Contested Election

* A contested presidential election leads to results that many of this nation’s people are unwilling to accept. Deep in the South, a state legislature prepares a response. The action of its legislators will affect the entire country and will shape the future of the next four years.

It happened in 1860, when the election of Abraham Lincoln led South Carolina to secede from the Union. This led to the Civil War. It is happening today in Tallahassee, as Florida’s lawmakers prepare to award that state’s electoral votes to George W. Bush.

T.A. HEPPENHEIMER

Fountain Valley

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The Republican-dominated Florida Legislature reminds me of the football team that tries to get to the line of scrimmage and run a play before the coach of the other team can request an instant replay. What do they fear?

STEVEN BEHM

Burbank

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The rumble in Florida is not about Bush or Al Gore. It is about moving America into the 21st century. Images of the old South with its corrupt political machinery, favoritism, racism, intimidation, rowdy crowds and payoffs add up to a not-so-pretty picture--accurate or not. That’s the image which haunts the American consciousness.

It won’t go away until we allow this thing to play out and forever end this negative image. Like it or not, the banana boat still sits in the Florida waters.

RICHARD LEM

Los Angeles

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Re “Poll Service May Lose Clients Over Election Errors,” Nov. 30: What errors? The Voter News Service had the Florida numbers exactly right. Around 15,000 more Floridians intended to vote for Gore than for Bush. It’s not VNS’s fault that ballots were confusing, voting machines faulty, poll workers unhelpful and (I’m sorry to admit) voters not conscientious. Its initial call of Florida for Gore was completely justified. And the later call of Florida for Bush was made by his first cousin, working for the Fox News Channel, then followed lockstep by the other networks. A lot of things went wrong that night, but VNS’s performance wasn’t one of them.

BARRY GOLD

Los Angeles

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Is it possible that nearly all of Gore’s “uncounted” ballots would have been counted if the ballot contained a line where the voter could designate “none of the above”?

JACK WARNER

Orange

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I think that I’ve figured out what the Republicans have planned for the next four years. Colin Powell will be president in charge of foreign relations, Dick Cheney will be president in charge of domestic issues, and they will let George W. be the president in charge of waving at crowds, from a distance.

JOE DIETSCH

Santa Barbara

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How ironic, a Democrat designed a butterfly ballot form that gave the presidency to a Republican. And a Republican election official allowed people to change absentee ballot application forms that could give the presidency to a Democrat. Poetic justice? Or perhaps political justice?

ANTHONY McMANUS

Tustin