Bush v Gore: The 'hanging chads' US election of 2000

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 25 September 2020

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Summary

The US presidential election of 2000 was one of the closest and most contested in history. It was more than a month before the result was decided after a Supreme Court decision. It all came down to the vote in Florida, a 'swing-state', where irregularities and technical problems added to the confusion. In the end it's thought there were just a few hundred votes in it, but years later, the result, and the handling of the election in the state, divides opinion. Callie Shell was the official photographer for Al Gore's presidential campaign and documented the dramatic events behind closed doors in pictures. She's been telling Rebecca Kesby what it was like to be there.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.7	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.5	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:18.0	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.
0:40.0	Hello and welcome to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me Rebecca
0:45.4	Kespi.
0:46.5	And today we go back to the year 2000 and one of the closest and most contested US elections of all time.
0:53.6	It would be more than a month before the final result was decided,
0:57.2	after recounts and legal wrangling all the way to the Supreme Court.
1:01.8	This is the presidential Battle of Bush versus Gore.
1:07.0	The tightest election in American presidential history still isn't over.
1:11.0	The gap between Gore and Bush seems to be closing. The cliffhanger could last for some time yet. We had been on the campaign trail for 15 months. You never stop. You have rallies at 8 o'clock in the morning all the way
1:24.8	to 1 and 2 a.m. the last rally we did was November 7th at 2.30 a.m. in Florida. So it's kind of wild that the last rally was in Florida and
1:36.9	the end of the election would all sit on Florida.
1:40.3	Kali Shell was the official photographer for the Gore campaign.
1:44.0	Al Gore was the presidential candidate for the Democratic Party.
1:48.0	He'd been serving as Vice President under Bill Clinton for the past eight years.
1:52.0	George W Bush was the Republican candidate. under Bill Clinton for the past eight years.
1:52.6	George W Bush was the Republican candidate.
1:55.6	He was the governor of Texas and hoping to follow his father
	...

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