THE HANGING CHAD: FLORIDA, 2000.
Florida voting machine, in portable aluminum case with specimen ballots from the 2000 Presidential election, removable folding legs, 460 x 550 x 100 mm when closed, manufactured by Election Supplies Limited of Napa, CA, serial number 24189, with Marion County, FL property tag numbered 12800. Showing light use, but otherwise excellent condition.
Still bearing the cards with names of the candidates, along with a yellow ballot card marked "DEMONSTRATOR," this voting machine was one of those used by the State of Florida during the election of 2000. On election night November 7, 2000, as results were announced from states around the country, it became clear that the race between George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore would hinge upon the tallies in a single state, Florida. The national news networks across the political spectrum began to call the Florida race for Al Gore based on exit polls that leaned too heavily on young voters (who would be more likely to participate in those polls), and so it was late in the night when they began to walk back their initial prediction, by which point it became apparent that should Florida change to Bush, he would be the President of the United States. Irregularities in the voting in Broward County, including the now infamous "hanging chad" in which the punch voting machines did not complete detach the paper from the punch holes as the people voted confused the issue, and the case for a recount made its way all the way to the US Supreme Court, where it was finally shut down a month after the election. In the end, the election came down to just 537 votes among 6 million cast in the state, in a country of 210 million eligible voters.
