EXCERPT

Calls for vast election reform arrived in wake of the Nov. 7 election when Bush defeated the Democratic presidential nominee, then-Vice President Al Gore, by a razor-thin margin in Florida, and thus winning just 271 electoral votes - one more than required.

The Gore camp decried widespread voting problems in Florida, ranging from indecipherable ballots to problems some voters had punching the proper hole to select the candidate of their choice. Legal protests lasted 36 days and the issue ultimately was decided in the U.S. Supreme Court, with Bush winning the Sunshine State by 537 votes.

Scores of election reform bills were filed in Congress and Bush appointed a blue-ribbon panel, the National Commission on Federal Election Reform to develop recommendations. But the effort has cooled and the administration has done little to nudge it along.

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