it speaks a great deal about a place when the burning question about the free exercise of democracy is simply: was it fraud or incompetence? This place is Florida, former home of little Elian Gonzalez and Ted Bundy, the most famous serial killer in US history. Outside the state capital building, bare-chested college students are waving blue Bush placards. Another group of students wave other signs and shout "Gore won more!" Local politicians and instant legal experts are loitering with poorly concealed stealth among the television cameras, as eager to be asked for an interview as a bridesmaid for a proposal.
A few miles away, Brian Ross (27) and his girlfriend Lisa McLeMore (20) sat at the Osaka Steak House's communal style Japanese dinner table, munching on teriyaki cooked shrimp. They are George W. Bush supporters and they are disgusted.
"I think they should do the recount and then let it go," said Ms McLeMore. Mr Ross agreed. "You can't keep calling new elections."
Across the table came vociferous disagreement from another couple, in their 30s, both of whom are Florida state employees and did not wish their names used. They were Al Gore supporters.
"Look, I care about the economy. That's why I voted for Gore," said the man. "I grew up in Alabama and I'm not a liberal. I voted for Bob Dole in 1996. But we've been doing pretty well with this economy and Gore will keep it going."
Mr Ross and Ms McLeMore said they supported Mr Bush because they simply liked him more and because they were disgusted with the moral climate of the Clinton White House, which they felt Mr Gore was inevitably a part of.
Soon the conversation shifted to the allegations of voter fraud in Florida, which led to the role played in this elections and recent ones also by Governor Jeb Bush, George W. Bush's brother.
"He is not a good man and he is not a popular governor," said the state employee. "I think he hurt George W. Bush in this state."
Indeed, George W. Bush's younger brother does run Florida with an iron hand, and there is now scrutiny on exactly how he does so. There are political questions, but also ethical ones about how voting is conducted and encouraged here . . . or not.
Less than one year ago, Governor Jeb Bush wiped out affirmative action programmes in university admissions and in state contracting. Outraged, 10,000 people marched on the state capital last autumn, vowing to "Remember in November". Mr Bush's move was an attempt to keep the affirmative action issue off last week's ballot, fearing that a public referendum would bring too many blacks and liberals to the polls.
The plan backfired. Blacks cast 15 per cent of Florida's ballot on Tuesday, up from 10 per cent in 1996. The high turnout was attributed to anger at Jeb Bush and by extension, George W. Bush.
"Whatever he intended he inspired a confrontational situation that inspired a lot of people," said Jon Ausman, vice-chair of the Florida Democratic Party. "He personalised it and people were able to identify with what they saw as arrogance."
THE question now is whether Jeb Bush's attempts last year to discourage some voters from coming to the polls extended to the issuance of a poorly designed ballot in Palm Beach county, a liberal district with a high percentage of Jewish and black voters.
Just over a million people live in Palm Beach county: some 276,332 are registered as Democrats, and 228,519 are Republicans. Another 100,000 or so are independents. Their median age is 42, and their median income is $56,591 a year. The confusing ballot was designed by a local Democrat, a woman who, as one observer noted, has now been consigned to the Sixth Circle of Hell along with Ralph Nader and Al Gore's make-up artist.
There have been more than one instance of shenanigans in Florida elections in recent years. Miami Herald columnist Dave Barry says: "Florida's Number 3 industry, behind tourism and skin cancer, is voter fraud."
A Goreian exaggeration for sure, but elections in Florida have been overturned in the courts because of fraud before. A survey of the voter rolls in 1998 revealed, for example, that 50,000 convicted felons were registered to vote (illegal); 47,000 people were registered twice (illegal) and 17,702 dead people were also registered (illegal but also bad for turnout).
Moreover, this election crisis has revealed a broader problem in US voting. In Florida, for example, each of the 67 counties may choose their own systems of casting and counting ballots. There is no uniform standard, and much of the election day supervising of elections is done by overworked volunteers. And like so much else here, it comes down to money.
Leon County, Florida, the county that includes Tallahassee, is one place where there were no ballot problems. Back in 1988, the local election supervisor decided to replace the ageing lever style voting machines because an earlier election had been so controversial that his predecessor had temporarily been removed from office. He purchased a system where voters fill in bubbles in ballots that are then scanned by a computer. Back then, the machines cost $6,300 each and the mainframe computer that tabulates results was $50,000. Today, the entire system would cost $800,000.
Some 38 counties in Florida use computer scanning, which has proved fairly reliable. But 27 counties use punchcards, of the type used in Palm Beach county. Even without the confusing "butterfly" style ballot, where candidate names are on either side separated by a punch hole, punchcards can be confusing.
Even less reliable are the ancient lever style machines, which were fine in their time but are now old and cranky. In Georgia, 76 counties still use levers, 18 use punchcards, and 63 have switched to scanning machines.
And this election was actually quite typical in the number of voting problems experienced across the country. In New York, ballot lines were so long even Mayor Rudy Guilani had to wait in line for 30 minutes, prompting him to call for reform. In Detroit, some waited three hours to vote, and a judge refused to extend voting hours. By contrast, voters in a Democratic district in St Louis, Missouri, were allowed an extra 40 minutes to vote until a federal appeals court shut the polling place down.
In Cross Village, Michigan, a black bear trapped voting officials inside the town hall until police arrived and shot the animal.
"All of a sudden, eyes are being opened all over America to some of the strange ballot forms we have and problems with the system," Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia told the New York Times. "The truth is, a lot of sloppiness has crept into our voting system and it has not mattered before. Now it matters."
"This is a real wake-up call for America," added Deborah Phillips, chairperson of the Voting Integrity Project, a non-profit group that studies voting systems. "We see the system as messed up because this is an extremely close election and it is critical. So all eyes are on the American electoral system. But we have been critical of some of these weaknesses for several years now."
All ballots cast in the Florida election, including those from overseas, will be counted by November 17th. But with a number of lawsuits now filed by angry voters whose ballots were disregarded or misinterpreted in Palm Beach county, what the courts decide to do in Florida remains to be seen. The fact that the outcome of the US presidential election hangs in the balance does not help; the high profile of the case and the political interpretations required of a judge are daunting.
There is a precedent. In 1998, the Florida Supreme Court agreed with a trial court that there had been misconduct in an election. But the court said no new election was required in that case because there was not enough evidence that the misconduct had changed the result.
Still, the court used the 1998 case to state that the courts had the power to invalidate an election when "reasonable doubt exists as to whether a certain election expressed the will of the voters". Furthermore, the court said that outright fraud was not necessary, only that the voters wishes be respected. If not, "the court is to void the contested election even in the absence of fraud or intentional wrongdoing," read the court's decision.
But will any judge have the courage to order a new election in Florida?
"Oh, I just wish this had happened somewhere else, not in Florida," muttered the Gore-supporting state employee back at the Osaka Steak House. Young Mr Ross, the Bush supporter, wholeheartedly agreed with him on that.
A motto on one of Florida's earliest state flags read "Leave Us Alone". That's not likely to happen anytime soon.