that the punch card system is screwed up and the method of counting, as you noted, makes no sense. Really, how hard is it to punch all the way through the card, and how hard is it to just count the ones that are punched through? Not to mention the fact that the ballots on the voting machine itself didn't line up correctly with the candidates?

We had that system when I first moved to WA and it was ditched, even before we went to vote by mail, in favor of paper ballots with bubbles, which believe it or not people can still fuck up, but at least there is a paper trail. It can still result in a controversy though as the 2004 gubernatorial election here shows.

Bottom line for 2000? It was a damned close election. My take was that if Gore had won NH and/or TN then Florida wouldn't have mattered. In any case, you hopefully learn from it, move on and try again four years later. Can you imagine though if 2000 had the social media presence we have now? The controversy would be magnified 1000%.