or has fame. I think that is the definition of a groupie...

I expected Bush to win but I didn't want him to. I watched the whole election with interest, then with hope, only to have those hopes dashed by "what went off." Bush would never even have made party leader in the UK. The British people wouldn't stand for someone that thick to be in charge of the country. I know some people have argued that he's dyslexic, but not all dyslexics are intelligent people. I have known a lot of very clever dyslexics and quite a few thick ones. I'm afraid to say, Bush seems to be a thick one.

LOL

(But watch out for mandy. She might not like you insulting monkeys that way!)

I guess this elections theme should have been 'Bedtime for Bonzo'. Most excellent presentation. With state of the art biotechnology I wouldn't be surprised if the furrless one was merely a secret service agent to protect our chief commander.

Hopefully she can forgive me!

Sorry dear Twist, never meant to insult monkeys this bad. What was I thinking??

I liked your post a lot... someone sent me this one yesterday:

LOL

My thoughts exactly. A monkey could do a better job.