Question

How was the 2000 presidential election ultimately decided?

Answer 1

Correct answer:

C. The US Supreme Court ruled that George Bush won Florida and the presidency.

Further details:

The 2000 election was extremely close, and the voting in Florida was extremely close. Ultimately, the outcome in Florida would determine the outcome of the nation's election for president. George W. Bush led the vote count on election night by 1,784 votes. That was a narrow enough lead to trigger an automatic machine recount of all ballots. When the machine recount was done, the actual lead for Bush was only 900 votes. The other candidate, Al Gore, was able to use Florida state law to request manual recounting of ballots in four key counties. But because the manual recounts were taking more time than the state law allowed, Gore petitioned the Florida Supreme Court to extend the time, so that those recounts could continue. It was the Bush campaign that appealed to the US Supreme Court, and the US Supreme Court stopped the recount process. When that happened, Florida's electoral votes (and with them, the election win) were awarded to Bush.