United States presidential election in Minnesota, 2000

United States presidential election in Minnesota, 2000

November 7, 2000

Nominee Al Gore George W. Bush Ralph Nader Party Democratic Republican Green Home state Tennessee Texas Connecticut Running mate Joe Lieberman Dick Cheney Winona LaDuke Electoral vote 10 0 0 Popular vote 1,168,266 1,109,659 126,696 Percentage 47.9% 45.5% 5.2%

County Results   Gore—50-60%   Gore—<50%   Bush—<50%   Bush—50-60%   Bush—60-70%

President before election Bill Clinton Democratic Elected President George W. Bush Republican

The 2000 United States presidential election in Minnesota took place on November 7, 2000 as part of the 2000 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose 10 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.

Minnesota was won by Vice President Al Gore by a 2.4% margin of victory, a much weaker performance than President Bill Clinton had in 1996, when he carried the state with 51% of the vote and a 16% margin of victory. Despite winning the state, Gore lost most of the counties and congressional districts in the state. However Gore won highly populated counties such as Hennepin County, Ramsey County, and St. Louis County by safe margins. In terms of congressional districts, Gore won three districts including the urban 4th and 5th and won the 8th district with less than 50% of the vote. Bush overall dominated the rural areas, located in the western and southern parts of the state. No Republican has won the state since Richard Nixon in 1972, a Democratic streak longer than any other state. ^[1]

One reason the election was so close was that left-wing Green Party candidate Ralph Nader got over 5% of the vote.

Results

Despite Nader taking away a good deal of Gore voters, he was still able to win the state by a fairly close margin. Gore's win was partially due to his huge numbers out of Minneapolis, and St. Paul. Gore's win was able to keep Minnesota in Democrats hands once again. Minnesota has not gone for a Republican since 1972, when it went for then-president Richard M. Nixon.

United States presidential election in Minnesota, 2000
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Al Gore	Joe Lieberman	1,168,266	47.91%	10
	Republican	George W. Bush	Dick Cheney	1,109,659	45.50%	0
	Green	Ralph Nader	Winona LaDuke	126,696	5.20%	0
	Reform	Pat Buchanan	Ezola Foster	22,166	0.91%	0
	Libertarian	Harry Browne	Art Olivier	5,282	0.22%	0
	Constitution	Howard Phillips	J. Curtis Frazier	3,272	0.13%	0
	Natural Law	John Hagelin	A. Nat. Goldhaber	2,294	0.09%	0
	Socialist Workers	James Harris	Margaret Trowe	1,022	0.04%	0
	Write Ins			28	0.00%	0
Totals				2,438,685	100.00%	10
Voter turnout (Voting age/Registered)						67%/75%

Electors

Technically the voters of Minnesota cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Minnesota is allocated 10 electors because it has 8 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 10 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 10 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for President and Vice President. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 18, 2000^[2] to cast their votes for President and Vice President. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All were pledged to and voted for Gore and Lieberman:^[3]

1. Carol Bartels
2. Prudy Cameron
3. Joan Campbell
4. Elmer Deutschmann
5. Elizabeth Kalisch
6. Matthew Little
7. Glenda Meixell
8. John Meuers
9. Janis Ray
10. Georgiana Ruzich

References

1. http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/
2. http://www.uselectionatlas.org/INFORMATION/ARTICLES/pe2000timeline.php
3. http://presidentelect.org/e2000.html