Colo. and Ohio elections — this year’s Florida?

This year’s elections will have a new twist: Ohio and Colorado are competing to be the new Florida. Just kidding, but there is confusion in both states which may result in election chaos similar to the last election.

In Ohio, the confusion stems from the necessity of counting every vote against opposition. Republicans have challenged the eligibility of around 35,000 registered voters, according to The Washington Post. They plan to send Republican recruits to all polls on Tuesdsay, which Democrats are afraid will intimidate voters.

Many of the registration challenges have been dismissed, but there are still around 25,000 pending, making Democrats very nervous. The Democratic campaign has sent letters to bipartisan election boards, with two Republicans and two Democrats, in Ohio in attempts to persuade the boards to dismiss all GOP challenges. Ohio rules state that voters must be notified at least three days before a hearing about their eligibility, which will be difficult with so many challenges and so little time left. Ohio will try to hold all the hearings necessary, but it is difficult to find and set up hearings for each questioned file. The Republicans feel that there is voter fraud rampant in Ohio, with more voters registered than actually live in the state.

Unfortunately all this discussion hints that not every vote will be counted legitimately, which may cause many voters to shy away from polls. Many believe that Republicans are purposely trying to confuse the process so that it can be challenged later.

There is really no way of telling ahead of time who will win, despite confused states and winner-take-all systems. President George W. Bush’s ratings lately (if you trust them) are hovering around the 50 percent line, which tells us that every vote does count. If you don’t believe that, ask former Vice President Al Gore. According to The Washington Post, past presidents with lower than 50 percent approval in pre-election polls lost the vote. Then again, the popular vote does not determine the president in the system we have.

Through the electoral college a group of state-appointed electors choose the president and vice president. The number in the group equals the number of senators and representatives that each state is allowed in the U.S. Congress. All states are winner-take-all except for Maine and Nebraska. Both of these states assign their votes proportionally to the popular vote, a system which makes much more sense but which could cause even more confusion in the elections this year. This system is called the Congressional District Method, and makes each participating state a swing state, forcing politicians to work harder for their votes. Two votes go to a statewide decision, and the rest are split by district.

Colorado may change the way elections are run in their state by altering the electoral college system. Colorado would do away with its winner-take-all system and distribute its nine votes by proportional representation. This year will be the practice run for the new system in Colorado, which may make it the new Florida. Some believe that changing the system is unconstitutional and that the state legislature must make that decision. Colorado officials would prefer the state’s citizens vote before changing the way things are done, so that the new system would not be put in effect this year.

Hopefully this year there will be no "Florida-style" complications and every vote will be counted duly and fairly. After such a pessimistic political campaign, one can only hope the next president will truly have been chosen by the American people, and that it will take less than a month to determine the new leader of the United States.