I will now be periodically adding new excerpts from my book Broken Nation.
Chapter 1 SELECTION 2000 Excerpt #1
While this may bring back the cold sweats and nightmares, it is only right we start at the beginning. Too many Americans already forget Al Gore’s presidential run in 2000 and all of the controversy that followed the problematic election; but this was not only Gore’s loss. The remainder of this book shall serve the purpose of defining the immense loss our nation has suffered. The 2000 election was the beginning of the end for true democracy in America. On December 12, 2000, in one of the most biased Supreme Court decisions in American history, the citizens of Florida were denied their state rights to recount and verify votes. This denial resulted in a violation of all American’s rights— a democratic vote for president.
Laws were broken, the Constitution was ignored, and the American public lost a part of their democracy. Following a brutal smear campaign against John McCain, the Bush camp then turned their assault towards Gore with more slanderous lies. When the lies and million-dollar contributions from big corporations didn’t seem to work at changing the public view of Bush, evident from his losing poll numbers, they knew they had to do something else. So they resorted to the state of Florida, governed by the candidate’s own brother Jeb. They were smart though and did their research; for when it came time for everyone to question the irregular and fraudulent results, they relied upon a one-hundred-year old technicality of the Electoral College system along with a biased Supreme Court. These federal judges overturned the decision of the state judges and therefore enabled George W. Bush to become president through an Electoral College decision that was based on an incomplete popular vote.
The 2000 election dispute began for good reason. There was an uncertainty of the number of votes due to failing machines; under, over, and double votes; and a ballot that looked like Tic-Tac-Toe. In addition, there were other complaints coming from the African American community which testified that many people were turned away at the polls and denied their votes. Should Al Gore have simply walked away? Do you count your money when a banker hands you a withdrawal? I should hope so. What if at first glance something doesn’t add up right, do you just place the money in your wallet and walk away? Highly doubtful. I doubt Dick Cheney would walk away from the table without counting his Halliburton profits. It was quite evident Al Gore had reasonable cause to question the suspicious activity in what would become the most controversial election in presidential history.
There were three main factors why Gore did not win the Electoral College due to a stalled count of the popular vote. The first was due to the chief election officer, Secretary of State Katherine Harris, who put up a bureaucratic wall and aided Bush in his appeals. Harris is a known Republican with close ties to George W. Bush’s brother Jeb. She is the one who allowed the butterfly ballots, and also the one who certified the official votes of Florida. Incidentally, Harris was also the head of the Bush campaign in Florida.
Katherine Harris had several plans of action in place before the election even began. First Harris removed all ex-convicts from the database of eligible voters for 2000 based on an old confederate state law.(1) The only problem was they didn’t just delete ex-convicts; they also deleted all names that were similar to the names of the ex-convicts. For example, if the ex-convict’s name was Jerome Tyson, every Tyson in the state had a problem when they went to vote. It just so happens that most of the deleted names were African American and therefore most of the other unrelated names were also African American. Racism at its worst here in the 21st century of America.
The second factor was the state legislature that certified the electors was dominated by conservative Republicans. In addition, many state employees appointed by Jeb Bush had ultimate control over voting districts and regulations, as well as other entire departments. For instance, the Florida Department of State paid the Boca Raton company Database Technologies Inc. a $4 million contract to seek out improperly registered voters. Instead of doing what they were supposed to do— finding improperly registered voters— they made registered voters in certain African American counties not eligible. The result was a jumbled up state database and the disenfranchisement of thousands of African Americans in Florida. Coincidentally, the parent company of Database Technologies Inc. is Choice Point, a company whose CEO donated over $100,000 to the Republican Party only a couple of years earlier.
Harris has refused to answer any questions pertaining to the purging of names. Clayton Roberts, also a Republican, was the Director of Florida Elections. Roberts wouldn’t answer any questions either. However, George Bruder, Vice President of Operations at Database Technologies did admit to purging names. This is solid proof that Harris and Roberts violated the voting rights of not only every Florida citizen, but every citizen in the entire United States. Neither Harris nor Roberts have yet to be arrested for their federal crimes.
The final factor was the five Federal Supreme Court judges who basically ignored the law for this one particular election.(2) With overwhelming evidence, Judges Scalia, O’Connor, and Thomas have close ties to Bush and Vice President Cheney, and Judges Kennedy and the late Justice Rehnquist have had radically conservative pasts. Scalia’s two sons just happened to be employed by the Bush campaign. One of Scalia’s sons would later be appointed to the Labor Department by Bush.(3) It also doesn’t help that Judge Scalia is good friends with Dick Cheney; they’ve been spotted together in restaurants as well as on the infamous duck hunting trip in 2004. Thomas’s wife also worked for the Bush camp reviewing resumes for Bush appointees. Even without hunting trips with Dick Cheney, family ties, and all of the other odd “coincidences” as the Republicans have called them, speed is still not more important than justice in a democratic presidential election.
When Bush claimed victory the next day, Gore contested the new results. The Gore campaign requested a recount of 4 counties (four Democratic counties), which all reported widespread voting problems. Out of Florida’s 6,157,738 ballots, over 175,000 were under/over votes, and another 100,000 ballots were rejected due to malfunctioning voting machines. 27,000 votes in Duval County alone were thrown in the garbage. According to The Washington Post, at 10:00 p.m. on election night, Al Gore was leading Bush in Volusia County by 83,000 to 62,000 votes. One-half hour later, Gore’s vote total had been reduced by 16,000 to 67,000 and an obscure Socialist candidate saw a sudden surge to 10,000 votes in a precinct with only 600 voters. These numbers of lost votes don’t even include the thousands of Democratic voters who were denied their right to vote because of registration purging or alteration and intimidation.
In the midst of the debacle, Gore said in a speech to supporters,
“This is America. When votes are cast, we count them. We don't arbitrarily set them aside because it's too difficult to count them. In the end, in one of God's unforeseen paths, this election may point us all to a new common ground, for its very closeness can serve to remind us that we are one people, with a shared history and a shared destiny. So this extraordinary moment should summon all of us to become what we profess to be: one indivisible nation. Let us pledge ourselves to the ideal that the people's will should be heard and heeded, and then, together, let us find what is best in ourselves and seek what is best for America.”
Unfortunately, due to corruption, votes were not counted and America did not get what was best...
