Bush v. Gore election limbo

November 7, 2000

Florida's hanging chads and butterfly ballots dragged the American presidency into thirty-six days of recounts, lawsuits, and cable-news chaos that gripped the nation. The Supreme Court halted the counting in a five-to-four decision in December and George W. Bush became president by 537 votes. The faith of half the country in the machinery of democracy quietly cracked.