Students said they are getting tired of the never-ending presidential election stalemate. With no winner more than a month after election day, GW sentiments matched opinions around the nation – they want a clear end to the voting fiasco.

Under federal law, states are required to choose their electors by Dec. 12, but ongoing legal challenges in the U.S. Supreme and Florida Supreme Courts could stretch past the deadline.

Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris certified the latest vote recount in three Florida counties Nov. 26, giving Texas Governor George W. Bush a 537-vote edge over Vice President Al Gore and allotted the state’s 25 electoral votes for Bush.

The American people are tired of this election, and Bush did a great job by accepting the presidency after he was certified on Sunday, CR Chairman Bill Eldridge said. I am disappointed in the recount and hope that Gore will finally follow the feelings of the American people and concede.

Gore, however is calling for a full and accurate recount and has contested Harris’s certification.

I have decided to contest this inaccurate and incomplete count, in order to ensure the greatest possible credibility for the outcome, Gore said in a speech broadcast on major TV networks Nov. 4.

Democrats are protesting the criteria used to count the ballots, hoping that dimpled and pregnant, or indented, ballots should be counted.

The Gore campaign is also calling for a hand recount in Miami-Dade County, where 10,000 votes were omitted because chads were not pushed all the way through the ballot. Miami-Dade never pursued a hand recount because of what Democrats call intimidation from local citizens and because county officials felt they would be unable to meet the certification deadline.

GW students have expressed frustration about the delay of the election results.

This is it, I feel the American people have spoken and Bush is our president, freshman Giannis Doulamis said. Gore is only prolonging the inevitable and holding back the whole nation from getting on with its business.

The GW College Republicans protested the recounts outside the Vice President’s home at the Naval Observatory Nov. 18, hoping Gore would concede and allow Bush to become president-elect.

While voters said they have been tolerant and willing to wait for the results according to recent polls, polls show growing impatience.

In a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Nov. 26 and 27, 62 percent of Americans said the election stalemate has gone on too long. Compared to a tie at 46 percent last week, 56 percent of poll respondents felt last week that Gore should concede. About 38 percent of respondents said Gore should continue to fight.

Some students said Gore has gone too far in fighting election results.

Even though I feel that the controversies and accusations in Florida lead to many important questions, I don’t feel that Gore should be pursuing the matter in the way he is, said sophomore Jennifer Beers, a Gore supporter. He seems kind of petty.

Students said most campus Democrats are still showing support for the vice president and agree that he should pursue contesting the voting inconsistencies.

I think Gore should pursue this because I don’t want Bush to win, sophomore Matt Iacovone said.

Democratic lawsuits could be nullified if the U.S. Supreme Court decides in favor of the Bush campaign’s appeal of the Florida Supreme Court’s decision to allow a partial hand recount. Bush officials, who said the count is unconstitutional, are seeking a decision that will omit the hand recount from the final Florida vote certification.