“Your vote matters!” said Lisa Reiter of Campus Ministry.

Those words may define the election of the 43rd President of the United States of America. The presidency hinged upon a 1,725, or approximately .3 percent vote difference between George W. Bush and Al Gore as of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. Fewer than 2,000 people will determine who will take over as the Chief Executive.

“It was really suspenseful,” said Steven Puro, Ph.D. of SLU’s political science department.

That sentiment was repeated by most voters and reporters Tuesday night as the votes were counted, and the states were chalked up to one candidate or the other. There was a significant third candidate, Ralph Nader of the Green Party, but he was unable to claim a single state and no more than two percent of the popular vote.

“Political scientists were saying it was too close to call,” said Puro. “We didn’t expect it to be that close across the board.”

Missouri is a good example of the narrow margins found in many of the Gubernatorial and Congressional races across the country. The late Democratic Governor Mel Carnahan edged out incumbent Republican Senator John Ashcroft by less than 50,000 votes. In the race for governor, Democrat Bob Holden beat Republican Jim Talent by 1 percent.

“This is a historic election,” said Puro. “The closest representative election was in 1960 between [John F.] Kennedy and [Richard M.] Nixon.”

In the 1960 election, however, there was no significant third party candidate.

“At first I was kind of apathetic,” said freshman Gina O’Donnell. “But I did vote, and as it got close I became more interested.”

“I think it’s ridiculous that you can elect a president with less than 50 percent of the popular vote,” said sophomore Henry Dorabcsek. “I mean, I understand the whole electoral college process, I just don’t agree with it.”

“Most of my friends voted,” said O’Donnell, “mostly absentee votes.”

“Most of the people I know who didn’t vote couldn’t get home or have an absentee ballot,” said sophomore Phil Brennan.

The two parties are not only deadlocked in the presidential race, they are also neck and neck for control of the U.S. Senate. As of 6 p.m. Wednesday, the winner had yet to be declared in the Washington state senate race. Currently, of the 100 U.S. Senate seats, there are 49 Democrats and 50 Republicans. In addition, whoever becomes the Vice President (Republican or Democrat), holds the tie-breaking vote in the Senate. To further complicate matters, Sen. Joseph “Joe” Lieberman, Gore’s running mate, was re-elected to the Senate this election. If he becomes Vice President, the governor of Connecticut (a Republican) will have to choose a replacement, which will most likely be a Republican.

This election year is complicated. Control of the two most powerful institutions in the United States will literally be determined by a handful of votes.

“We knew it would be close,” said Mike Benoist head of Saint Louis University’s chapter of the College Republicans. “I think it was a good, hard-fought election. With an election this tight, your vote really does matter.”

People sometimes point to the Electoral College and say that since the College does the actual electing of the president, the popular vote is meaningless. However, the popular vote and the College are intertwined.

“When voters voted, they voted for the electors [of the Electoral College],” said Puro. “You did not vote [for the president] directly.”

According to Puro, the electors are usually hard-line party loyalists. The party must depend on them to vote for their candidate. One-half of the states (including Florida) require that the electors vote for the winner of the popular vote in the state they represent, the so-called “take all” states. However, in the other 25 states, the electors are not required to vote for the popular winner. This is why it is possible for a candidate to win the popular vote and still lose the election.

The electors will gather on Dec. 18 and cast their ballots for a candidate. The ballots are sealed, not to be opened until Jan. 6 of next year.

“If Bush wins the electoral vote, he wins,” says Benoist. “Gore has said that he will also abide by the electoral college.”

Ralph Nader’s presence on the election scene worried many people thinking he may act as a spoiler, and in Florida their worries came true.

In Florida, Gore has 49 percent, Bush has 49 percent and Nader has 2 percent. According to exit polls, 60 percent of those voters would have voted for Gore if Nader had dropped out before the election, 20 percent would have voted for Bush and 20 percent would have stayed home.

The resulting deadlock caused a recount to be held in Florida, which may not be done until Thursday, Friday or later. There are also uncounted absentee votes yet to be received.

The vote-counters in Florida suspended the recount at 5 p.m. Wednesday until 8 a.m. Thursday.