I originally had planned to do a review of Adobe Photoshop from Adobe CS4 this week, but with the impending election, I decided to change it up at the last minute. Photoshop will have to wait until next week. This week I have a combination review and request: buy or download the HBO Films movie ‘Recount’. Yes, it might be an older film, but at this point in the election season, its important to remember a bit of the past.

This film, starring Kevin Spacey, Dennis Leary, and Tom Wilkinson, tells the true story of the 2000 Florida election debacle, and attempts to show how both sides (democrats and republicans) used devious and aggressive tactics to try and push the other out of the fight for Florida (which, if you remember, was the deciding state for the 2000 presidential election).

Basic Plot

The movie begins with the election night nearing a close and Al Gore on the verge of concession to Bush. He actually concedes his loss when he is called and told that the numbers in Florida are too close to call. From there the movie digresses down a number of paths that show how the recount process (from the machine recount, to hand recounting) was abused and misunderstood by almost every organization involved with the Florida election system.

Essentially, the movie focuses on what are known as “chads” on a Florida punch-card ballot. The majority of the movie is the argument back and forth that dimpled chads (a chad that has been pressed but not pushed through) should have counted as a vote because it illustrates the intent of the voter, even if the voter did not press the chad through.

In the end, we all know the outcome, Bush wins the election through a Supreme Court stay on the hand-recounting that was supposed to be going on in the entire state of Florida. The movie closes with Ron Klain (played by Kevin Spacey) congratulating James Baker (played by Tom Wilkinson) and asking if the better man had really won. Baker feels that the better man did win and they both agree that only time will show the real answer.

Historical Significance

This movie, even with a leftist skew, really does a great job of illustrating the problems that occurred in 2000 and the corruption at several levels of Florida government that lead to several misuses of election law. The film focuses on aspects of the election process in Florda that were broken, the skew that the majority Republican election commission put on the process, and the lengths that both Democrats and Republicans went to try to fight for every single vote going either way.

Several points of the movie show a semi-concerned Katherine Harris that would like to do the right thing but is pressured by Republican lobbyists to do the thing that is good for her party. While she often worked

Recount (DVD)

within the bounds of law, she had every opportunity to make the Florida recount go much smoother and much more fairly. Katherina Harris also played a direct role in the tossing out of some 20,000 Democrats who had names similar to convicted felons, which caused these people to be denied from the polls. Obviously, there is no telling how many of them would have voted for Gore.

Additionally, the movie illustrates the turmoil that went on within the Democratic party. Some members like Warren Christopher were trying to make statements to the rest of the world about how democratic our process is, while others, like Ron Klain, were trying to simply get the recount and election won. It is this turmoil that may have directly attributed to the failure of the Florida recount and the loss of the election by Gore.

Finally, the movie’s most powerful message, is that everyone who votes needs to be sure to vote properly and ask for help if they misunderstand any part of the process. By not asking questions or voting properly, countless votes were lost that could have swung the election either way. Whether the win was really for Gore or Bush had it locked away even after a complete recount will never really be known, but in the future we can only hope that people in all states take care to vote properly so we are not faced with this issue again in the future.

My request

My request, and closing comments, are to watch this movie and reflect on what happened in Florida. Make sure that when you step into the voting booth in November you take care to mark the candidate that you really intend on voting for. If you misunderstand the rules or process for any reason, ask for help. Florida showed that every single vote really can count, most especially in battleground states. Take your time in the booth and make sure that if you are using an older punch-card system, that you properly punch the candidate you intend to vote for.

This movie was not at all interesting from an action standpoint, but if you have any interest in the craziness that surrounds political process and the history of the 2000 election, it does a very good job of reflecting it. A lot of people were unclear (including myself) as to what happened in Florida, and this movie made it very clear to me as to what had gone down and why it ended the way it did.