Students divided over recount debacle

By Hanna LoPatin

Daily Staff Reporter

"Enough is enough," said LSA junior Genevieve Michaud, who supported Vice President Al Gore in his bid for the presidency and his early appeals in the Florida recount.

"It finally reached a point where there was not a lot more to be done," Michaud said. "It's sort of relieving in a way to at least pick a president."

Gore supporter Julie Hautamaki, an LSA junior, said Gore's concession would be better for the country. "I think he should concede for economic reasons," she said.

But Hautamaki said she remains hopeful that her candidate can still take the presidency, through manipulation of the "out-of-date" Electoral College.

A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that after the certification of Republican presidential candidate Gov. George W. Bush's Florida on Sunday, 60 percent of Americans want the never-ending election to finally come to a conclusion.

"It's hard to determine an election based on just two or three counties," Hautamaki said. "I think it undermined how the U.S. felt as a whole."

Some Bush supporters are not as forgiving. "I don't think this is going to stop until Gore wins. I think it's making a mockery of the political system," LSA junior Dan Maier said.

LSA sophomore Sarah McGuire, who voted for Bush, said that although she accepts the Texas governor as the viable president-elect, it may be a long time before the process is over.

Gore "will definitely contest it as long as he can, but I don't think he's going to do any good," she said.

Bush supporter Solomon David, an SNRE grad student said the elections are practically all he has heard about in the last month.

"Some people that said they wanted to vote for Gore at one point (feel differently now). They think he's being a stickler," he said. "Most people that I've heard are just sick of it."

As for himself, David said he also feels that the election should be over.

"I think its time that they accept it and go on," he said. "It's hurting everything from the economy to the morale of the country."

But there are still some Gore supporters holding out.

LSA senior Sam Eliad said he would rather see Gore continue the appeals process than accept Bush as president-elect. "I saw the ballots. It was ridiculous how shady they were."

Eliad said, referring to the so-called "butterfly ballots" that allegedly caused many voters in Palm Beach County to mistakenly vote for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan instead of Gore.

"I think (Gore) has every right to appeal," Eliad said.

With the ABC News/Washington Post poll reporting 26 percent of Gore supporters saying that Gore should concede compared to 92 percent of Bush supporters, Traugott said that the majority of the country "is still tolerant about the entire process."

"Partisans are more likely to express concern about the legitimacy or the illegitimacy of the process," he said. "I don't think people are all that concerned about the process, they're concerned about the constant television coverage."

For political science Prof. Chris Achen, the biggest concern about the timeliness of the election is the transition that will appoint hundreds of new federal jobs.

"The transition and the building of a team for a new administration - that is not a short process and it needs to get underway," he said.

"We need to get going. We need a presidential administration on inauguration day."

AP PHOTOS

FAR LEFT: Vice President Al Gore proclaims that he will contest the certified Florida election results during a press conference from his home in Washington, yesterday.