After a week in which United States citizens sat on the edge of their seats to learn who will be the country's next chief executive, the tension and indecision has left many in Durham frustrated and a little confused.
"I'm really confused because this hasn't happened before," said Durham resident Katie Tarney, enjoying an afternoon snack at Durham's Northgate Mall.
Though Kenneth Woods said it is clear that something went wrong in Palm Beach County, he's not quite sure what happened. "Palm Beach is a totally Democratic county and Pat Buchanan got 3,000 votes or something in that county," noted Woods, who was proudly wearing a Gore pin. "What's going on is beyond me. Was there fraud or a mis-tabulation? I don't know, but it seems so."
Durham resident M.E. Cox said he had little sympathy for the Floridians who may have accidentally voted for the wrong candidate. "Everybody makes mistakes," he said. "What you do is you eat your mistakes and let it go. If we tried to eliminate all the mistakes in this election, we'd be here 12 more months."
Other Northgate Mall shoppers were more concerned about the errors and felt action must be taken in order to rectify the situation.
"I say if it's not right, you need to make it right," said Roy Caudle.
Shirley Smith said officials should not conduct a revote. "I think in Florida with the manual recount, that's what they should do. They should wait for the overseas ballots, see who has more votes and he should be president," she said.
On the other hand, Rev. Benjamin Green felt that a total revote in Florida was necessary. "That way it would be fair for both candidates."
He added that he thought it likely that events that have occurred since the Nov. 7 election may lead some to change their votes, but he did not think that is a problem.
Durham residents held mixed opinions over whether citizens and the political candidates should file lawsuits in response to how the election was handled.
"As Americans, if we feel our right to vote has been violated, then we have a right to file suit," Smith said.
Cox said he felt that Democrats, through law suits, were trying too hard to get their candidate elected. "The Gore camp is trying to get him in some way, by hoof or by crook."
While some pinned blame on Bush for filing "frivolous" lawsuits, especially with regard to blocking a hand recount, Tarney said both candidates have acted irresponsibly since Wednesday morning.
"I think they have been kind of childish," she said. "It's been kind of like 'Ha! ha! I'm the winner.' 'No, wait! I am. Gotcha.' It's been like a game of tag or something."
Smith hopes the country can move past the current wrangling. "We can always agree to disagree, but the country should always rally around the president even if you didn't vote for him," said Smith.
But Dan Kitterell, who is currently visiting Durham from Kitterell, North Carolina, said national acceptance of the new president was unlikely. "The problem is now no matter who gets in there, half the country will hate whoever gets in," he said.
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