# Have the results of any U.S. presidential election other than 2000, 2020 been widely disputed and litigated?

The results of two U.S. presidential elections in the last 24 years have been hotly contested and litigated:

  * The 2000 election was won by George W. Bush by just 537 votes in Florida. After attempts at a recount which some believed could flip the state to Al Gore and consequently hand him the presidency, the SCOTUS case Bush v. Gore ultimately gave it to Bush, with Gore conceding on December 13, 2000.

  * The 2020 election was claimed by Donald Trump to have been "stolen"; he maintains to this day that he is the legitimate winner. There were recount efforts such as those in Arizona and Georgia.




Both of the above elections had results widely disbelieved by the public and are still seen as controversial.

Are there any other U.S. elections similar to these two, in the sense that some of the following hold?

  * One of the candidates did not concede the election (at least for some time)
  * There was a substantial amount of litigation in an attempt to change the result of the election
  * There was widespread disbelief among the public as to who the rightful winner of the election was



**1876 , Rutherford B. Hayes (R) v. Samuel J. Tilden (D)**

The South had much voter intimidation against Black people and Republicans, with at least 150 people outright murdered.

Three states: Florida (4 EV), Louisiana (8 EV), and South Carolina (7 EV), had different factions of the state government submitted conflicting certificates saying who won the election in their state. Meanwhile, in Oregon, one Republican Elector was disqualified for being a Postmaster (thus a "person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States"), and the state governor appointed a Democrat in his place. So, there were a total of 20 Electors in dispute.

When Congress (then divided with a Democrat House and Republican Senate) met to count the votes, they couldn't agree on how to count the disputed states, so they formed a special 15-member Electoral Commission to settle the result. The commission was intended to consist of 7 members of each major party plus one "independent", David Davis, then a Supreme Court Justice. But before the commission met, the Illinois Legislature elected Davis to the Senate, and David resigned his position in order to take his Senate seat. He was replaced with Justice Joseph Bradley, a republican.

On March 2, 1877 (115 days after the general election, and only 2 days before Inaguaration Day), the commission decided 8-7, completely along party lines, to award all 20 disputed Electoral Votes to Hayes, and thus Hayes "won" the election by a single vote, 185-184.

Some Democrats vocally complained that Tilden had been cheated, and threatened to filibuster the election results. But Hayes and his supporters proposed a compromise whose terms included the U.S. would withdraw the remaining military occupation units from the South, in exchange for the Southern states pinky-promising to be nice to their Black populations.

## 1960

Nixon vs Kennedy. History has somewhat swallowed both men (Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 and Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal). But before 2000, this was the most contentious of the 20th century.

This election was incredibly close. Kennedy won the popular vote by about 130,000 votes (68M+ were cast), and this was the narrowest election of the 20th century.

There was significant litigation in Hawaii due to the close margin and recount changing the result.

> Similarly, in Hawaii, official results showed Nixon winning by a small margin of 141 votes, with the state being called for him early Wednesday morning. Acting Governor James Kealoha certified the Republican electors, and they cast Hawaii's three electoral votes for Nixon. However, clear discrepancies existed in the official electoral tabulations, and Democrats petitioned for a recount in Hawaii circuit court.[76] The court challenge was still ongoing at the time of the Electoral Count Act's safe harbor deadline, but Democratic electors still convened at the ʻIolani Palace on the constitutionally-mandated date of December 19 and cast their votes for Kennedy. The recount, completed before Christmas, resulted in Kennedy being declared winner by 115 votes. On December 30, the circuit court ruled that Hawaii's three electoral votes should go to Kennedy. It was decided that a new certificate was necessary, with only two days remaining before Congress convened on January 6, 1961, to count and certify the Electoral College votes.

Rather than litigate on, Nixon conceded and allowed the electors to elect Kennedy.

The 1824 election was known as the Corrupt Bargain. With four candidates (John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William Crawford, and Henry Clay) splitting the Electoral College, none of them won a majority. According to the Twelfth Amendment, the House gets to vote amongst themselves between the top three candidates. Clay was very influential in the House at the time and gave his support to Adams in exchange for being made Secretary of State. Adams was made president, despite Jackson winning the most electoral votes and the popular vote. Clay was made Secretary of State and Jackson campaigned on the "Corrupt Bargain" claim for the next four years.

  * A reference to the election with supporting information is generally recommended.




**Hillary Clinton: Trump is an ‘illegitimate president’**

> Hillary Clinton dismissed President Trump as an “illegitimate president” and suggested that “he knows” that he stole the 2016 presidential election in a CBS News interview to be aired Sunday.
> 
> ...

That certainly seems to qualify as "not conceding the election".

Immediately after the election, there were efforts to blame Clinton's loss on "Russia! Russia! Russia!":

**White House Confirms Pre-Election Warning to Russia Over Hacking**

Election denial continued:

**Clinton opens door to questioning legitimacy of 2016 election**

And finally, almost half of Clinton voters believed the election was illegitimate:

**74 Percent Call Election Legitimate, But With a Vast Partisan Divide: Poll** :

> Nearly three-quarters of Americans in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll accept Donald Trump’s election as legitimate -- but with a vast gap between his supporters and others that underscores the nation’s continued deep political divisions.

Almost half of Clinton's voters would be millions and millions of people. That is _certainly_ "widespread disbelief".

**Edit:**

Downvoting this kinda makes my point, doesn't it?

Invoking "Russia! Russia! Russia!" **8 years after the fact** is how you try to make a claim that the 2016 election **wasn't** disputed? That's downright risible.