With exactly two weeks until the Nov. 2 presidential election, Pennsylvania is in the process of implementing a new automatic recount law.

The law, adopted earlier this month, would require that an automatic recount take place if the margin between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry is less than half a percentage point.

In past elections, a recount could only be conducted if a candidate questioned the outcome of the vote and if that candidate paid for the recount.

Abe Amoros, a spokesman for Gov. Ed Rendell said the law was put into effect "rapidly" to ensure a smooth election and avoid a situation similar to the one in Florida in 2000, and the process is modeled after the one in place in Florida.

That idea is great in theory, but the problem is, legislators have had four years since the 2000 election -- so why is Pennsylvania just getting to this issue now?

It feels as though legislators have rushed to pass the recount law to save themselves from criticism if a recount is needed and if things don't go as well Nov. 2 as one would hope.

As of Thursday, officials from the county elections office still had not received instructions and detail regarding the recount process and instructions on what to do in the case of a recount.

This recount law is immensely important and could have a significant impact on the election in Pennsylvania, an important swing state this year.

Officials have had at least six months since the Democratic candidate was decided and both Bush and Kerry began fiercely campaigning. It has been no secret that Pennsylvania would be a vital state to both campaigns.

Regardless of whether this election year was going to be a contentious one, the situation everyone saw in Florida in 2000 should have been a signal to officials everywhere: Automatic recount laws are a necessity.

But in the long run, one has to wonder whether a recount would matter at all, anyway; if results were as close as would be necessary for a recount, the winner would most likely be determined by the Electoral College, not the popular vote.

The bottom line here is that the automatic recount law is absolutely a necessity, especially in an election that is expected to be as close in the end as this one.

But officials have had four years to plan this, and they should have enacted a plan like this long ago, not haphazardly in the two weeks prior to Election Day.

We all know writing a term paper at the last second when you had three weeks to write it is going to get you a bad grade; shouldn't this apply to politics as well?