In the history of U.S. presidential elections, the year 1876 stands out as one of the oddest. That year, polls suggested that one person had won the popular vote but another had won more official electoral votes—just as happened in the year 2000. In 1876, however, the election was so bitterly contested that a special electoral commission was given the authority to determine which candidate—Republican Rutherford B. Hayes or Democrat Samuel J. Tilden—had won. This commission represented a coalition of interests. The Democrats favored this because otherwise the head of the Senate, Republican Thomas Ferry, would probably have been allowed to declare the winner. In the end, the Democrats were disappointed, as the commission advocated the Republican cause. The situation was not settled until March 2 of 1877, only three days before the scheduled inauguration of a new president — Hayes, as it turned out. Only then did America find out who its new leader would be. Americans seem not to have learned many lessons from 1876, however, because in 2000 there was still no official policy on how to settle an election that hung on a few contested votes. The problem was settled (by the Supreme Court) much faster in 2000, but still, no real system had been set up to deal with the situation.