MARK MY WORD: NATION FINDS MAJOR MATH PROBLEM IN PICKING A PRESIDENT

America's a great country. It's just that we can't do math.

That's what makes electing a president so tough. For democracy to work, you've got to count the ballots.

In Florida, it seems, they've all lost their calculators if not their collective minds. The Sunshine State suddenly has become the recount state. You can feel the chill in the air at tourism headquarters.

Florida's supposed to be the state of sunshine, sea turtles and Disney World. Now, it's also the state of ballot boo-boos.

All this ballot bouncing has made one thing perfectly clear: We all need to go to this Electoral College. Maybe then we could learn some math and figure out how to reduce millions of votes to a simple number like 270, which is the number of electoral votes needed to pick a winner.

It's understandable that the founding fathers would want Americans to rely on a college to pick its president and national football champion.

Most college students can do a little math. In addition, there are math professors who can help with any serious calculations.

When our nation was founded, few Americans could read or write, much less do math.

Naturally, our founding fathers figured the nation needed an Electoral College with electors who could do their homework and at least spell the name of a legitimate presidential candidate.

The Constitution leaves the selection of electors to the state legislatures, stipulating only that they not be game-show hosts or Reform Party candidates.

Before the adoption of the 12th Amendment in 1804, electors voted for two people without distinguishing between a vote for president and vice president.

Aaron Burr almost got elected president that way, but electors eventually chose Thomas Jefferson as president in 1800, deciding that the country would look a whole lot better with a bunch of Jefferson elementary schools. Burr just didn't seem like a proper school name.

Of course, that's what's troubling about the 2000 election. Bush and Gore just aren't great names for elementary schools.

The way it's going, future schools might have the name "Recount."

All this ballot counting is enough to make us all long for higher math or, better yet, computers that can quickly count all the votes, eliminating the need for political wrestling matches.

Our 8-year-old daughter, Becca, has been asking us who won the election.

The election has been a topic of discussion in her third-grade glass. She says Gore has "the people vote," but presidential elections are decided by the "state vote."

The Electoral College hasn't had this much attention in years. If this keeps up, it could be a television mini-series by next year.

In our high-tech nation, you'd think we'd be able to get an accurate vote count on Election Day.

Having just returned from a trip to Las Vegas, I'm convinced that we should put the whole ballot counting process in the hands of the casinos.

They have slot machines that count better than the election equipment in Florida. Run the ballots through a few of those slot machines and this election would be settled. Better yet, the nation might hit the jackpot in the process.