Now Streaming: 537 Votes

In the wee hours of the morning of November 8, 2000, after a long, tumultuous election night, the results of the presidential race in the key battleground state of Florida remained “too close to call,” and in the tense weeks that followed, the outcome of the contest between Al Gore and George Bush would come down to the ballot tally in a handful of Florida counties. 537 Votes, directed by Billy Corben and streaming now on HBO Max, weaves together the key elements that led to George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential victory in Florida, which ultimately handed him the presidency.

Florida’s Cuban-American community was incensed by Attorney General Janet Reno’s decision to return Elian Gonzalez, the five-year-old Cuban refugee who had been rescued at sea in November, 1999, to his father in Cuba. The ensuing protests, stoked in large part by Cuban talk radio in Miami, as well as the machinations of local politicians, including Alex Paneras, the 34-year-old mayor of Miami-Dade county and a rising star in the Democratic party, weakened support for Gore among this key constituency, and opened the door for a close race. But in the end, it was the bare-knuckled political maneuverings of the Republican party that slammed it shut, stopping the recount with thousands of ballots uncounted, and George W. Bush ahead by a mere 537 votes.