Disputed Presidential Election of 2000: A History and Reference Guide

This all-in-one reference guide will help students, researchers, and interested readers make sense of the infamous election of 2000. Following an overview of the 2000 presidential race, five essays spotlight separate issues related to the race and its outcome. Biographical entries cover major players in the story. Primary documents from court cases show the actual wording of the legal decisions.

Millions of U.S. citizens can easily operate ATMs, yet elections for the nation's highest office still involve manual ballot counting, punch cards, and dangling chads. Why? This all-in-one reference guide will help students, researchers, and interested readers make sense of the infamous election of 2000. Following an overview of the 2000 presidential race, five essays spotlight separate issues related to the race and its outcome. Biographical entries cover major players in the story. Primary documents from court cases show the actual wording of the legal decisions, and Dover considers into the political and legal issues behind the actions and rulings.

Additional essays consider the role of federalism in national elections and the relevance of the Electoral College itself. The potential long-term consequences of the election are examined. Will there be sweeping changes in future presidential elections? In what areas will they appear? Finally, an annotated bibliography selects and reviews the most important responses written about the election. This guide is indispensable to anyone wanting to make sense of this perplexing historical event and electoral politics in the United States.

Insightful essays, biographical entries, and primary documents, and an annotated bibliography make sense of this perplexing and infamous election.

School Library Journal

Gr 10 Up-As Dover writes, "Almost certainly, the defining characteristic of the 2000 presidential election was the Florida vote controversy and the vast array of court cases, including a landmark one by the U.S. Supreme Court, that developed from it." Six chapters put the issues of the election into perspective with explanations of the historical context of the creation, development, and relevance of the Electoral College; Federalism; the Florida vote controversy and the court cases; and an essay exploring the long-term significance of the election. In his tightly written text, the author explains how the antiquated butterfly ballot caused confusion in the voting booth and precipitated demands for recounts and a seeming reversal in the court's history of expanding voter participation. A highlight of the book is the section "Primary Documents of the Election." Here, readers can study the Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore, including the dissenting opinion by Justices Stevens, Ginsburg, and Breyer. Average-quality, black-and-white photographs illustrate the volume. Biographical profiles, a chronology of events, charts, and an annotated bibliography add to the usefulness of this indispensable reference tool.-Patricia Ann Owens, Wabash Valley College, Mt. Carmel, IL Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

E. D. DOVER is Professor of Political Science, Public Policy, and Administration at Western Oregon University. He is the author of Presidential Elections in the Television Age (Praeger, 1994), The Presidential Election of 1996 (Praeger, 1998), and Missed Opportunity (Praeger, 2002).