Get over it? Not this filmmaker
By C.B. Hanif, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Thursday, July 11, 2002

Even with the presumption of inevitability that many news organizations deservedly were criticized for promoting, the record-breaking $100 million that it took to buy the White House almost wasn't enough. "We have a president who owes his election more to a dynasty than to democracy," said Chairman Julian Bond at the NAACP's 93rd annual convention this week.

Presidential candidate George W. Bush had wooed that group before he lost the November 2000 popular election by more than a half-million votes nationwide. He would have lost Florida's popular vote -- and the presidency -- had all the ballots that voters cast been registered.

For Americans who consider it a patriotic duty to ensure that every citizen has an equal opportunity to vote and to have his or her vote counted, restoring confidence in the electoral process means looking first at Florida. That's what Faye Anderson has done as producer of Counting on Democracy. Her documentary about the Florida presidential election is to air soon on public television. Many South Florida residents will see it beginning Friday, however, when Ms. Anderson hosts free screenings arranged by state Rep. James "Hank" Harper Jr., D-West Palm Beach.

Ms. Anderson, a New York-based writer and former national vice chairman of the Republican National Committee's New Majority Council, notes that while there is a clear racial gap in access to reliable voting systems, the problem of equal access to the polling place is an American problem. As she points out, a cross section of Americans, including seniors, students, the disabled and language minorities, encountered difficulties in exercising their right to vote or were discouraged from voting on Election Day 2000.

That's part of the reason she says her feature-length "untold story of the Florida presidential election," narrated by Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, is not a rehash of the election debacle. "Instead, it provides the context, analysis -- and voices -- that were missing from most media accounts," she said. "The film looks back at the problems and looks ahead to the future. It highlights ongoing efforts to bring about meaningful electoral reform nationwide."

Viewing the film "overwhelmed me," said Rep. Harper. Like many others in Florida, "I was actively involved" when the whole world was watching. "I thought it was an important educational tool," he said, adding that he hopes parents will bring their children, "because the youth need to understand what happened here."

Ms. Anderson tells me that the 56-minute film is faithful to the 20-minute trailer that some of us saw months ago, when she was here for wrap-up filming and interviews along with Danny Schechter. An Emmy Award-winning news veteran and director of 12 films, he recently received the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi Award for excellence in documentary journalism.

Judging from the trailer, which missed nary a nuance nor player, Counting on Democracy will live up to the "jaw-dropping, even terrifying" billing that organizers gave it at the April premier during the Taos, N.M. Talking Picture Festival. A letter-writer in today's paper wonders "how future historians will record the shenanigans that took place during those memorable days." On film, this documentary may be that record.