Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election
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| Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Richard Ray Perez Joan Sekler |
| Produced by | Richard Ray Perez Joan Sekler |
| Written by | William Haugse Richard Ray Perez Joan Sekler |
| Starring | Peter Coyote |
| Music by | Bobby Johnston |
| Cinematography | Richard Ray Perez |
| Editing by | William Haugse Matthew Martin |
| Distributed by | Alternavision Films |
| Release date(s) | September 17, 2002 (U.S. premiere) |
| Running time | 50 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election is a 2002 documentary made by Richard Ray Perez and Joan Sekler about the contested 2000 presidential election in Florida. While a short film at 47 minutes, it was generally well received by critics.
[edit] Plot
The film chronicles the 2000 Presidential Election aftermath, centering on the contested ballots of the state of Florida. Many Democratic and leftist supporters, campaign workers, and citizens were interviewed regarding the possible exclusion of many valid ballots. According to the film, Secretary of the State of Florida Katherine Harris and her associates used a wide ranging data collection system to prevent ineligible voters (such as ex-cons) from casting a ballot; the controversy stems from the claims that the data system excluded many people who were eligible to vote. The film offers evidence that many people who share a name and nothing else with an ex-con in a state were denied their right to vote. The cases of mistaken identity were not discovered until citizens reached the polls, when it was too late to prove their identity and correct the mistake.
The film then attempts to draw a connection between Governor Jeb Bush, Katherine Harris, the GOP (both national and the state party) worked to conspire ahead of the election to deny African Amerians their right to vote through the flawed data system that excludes ex-cons and ineligible voters. The reasoning behind this conpiracy is that African Americans typically vote heavily in favor of Democratic candidates, and the Republicans worked to exclude these votes to capture the state's electoral votes. Another area of contention brought up by the film is that recounts were only taken in certain counties, not statewide; again, this is suggested to be a Republican tactic due to the evidence presented by the film which claims that the recounts in those counties were vastly different from the original count.
The film's final moments are spent analyzing the drawbacks of the new computer ballot system, which does not leave any paper trail with which to enact a manual hand recount should the need arise. The film claims that the computer systems also had errors, but there was no way to know how many due to the lack of a paper trail.
The computer ballot example used is the Georgia Governor's race between incumbent Roy Barnes and challenger, and victor, Sonny Perdue in 2002. Because Governor Perdue is the first Republican governor elected in Georgia since Reconstruction, the film strongly suggests that hackers and key personnel with access to the computer balloting system may have been able to influence the outcome of the election, propelling Perdue to the governor's mansion. The film does not mention the wide array of political issues which had made Governor Barnes very unpopular in the state before the election, specifically his drastic reductions in education spending and overall budgetary difficulties of the state.
[edit] External links
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| United States presidential election, 2000 |
| General election results • State results • Florida results |
| Key figures |
| Al Gore (presidential campaign) • George W. Bush (George W. Bush campaign) • Katherine Harris • Theresa LePore • David Boies • Joseph P. Klock • Theodore Olson • James Baker |
| Election Day |
| Florida Central Voter File (scrub list) • Volusia error • Chads • Butterfly ballot |
| Aftermath and legal proceedings |
| Florida election recount • Brooks Brothers riot • Palm Beach County Canvassing Board v. Harris (Harris I) • Gore v. Harris (Harris II) Bush v. Gore |
| Reaction |
| The Best Democracy Money Can Buy • The Betrayal of America • Fahrenheit 9/11 • Supreme Injustice • Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election |
