Shifty*ERETZ:
I applaued you for going through all the effort to post such a long reply. I'll give my quick version of things.
First off, if someone "overvotes", meaning punch two names for President, that vote is spoiled and should be thrown out. How did they think to go about counting these overvotes? Only for Al Gore or what? My opinion, honestly, is that if you aren't smart enough to just punch one button for President, you shouldn't be voting. And if you know you made a mistake, get a new card... Maybe some people went in there pinching two on purpose... you have to throw ALL overvotes away to be fair.
The most "liberal" standards was in reference to pregnant chads, dimpled chads, hanging chads, etc. Think about it logically... What if someone went into the booth, started to punch for Gore or whoever, made a little tiny mark, and then changed their minds and didn't punch all the way through. This would have coutned as a "vote." You can't honestly discern the "intent" of the voter by looking at a piece of paper. You need to find the ******* voter and ask him or her!!
The Equal Protection argument was the basis for the Surpreme Court decision, or am I wrong? You can't go around finding the intent of the voter, for just certain counties in the ENTIRE country! If Gore was a man, he would have done what Nixon did when there was obvious voter fraud for Kennedy... let it go, and come back to win it 4 years later. In fact, there are cases of voter fraud all over the country for democrats in close elections, but they went unchallenged. They would have been challenged if Bush lost Florida though.
Anyway, for me it's very simple. I know for those on the side who lost it's not, but I didn't vote for Bush in the first place so I didn't have a dog in the fight. I also don't blame Florida on Gore losing. I blame Gore himself for losing. He lied and got caught too much, he 3 different personalites at each of the debates, he couldn't carry his own home state, he left Clinton out when he should have kept him in, he was an android with no personality, and basically, he just wasn't meant to be President.