The virtual tie in the popular vote in Florida led to one of the most controversial elections and subsequent legal proceedings in the history of the United States. In the process, the highest court of the land reversed the highest court of a state. While the public accepted the Supreme Court’s decision, the events focused the nation’s attention on the need for substantial reforms in the election process, especially greater uniformity in voting technology and improved procedures for resolving disputed results. Judge Richard A. Posner, an outstanding legal scholar, has examined the legal decisions and the underlying factors that led to the larger than expected fraction of under and over-votes in Florida. The book is not an ‘easy’ read as the Florida election law is complex and the courts had a very tight time frame in which to decide the issues. The author uses fairly sophisticated econometric techniques to examine the relative roles of the voting machinery, the counting process as well as economic and demographic factors in examining the causes for ballots to be spoiled. Although legal readers may find the statistical arguments difficult and quantitative scientists may find some details of the law arcane, the book almost surely will be on any ‘thinking’ individual’s list of publications to read on the subject. Even though the ultimate assessment of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to stop the recount of under-votes in several Florida counties may well depend on the response to the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the election exposed serious flaws in our democratic process. Judge Posner’s suggestions for reform should provide a good starting point for the nation to review and improve the system. Other countries, especially newer democracies also have an opportunity to learn from the problems that arose in the United States. The book consists of five chapters. First, some important historical background is provided. Then the election deadlock and its causes are reviewed and examined. The court decisions and legal strategies of the participants are discussed in the third chapter. The performance of the participants, including the legal commentators, is then critiqued. Here, Judge Posner is far more critical of the academics that spoke or wrote for the media than he is of the lawyers and most judges. The last chapter discusses the potential reforms that should be made in order to avoid another fiasco as well as improve the electoral process. As the book was published in the summer of 2001, this review will first discuss the book and the issues it treats based on the information available to the author. Subsequent studies and developments will be mentioned at the end.