It was the fight of the Century. Two combatants going toe to toe for the richest prize in the sport with neither one pulling any punches. The longer the fight went – the dirtier it got. It seemed that every time one of the combatants was on top – the other would come back with a one-two punch, overtake his opponent – and be one step closer to victory. Even the judges were confused as to who the winner was. And when it came down to the final round – the undisputed champion could not be determined because the outcome was too close to call. The funniest thing is that this legendary battle was not a boxing match – it was the 2000 Presidential Election.

As if the year 2000 was not historic enough, the first year of the new millennium has now produced the most historic presidential election in American history. Due to problems with ballots in the state of Florida – there is no decisive winner of the election for the first time since George Washington was elected our first president.

When election night rolls around every year, I usually spend the night in front of the tube watching the results come in. As I watched the polls close and the votes tally on Tuesday night – I was a witness to the most dramatic see-saw battle since the first game of the Subway Series just last month.

When the first round of polls closed, Texas Governor and Republican Presidential Candidate George W. Bush was ahead in the polls and as the night pressed on, it looked as if he would become the 43rd President of the United States and the first president since John Quincy Adams to head to the White House after his father. Later in the evening when the next set of polls closed, Vice President and Democratic Presidential Candidate Al Gore took the lead and it now looked as if he would head to the White House and continue the Clinton/Gore regime for another term – but this time – as president.

By the middle of the poll closings, it seemed that this would be a real close race that would go down to the wire, but would surely produce a winner and a new president – then the controversy began.

Besides the number of winning states that were given to Gore, our ever reliable and all knowing media declared that Florida was among them. Winning this state’s 25 electoral votes would put Gore in a good position to win the election and the presidency. But then – the media took Florida back from the Gore column and placed the state in the “Too Close To Call” category.

By the wee hours of the morning, Bush was ahead in electoral votes and was declared the winner. The media published morning editions with “BUSH WINS” on their front page and Vice President Gore even called Governor Bush and conceded the election. Then – both amazingly and historically – members of the Gore campaign realized that there was a problem with ballots in Florida and realized that their defeat might be short lived. So with the election still alive – Gore called Bush and took back his concession – while newspapers tried desperately to recover their historic screw ups.

As of the time I am writing this – Florida’s votes are being recounted – and with 63 of the state’s 67 electoral counties recounted – Bush and Gore’s vote count and the future of the presidency are separated by only 359 votes.

If this election has shown this country anything, it’s that every vote does indeed count. Every single American has a Constitutional right to vote – yet many choose not to exercise that right. They think that their vote would not count or would not make a difference. What if this year – 360 people in Florida thought that way? I hope that this election will change people’s views of the importance of casting their vote for the candidate of their choice.

Another lesson I hope this election teaches us is that the electoral voting system should be abolished. The way a president is elected is by winning 270 of the country’s 538 electoral votes. Each of the 50 states is given a certain amount of electoral votes and with each state that a candidate wins by popular vote – he is given that state’s electoral votes. That process continues until one candidate acquires 270 electoral votes. For example, here in New York, 5,946,178 votes were cast for president. Of those 5,946,178 votes, 3,376,036 votes were cast in favor of Gore – so he wins the state and gets the state’s 33 electoral votes. But what about those 2,210,142 people that voted against him? Why should he win the entire state when the entire state didn’t vote for him? Considering that this election is coming down to individual votes rather then electoral ones – I think that should be a red flag that the electoral voting system doesn’t work anymore.

So at this point – we have no president elect and both candidates are split by less then five hundred votes. What will happen? When will we know who our next president is? No one knows – but I know this – no matter who you or I voted for, I think we can all vote that this was the most interesting and historical election in history – and more then anything else – showed every American how important it is to vote.

But if you still don’t think it’s important to vote – I have 360 reasons why it is.