Why Gore Lost Florida
up a level
1. Bad design.
2. People not reading carefully.
3. People not asking for clarification.
4. Poor customer service.
Background
This document was written sometime during late Novemeber, 2000, and some of the information is presented as current to that time frame.
On November 7, 2000, Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George
W. Bush have split the vote of Florida voters in their bid for President
of the United States. During the election, exit polls indicated that
Gore held a lead over Bush. When the votes were calculated at the
end of Election Day, Bush was ahead of Gore by less than 2000 votes.
Florida has 25 Electoral
College votes, which are enough for either candidate to win 270
Electoral votes. If any of the four points above had been adequately
addressed properly before or during the election, it is likely that Al
Gore would have been chosen winner of Florida, and there would be little
or no grounds for the historic disputes of the election.
1. Bad design. Top
A properly designed product is easy to use correctly. Words in
the display match any actions that the user must perform. To assure
consistency many projects have criteria. The criteria for the design
of the Florida
ballot is dictated by law. The order in which the candidates
are supposed to appear on the ballot is the order in which each party came
in in the previous election. This would have Bush occupying the top
slot, Gore occupying the second slot and Buchannan occupying some other
spot. The way the ballot was printed, Bush got the top hole, Buchannan
got the second and Gore got the third.
The ballot used in the 2000 election may not meet the legal criteria
in several counties in Florida. Since the ballot seems not to meet
the legal criteria of the design of ballots in Florida, those ballots may
be voided. As a result, those voters whose ballots are voided will
be disenfranchised. The election
may be run a second time in certain communities.
As
a result of this poor design, at least 19,000 people could not
figure where the correct hole was located to cast a vote for their intended
candidate. In the 1996 presidential election there were 15000 voters
who double punched their ballot. This means that there was a problem
with the system that was not addressed and corrected before the 2000 election.
The ballot in several communities in Florida did not make effective
use of the Design Process.
In the Design Process, the designer Identifies the problem (a way
to allow voters to cast their intended vote), Gathers information
(criteria, vision problems of voters, laws governing the design, names
of candidates qualified to be on the ballot), Devises solutions
to the problem (how to lay out the ballot, how to indicate the intended
vote), Selects the best solution (what is the most effective solution
that meets the criteria), Implements the solution (print the ballot),
Evaluates the solution (check the ballot against the legal criteria,
test it with sample voters).
The result of this poor design that did not meet the requirements of the project is that:
Many people encountered difficulty operating the ballot.
Some people voted for a different candidate than they intended.
Some people, after voting for a different candidate by mistake, then realized their error and voted for a second candidate.
They spoiled their ballot by voting for two candidates when they should have voted for one.
There was no clear winner of the election.
This dispute could result in the first time a presidential race could be revoted.
2. People not reading carefully. Top
The person or people who were responsible for creating the ballot used in the election seem not to have read the criteria for ballot design.
Thousands of people who encountered this ballot did not read
it accurately before casting their vote. As a result, they
cast their vote for a candidate which was not the one of their choosing.
If even two thousand people had been more careful about reading the document
they were using, a clear winner would have been chosen.
3. People not asking for clarification. Top
After the design was complete, The person or people who were responsible
for making sure that the ballot met the state criteria probably did not
seek clarification as to why it did not meet the standard.
At least 19,000 people did not understand how to operate the ballot.
These people voted twice when they should have voted once for president.
If they had spoken
effectively when they did not understand the operation and wording
of the ballot they were using, they would not have voided their ballots
by "double voting."
On election night, the networks, all using similar information, called
Florida for Gore, then too close, then for Bush. As Gore watched
the returns on TV and decided that he had probably lost. He called
Bush and told him that he intended to concede the election. He and
his staff climbed into the cars to go make the concession speech
4. Poor customer service. Top
Some people who did ask for clarification did not recieve
quick and appropriate service. When they encountered problems
at the poll, poll workers were either unresponsive, overworked or unable
to get clarification from higher authorities.
For more information:
Electoral College - http://publicbroadcasting.net/wbur/news/other/article/76134.html
Methods for tabulating votes in Florida - http://election.dos.state.fl.us/votemeth/cvs.shtml
Is Gore Dragging out the Process? Vote.com - http://www.vote.com/vote/19986722/index.phtml?cat=4075633
Could the election be revoted? - http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/daily/detail/0,1136,36000000000124841,00.html
Gore Site - http://algore.com/
Bush Site - http://georgewbush.com/
Bush Campaign claims victory - http://salon.com/politics/feature/2000/11/09/handcount/index.html
Democrats scrutinize Florida voting - http://salon.com/politics/wire/2000/11/10/democrats_scrutinize/index.html
May the better statesman win - http://salon.com/politics/feature/2000/11/09/courageous_act/index.html
Some Florida ballots illegal, Dems say - http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/11/07/results/index.html
Usability Bug - http://www.salon.com/tech/col/rose/2000/11/09/interface_design/index.html
Usable Technology Site - http://www.useit.com/
Miami Herald Recount stories - http://www.herald.com/content/archive/news/elect2000/decision/splash.htm
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