The infamous Votomatic - a voting machine used at Miami-Dade and elsewhere.

But while the election has been decided, the flaws remain in the process that made the month and a half following Election 2000 so nightmarish. The inequities inherent in the electoral process are manifold: Rich districts supply their voters with modern, simple voting machines while poor districts are burdened with confusing, century-old systems with known defects. Racial discrimination at the polls still takes place. The electoral system, a relic from the days the United States was more a loose confederation than a Union, heavily weighs the ballots of voters from small states over those from large states. Residents of Washington, D.C remain disenfranchised, with only a non-voting representative in Congress, though the district has more citizens than Dick Cheney’s state of Wyoming. Is America to allow these inconsistencies to interfere with its right to freely chose its representatives? The world has just seen an election in which the man who won the popular vote, undisputedly won 269 of the necessary 270 electoral votes, and likely garnered the majority of votes in Florida’s contested race, was denied the presidency. Every step in deciding the election after November 7th was twisted by partisan officials pulling every possible string to nullify the will of the people. A simple “void” stamp on the ballot would have been more honest than the treachery committed in the name of expediency during the months of November and December. What happened to good old-fashioned indignation? Citizens should not be content with the Supreme Court deciding what every voter went out of his or her way to decide individually.

This election is over. But the kinks won’t be worked out of the system unless America demands that they be. Election 2000 is at once a reminder of why the electoral system needs an overhaul, and a tale of deceit, corruption, and apathy. It is a tale democracy cannot afford to – and must not be allowed to – forget.