Editorial: A twisted path to the White House

The election of 2000 is going to be one of those that are remembered in American political history long after most people have forgotten the name of the man it eventually put in power. It will certainly haunt the presidency of George W. Bush, as it would have done Al Gore, who finally conceded yesterday, more than five weeks after the ballot.

The election will be remembered for many reasons, mostly to do with the shameful state of the electoral machinery for the world's most powerful position. It will have been a revelation to most Americans that votes can be so easily discarded when machines do the counting.

Too few Americans take part in their elections at the best of times. They might have lost interest in the arcane issues of "butterfly" ballot forms, partially punctured "chads" and other minutiae that have occupied lawyers and judges for the past five weeks. But all Americans will know that the wastage of so many votes in a few counties in Florida has probably happened in their state, too. Their inclination to participate in future elections may be the most serious casualty of this fiasco.

More serious, perhaps, than the cloud that many expect to hang over the presidency of Mr Bush. He has won the election, although Mr Gore gained a majority of the popular vote. Furthermore, Mr Bush has won a majority in the Electoral College by applying to the Supreme Court to prevent his rival counting votes that machines could not read. But then Mr Gore sought recounts only in those Florida counties he thought he could win. Had he gained the presidency on that basis, Republicans would have been as aggrieved as Democrats may be today.

The whole dispute has been soured by the partisan associations that permeate the American public service, even to the highest judicial level. Crucial county electoral officers were Democrats. The Florida Government, whose Secretary of State declared the state for Mr Bush, is Republican. The Florida Supreme Court, which ordered a statewide recount, has mostly Democrat appointees. The federal Supreme Court, which overruled the state court, has a Republican-appointed majority.

A dissenting member of the federal Bench - a Democrat - has all but accused his fellow judges of bias. Justice John Paul Stevens, in words that may live on for years, wrote: "Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year's presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the nation's confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of law."

Polls suggest that the nation's perception is not quite so bleak. And anyone who caught a broadcast of the Supreme Court proceedings this week would have heard careful consideration of state law in the light of the US constitution. Article 2 of the constitution gives state legislatures control of elections. Since the Florida legislature (Republican) had its own plans to choose electors, the Supreme Court majority concluded that there were constitutional deficiencies in the state court order for a recount.

So Mr Bush prevails, and Mr Gore, in conceding yesterday, called on all Americans to put the past five weeks behind them. When all the lawyers have left, and the talking of electoral technicalities is done, Democrats will remember that this was an election their candidate should have won in a walk. The President-elect inherits a strong economy along with a democracy in need of repair. Let's hope he can handle both with care.

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