Your original question drips with equal (but opposite) bias of several of my family members.
The trouble is that there are multiple ways to define "fair."
* All voters who arrive, registered, to vote and do their job properly having their votes correctly tallied?
* Maintaining the proper local and state control over elections procedures?
* Following precedent in how to count votes?
* Being sure that both parties get an equal number of recounts, in the places they want them? (That number could be zero, of course.)
[I could go on, but you get the idea.]
The trouble is that these criteria are probably mutually exclusive. It seems clear that some localities have (and had in the past) various methods of vote tabulating designed to edge the vote in the direction desired by the entrenched party. Many Democrats feel very strongly that Republicans were particularly guilty of this in 2000, but the issue does not rest on this alone -- Illinois Republicans have some stories of their own mistreatment in this area, as do, I am sure, many others.
The bottom line was that the extremely close vote of 2000 was bad for the nation, because our system of government depends on the reliability and certainty of smooth succession. Even worse was the appearance of politicalization of the courts in 2000, when the Florida Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court both split along party lines. That latter fact was crucial, and it is extremely important that it not be repeated.
Those of us Americans who value our democratic system (hopefully all of us) really need to hope that Tuesday night's vote is decisive. Further, if it is not, we better pray that election officials and courts find the strength to act on principle, not out of partisan politics. We are not far from witnessing a death spiral for out elective system.
In the meantime, we can all help by squelching irreponsible critiques. We do not use popular vote to elect the president, and there is no point acting as though the man who gets the most votes automatically wins. We do not use square mileage to elect the president, and there is no point acting as though a map of the US color coded by county represents who wins... These sorts of things just work to de-legitimize the outcome even further -- as though we didn't have problems enough.
