VOTERS IN AREA WANT A WINNER

Three days after casting their ballots in a presidential election that still hasn't been decided, local voters interviewed Friday expressed feelings ranging from a demand that Vice President Al Gore concede immediately to calling for a revote in Palm Beach County, Fla.

An unofficial Associated Press canvass of the presidential vote in Florida showed Republican George W. Bush with a 327-vote lead over Democrat Gore. The eventual winner -- who may not be known until Nov. 17 -- will take Florida's 25 electoral votes and become the nation's 43rd president.

"I'm nervous as I can be," said Peggy Barringer of Cape Girardeau, who voted for Bush. "I think that the candidates should accept the recount results."

Barringer, 55, who is a production assistant, said any revote would be a travesty.

"I can't even think of a revote, anywhere," she said.

A revote is exactly what Nicki Hensley, a Gore voter, wants to see. "Think of all those ballots that got thrown out," said the 27-year-old Hensley, a restaurant cook. "Half of those ballots could have gone for Gore."

A judge may have to decide what happens next, she says. "If it goes to court, that's what it has to do. But we shouldn't have to wait for months."

Karen Schlosser, a financial service representative, doesn't want to see the courts involved.

"I think that after Florida they need to stop there and not get into lawsuits," the 42-year-old Scott City resident said. "We don't need to divide the country."

Schlosser, who voted for Bush, said maybe this is the time to look at our system of elections and consider something new. "I would like to know who our next president is."

The Electoral College has come in for criticism from some Americans who feel the president should be elected solely on the basis of the popular vote. "I think the Electoral College is an outdated process, but I think we have to live with it," said Cape Girardeau car salesman Doug Edwards, another Bush voter.

He does think something good has come from the vote-counting controversy. "It is good for the system. People will actually realize that their vote does count."

'It's annoying'

Businesswoman Kathi Mecham voted for Gore and has questions about how the situation should be handled. "I don't really know right now if he should concede or not for his own political future," she said.

"I want Gore so badly, but I don't want it to be illegally."

She also questions whether the Palm Beach County ballot should be challenged. "What do you have to do, teach people to read before you vote?"

But the 43-year-old Mecham doesn't think Gore should concede just yet. "I think he should wait for the absentees."

Exasperated describes some voters.

"It's annoying," said Jessica Morrow, 18, of Cape Girardeau, who voted for Bush. The Central High School senior participated in her first election this week. Morrow said she would like to see a national ballot developed to reduce confusion. She fears public reaction if the nation has to wait much longer to learn the results.

"I think if maybe we don't find out something pretty soon, the public is going to get aggravated," she said. "It's frustrating when you thought you were going to find out something that night, and here it is three days later and you still don't know."

Another 18-year-old is not quite as impatient.

"I think they need to take a national revote," said Octavius Moore of Cape Girardeau, who voted for Gore. "It'd be easier. But then, they'd probably do something wrong somewhere again."

Moore, also a senior at Central High School, said some voters likely were unable to vote for the candidates they supported due to confusion surrounding ballots in some Florida counties. However, you can't take those ballots back, just as you can't go back the next day to answer questions on college entrance exams, he said.

"It's like the SAT. If you voted for the wrong person or were confused you don't get to go back."

'An education in history'

Wayne McPherson of Cape Girardeau is somewhat disillusioned with the two-party system in America and the competition it creates.

"I would hope that our next president really would try to work with everybody," said the 60-year-old retired math professor. "I've heard someone say that we won't have a new president until Jan. 20, so we can take our time. Maybe the careful approach is the best thing."

McPherson said none of the events took him by surprise, particularly when you consider how litigious society has become. "It doesn't surprise me to see that lawyers and the courts will get involved."

He cast a ballot for Bush.

Rodger Brown of Cape Girardeau said Gore should concede the election to Bush. Brown, who voted for Bush, said the Gore campaign is "grasping at straws because they know they have lost the election.

"They are trying to do anything they can to hold onto that power. I think when we get to the bottom of this we are gong to find, regardless of what they do, they still lost the election."

The controversy has a silver lining, said the 52-year-old Brown, who owns a construction parts and equipment business. "It is like an education in history, to be perfectly honest. It is teaching the American public, who really don't pay a great deal of attention to the Constitution, what this country was founded on and what the rules are that guide us."

Sam Blackwell, Mark Bliss, Tamara Zellars Buck, Laura Johnston and B. Ray Owen contributed to this report.