After the election of 2000, Chad and his dimples were the most talked about subject for months - they did everything from tie up the Florida legal system to hold off the results of the presidential election.

But because of Chad, the nation saw firsthand what kind of problems were inherent in our voting system.

It was a hassle for everybody, since everyone wanted to know the identity of our president, whether it be then-Vice President Al Gore or then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush. While Bush was declared the winner by the U.S. Supreme Court, studies of the Florida ballots, including chads in all forms, have sought to reveal more information about 2000’s indecisive election.

A study commissioned by a consortium of media companies analyzing each chad, dimpled and hanging, every ballot that caused problems and every scenario that might have changed the course of the election showed that after intense scrutiny, the presidential election could still have easily gone either way.

Gore’s four-county strategy for Broward, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Volusia counties would have given him a few more votes, but still would have given the election to Bush by 225 votes.

But had the Supreme Court allowed a statewide recount to be issued, the election becomes cloudier.

Scenarios analyzing overvotes, undervotes, butterfly and caterpillar ballots and one and two-corner hanging chad standards showed Gore victorious.

The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago conducted the study for the eight-member media consortium for the purpose of bringing clarity to the situation - not to change history and the outcome of the election.

Americans have grown tired of the bickering over the presidential election results, but the study highlights the many problems our voting system has. It’s sad when the oldest democracy in the world has to throw out thousands of votes each election because of poorly designed ballots, inefficient voting methods or poor directions.

This study should spur lawmakers to drop their partisan politics for the time being and work to fix the problems in our electoral system.

Unfortunately, this issue has taken a back seat to the war on terrorism abroad, fears of anthrax, plane crashes and threats of future terrorist attacks.

But we hope when the nation is able to shift its priorities, this study can be used to refine our electoral system so we never see an election like the one in 2000 again.