Lamadoo wrote:
"The reality is that if a voter makes a mistake on a ballot, all he or she
has to do is ask for help. It happens many times on every election day.
The mis-marked ballot is destroyed and the voter is given another chance.
It is completely cavalier and inappropriate to later whine, as I saw one
elderly American do on TV news, "I don't know who I voted for! The ballot
confused me!" That's hog-wash.
Shame on the dems! "Reckless voters" is not a valid reason to annul an
election. And thank G*d."
The problem with this, Jim, is that many voters apparently did not *realize*
they had made a mistake until they left the voting booth, got out into the
parking lot, talked with their husbands or wives or children or friends, and
it dawned on them that the ballot was not constructed as they had assumed it
had been. By that time, it was all over: the vote was in, and official.
No amount of "help" could take it back.
And regarding "later whining": actually, a fair amount of complaining began
on election day itself, about as soon as voters began entering and then
leaving the booths. Voters called newspapers, TV stations, and election
officials, resulting in an advisory being issued to West Palm Beach election
workers later that afternoon *warning them* of the problem, and alerting
them that some voters might experience that specific difficulty. However,
by this time, many, many votes had been cast, including, perhaps, most or
all of the 19,000 which were double-punched and would later be thrown out.
I realize that the ballot had been approved by representatives of both major
political parties, and the argument that the irregularity should stand
because of that fact does have a certain strength. But ultimately, it boils
down to whether the opinion of a party hack who likely did NOT see in the
ballot the confusing construction that many voters did should be sufficient
to invalidate the votes of the latter--which will determine the choice of
Palm Beach County, which will determine the choice of Florida, which will
determine the fate of the nation. The fact is, the confusion occurred,
unforseen as it may have been by both Republicans and Democrats. What do we
do now? What is fair? What is expiditious? What resolves this matter,
finally and firmly? Like just about everyone else, I honestly don't know
what the answer is.
I do know that whoever ultimately wins this election will not have a popular
mandate. However, if Bush is declared the winner, he will enjoy the
advantage of a Republican House and, perhaps, a Republican Senate. And
there will be the added cloud of uncertainty throughout his entire
presidency that he did not truly win the popular vote in the state that
provided the crucial electoral votes that sent him to the White House. Add
to that the fact that his brother is governor of that state, which he
promised many times to "deliver," and what you have is a recipe for the
legitimacy of a Bush presidency to constantly be questioned over the next
four years, in ways large and small, here and abroad. I don't subscribe to
the raging Internet theories that Jeb Bush rigged the ballot box, etc., but
in my profession, the mere APPEARANCE of impropriety is enough to preclude
one from taking an action. The appearance of impropriety here is enough to
choke a horse. I don't think anyone truly wants the practical result of
that.
I've heard much Republican "spin" in the last few days that we can't simply
throw out an election just because we don't "like" the results. But with
all due respect: wait just a minute. I didn't vote for Ronald Reagan, but
when the American people spoke, I took a deep breath, accepted him as my
president, and moved on. Ditto for W's father, George Herbert Walker Bush.
But I was confident in those cases in the will of the people, who simply
didn't happen to share the same opinions I did. I have no such confidence
here.
I do not require a result that I "like." I *do* require a result that
accurately reflects the will of the American people, as filtered through the
Electoral College system--which, like it or not, we are bound by until we
amend the Constitution.
Mary P.
