According to Florida state law, the Palm Beach ballot was illegal. It was printed so that Gov. Bush’s vote was clearly No. 1. Vice president Gore’s second listing was unclear, with the punch hole number three. This is not only unacceptable to those registered voters of Palm Beach, but to all citizens.

The second unacceptable issue is the Electoral College. Devised by our forefathers because they felt the citizens at that time to be uninformed and illiterate, and therefore, needed an elector to vote for them. This certainly no longer applies and needs to be abolished, especially since the elector is expected, but not legally bound, to reflect the popular vote of his state. Thank goodness Sen.-elect Hillary Clinton recognizes the archaic nature of this system, which should also be deemed illegal, as it is not the voice of the people.

As for the millions of dollars spent on campaigning, it would be better spent addressing the issues confronting the elderly and the poor. Since we live in a technological age, candidates should use TV for campaigning. Have the presidential and vice presidential candidates from each party present their platform, national and international issues, and how they seek to resolve them on scheduled TV programs. The second TV programs for each would be “town meeting” formats. The following programs would be debates (two informal ones for the presidential candidates and one for the vice presidential candidates). Then we would vote.

We also need a standard ballot for use in all states for the presidential election.

The 2000 presidential election was not fair for all its citizens, and under the present system, I choose not to vote in another. Susanne Bates Hodgdon