Echoes of the 2000 presidential election rang out Tuesday as a
bitterly divided electorate left the vote count too close to
determine an official winner.
While President Bush won the popular vote Tuesday with 3.6
million votes more than Sen. John Kerry, the electoral vote was too
close to call and there were too many ballots yet uncounted to
confidently declare a winner. The election, which saw record voter
turnout across the nation, may produce no final winner for several
days, though some began celebrating a Bush victory Tuesday.
As ballot counting dragged on late into Tuesday night, it
gradually became clear that Ohio would be the deciding factor.
The electoral vote count for each candidate crept up toward the
required 270 throughout the night and Ohio’s 20 votes would
have virtually assured a victory for either candidate. But as of 1
a.m. Wednesday, Ohio, which was leaning toward Bush, was too close
to officially determine a winner.
New Mexico, Wisconsin and Iowa were also too close to call at
press time, according to the Associated Press, but all eyes remain
fixed on the state with the most unclaimed electoral votes, Ohio.
Bush had received 254 electoral votes and Kerry had 242.
With as many as 250,000 provisional ballots yet to be counted in
Ohio and Kerry trailing Bush by about 100,000 votes, the Kerry
campaign is holding out hope that these ballots can push Kerry into
the lead.
Kerry’s running mate, Sen. John Edwards, delivered a brief
televised address at 2:30 a.m. EST from Kerry headquarters in
Boston on Tuesday to declare his and Kerry’s intent to
continue fighting for the presidency and ensure all votes in Ohio
would be counted. Their campaign expressed confidence in a Kerry
victory.
“We’ve waited four years for this victory, we can
wait one more night,” Edwards said.
But Edwards and the rest of the country may have to wait more
than one night. Ohio law demands the state wait 11 days before
counting provisional ballots.
Throughout the day, the Bush campaign’s collective mood
evolved from cautious optimism to general confidence as the vote
counts rolled in, cemented by Bush’s win in Florida.
As Florida was declared for Bush, Karen Hughes, the senior
presidential adviser, said she was confident in a re-election for
the incumbent.
Some networks, like Fox News, declared Bush the winner of Ohio,
while others held off on such a declaration, fearing a repeat of
the 2000 debacle.
“With all of the information we have at CNN, it is too
close to call,” said CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer.
After the confusion surrounding the winner of the 2000 election
““ in which Al Gore was initially declared the winner before
court challenges and recounts found Bush the winner ““ many
news networks were decidedly more cautious about declaring an
election winner Tuesday.
For this election, many networks shared exit poll data and would
not reveal results until polls closed. Many networks were reluctant
to declare a winner in states with less than a 1 percentage point
differential.
The networks began calling states when some of the polls closed
7 p.m. EST. The first states called were Indiana, Kentucky and
Georgia for Bush and Vermont for Kerry.
After weeks of marathon campaigning, Bush and Kerry remained
relatively unseen for most of the day Tuesday as record numbers of
voters flooded the polls across the nation to cast their
ballots.
Bush started out his day by voting in Texas before eventually
returning to the White House. Kerry cast his ballot in
Massachusetts.
Historically, presidential candidates stay off television and
out of the spotlight on Election Day to avoid unduly influencing
voters, but the White House released a video Tuesday of the
president calmly watching the election results come in.
“I believe I will win,” Bush told reporters
Tuesday.
Election Day started off strong as record crowds lined up in the
early morning at polling places across the nation, some braving
harsh weather to cast their ballots.
The polls in California opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday and the polling
places around UCLA saw fluctuating numbers of voters throughout the
day.
Chancellor Albert Carnesale strolled into the De Neve Hall
polling location at 8 a.m. to cast his ballot with his wife Robin.
He said he voted in every election since he was eligible, first
casting a ballot in 1960 when John F. Kennedy ran for
president.
Carnesale said he is unsure whether turnout among young people
will reflect the large percentage turnout among the whole
population of registered voters.
“We do have a tradition in this country of young people
not voting as readily as older people,” Carnesale said.
“It’s important for all of us to vote, but the ones who
have the biggest stake in the future are the young
people.”
Ralph Gardner, a professor of special education at Ohio State
University, went to vote in Columbus, Ohio, when the polls opened
at 6:30 a.m. and said there was already a line of 200 to 300
people.
“The line was through the building and out the
building,” he said. “It was at a church parking lot and
they were already parking people in the grass.”
Even in states with early voting, like Florida, polling places
were swamped.
Kiri Walton, a second-year student at the University of Florida,
said she had to wait in line for three hours Monday to vote in
Gainesville, Fla.
In the final weeks leading up to the election, only about 15
states were in contention for both of the candidates, as polls
showed most states leaning convincingly toward either Bush or
Kerry.
Of these battleground states, the three with the most electoral
college votes ““ Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania ““ have
received heavy attention recently from the two candidates, who have
been stumping for every last vote in the battleground states.
Many analysts predicted the winner of at least two of the three
states would have an easy path to election victory ““ an
ominously prescient statement.
Mirroring the results of the 2000 election, all states that were
declared Tuesday voted for the same party they did in 2000 except
for New Hampshire. Bush won New Hampshire in 2000, but Kerry
carried the state by about 10,000 votes in this election.
Despite the outcome, the weeks leading up to the 2004 election
proved largely unpredictable. This election saw several
traditionally Democratic states in play for Bush and some
historically Republican states leaning toward Kerry.
Polls from longtime Democratic stomping ground Hawaii showed
Bush and Kerry running neck and neck, and the Republicans
dispatched Vice President Dick Cheney to Hawaii this week to try to
tip the balance to the right.
Meanwhile, the Democrats had late hopes of taking traditionally
Republican Arkansas.
The final polls before the election showed Bush and Kerry in a
dead heat, with each garnering 49 percent of the vote.
With reports from Ari Bloomekatz, Bruin staff.