The Sandspur

Issue date: 11/5/04 Section: News

Media Credit: KRTCAMPUS/ ERICH SCHLEGEL TO THE VICTOR GO THE SPOILS: President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush wave to supporters after voting in Crawford, Texas, Tuesday morning, November 2, 2004.

Media Credit: KRTCAMPUS/E. WALKER

After a close and prolonged race, President George W. Bush has won the election. With the possibility of a repeat of the 2000 election looming and talks of recounts littering the news channels, Senator John Kerry conceded the election to Bush on Wednesday afternoon, putting an end to the possibility of a drawn out election.

The Massachusetts senator called President Bush at 11 a.m. to concede the election and held a press conference later on in the day to announce his decision.

Not only was this an extremely close election, it produced one of the highest voter turnouts in history, with Florida seeing a forty percent increase in voter turnout since the 2000 election.

November 2, Election Day, began as states across the country opened polling stations, some even opening before 7 a.m. Long lines filed outside stations all day until the first polls closed at 7 p.m. Many registered voters were also given the opportunity to vote in the weeks before the election for the first time. As many as thirty percent of Florida voters voted early.

Throughout the day, lines stretched for hours as voters anxiously waited to cast their ballots. Following tradition, the tiny town of Dixville Notch in New Hampshire was among the first to count and announce the final vote count. Out of the 26 residents, Bush received 19 while Kerry received 7.

At 7 p.m. the first polls closed in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia. One hour later several others closed, including Florida. At 8 p.m. Kerry was leading with 77 electoral votes, compared to Bush with 66. At 9.30 p.m. Bush led the electoral and popular vote. At 10 p.m. Bush had won eighteen states, and Kerry had won eleven. At 10:30 p.m. Bush took a greater lead, gaining several more mid-western states and 193 electoral votes. Kerry won in Pennsylvania, bringing his electoral vote count up to 133.

Many states followed a predicted pattern, with Democrats and Republicans winning many of the same states they had won in the 2000 election. By 10:30 p.m. Kerry had won most New England states, in addition to New York and Illinois.

As the final states count the votes, the numbers drew closer. Kerry gained California bringing his electoral vote count to 188. Around midnight President Bush officially claimed Florida, bringing his electoral count to 237. Kerry received Oregon.

Last year it was Florida, this year the decision looked like it was going to come down to Ohio and Iowa. As of Wednesday morning, both states had yet to declare a winner. The electoral vote count stood with Bush holding 254 and Kerry with 252. Either candidate needed 270 of the votes to secure the election. The media had labeled it "too close to call".

That is, some of the media has labeled as such. Interestingly enough there are differing results of the election. Early Wednesday morning, Fox news had given Ohio to Bush before all of the ballots had been counted. This would place him at 269 of the 270 votes basically declaring him the winner (foxnews.com).

This alarming discrepancy in media reports is due to the projection process that each news channel goes through to determine the winner in each state. There are several sources such as the Associated Press and the Edison/Mitofsky Research (cnn.com).

This election has raised many questions about the electoral process, including the reliability of exit polls and media projections. More importantly, it has truly been a demonstration of democracy in progress as it seems that, once again, every vote needed to be counted to declare a clear winner.

Contributing information from Caitlin Geoghan, editor-in-chief.

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