-Caveat Lector-
RadTimes # 96 November, 2000
An informally produced compendium of vital irregularities.
"We're living in rad times!"
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Contents:
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--Florida Voting Rights & Wrongs- Campaign for a Legal Election
--Florida Common Law and Election "Irregularities"
--Nobody Won!
--From impeachment to a tainted election
--A Gore Coup d'Etat?
Linked stories:
*VoteScam
*Democrats Demand New Recounts in Florida
*Agitation Grows Over Palm Beach Ballot
*The Chilly Phone Call From Gore That Reopened the Race
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Begin stories:
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Florida Voting Rights & Wrongs- Campaign for a Legal Election
=====================================================
Yale Law Students CAMPAIGN FOR A LEGAL ELECTION
Yale Law School 127 Wall Street New Haven, CT 06511
(203) 432-4888 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
=====================================================
How dare either candidate claim an election victory (or concede) before the
facts of what happened in Florida are determined? Don't let the politicians
or the pundits deprive Florida residents of their voting rights and the rest
of the country of our democratic process.
Please do your part NOW to change the tone of the debate.
Don't let the press spin this story to force a hasty solution. Any country
can have a quick result. America is special because we believe in the rule
of law and the protection of constitutional rights. Let's set an example
for the world by proceeding in a patient and dignified way. Any party or
politician that seeks to claim this election prematurely will have violated
our trust and threatened the legitimacy of our government both domestically
and internationally. It is our responsibility to hold them accountable
because we will pay the price.
Therefore, please do the following:
1) WRITE TO YOUR HOMETOWN PAPER (please see a sample op-ed piece below; feel
free to use/edit any part of it for letters to the editor, etc.)
2) CALL IN TO TALK SHOWS where you live and in Florida. You can find out
which staions there are by checking out <www.broadcast.com> .
3) SEND THIS AND OTHER E-MAILS TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY. LET PEOPLE KNOW THAT
YOU WILL NOT ACCEPT A RUSH TO JUDGMENT BECAUSE THERE IS TOO MUCH AT STAKE.
FOLLOWING IS A STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES THAT WE ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO
DISTRIBUTE TO FRIENDS AND/OR SUBSTANTIALLY EDIT AND SUBMIT TO THEIR LOCAL
(HOMETOWN) PAPERS. DON'T DELAY: TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!
==========================
Voting Rights and Wrongs in Florida
==========================
Since Tuesday, many politicians and others have suggested that it is
inappropriate for the results of the election in Florida to be subjected
to a legal challenge. This attitude amounts to a fundamental assault on
the Voting Rights Act and the right to vote guaranteed by state and
federal constitutions.
The right to vote is the underpinning of our society. As the Supreme
Court has stated, "other rights, even the most basic, are illusory if the
right to vote is undermined." Equally important is the ability to enforce
this right to vote. During the civil rights movement, people struggled
and died not only for the right to vote itself, but also for the right to
pursue legal action if the vote was denied. What James Baker decries as
"unending legal wrangling" is the enforcement mechanism of our
Constitution.
It is premature for either campaign to declare victory or concede
defeat. It is neither up to Governor Bush nor Vice President Gore to
concede defeat or assume victory until the choice of the people is
clear. As the Florida Supreme Court has stated, "the real parties in
interest" in a legal challenge to the results of an election "are the
voters," not the candidates or their political parties.
There is too much at stake to let this election pass without scrutinizing
the many reports of problems in Florida:
* Thousands of voters in Palm Beach County may have been effectively
denied their right to vote due to an illegal and unnecessarily confusing
ballot design.
* Polls closed while people were still in line in Tampa.
* Voters were denied ballots on grounds that their precinct had changed.
* Some election officials refused to allow translators in voting booths
for Haitian-Americans in Miami.
* Hispanic voters in Osceola County alleged they were required to produce
two kinds of identification when only one was required.
* At least two absentee ballots have already been invalidated due to
fraudulent submission, in what may be a statewide campaign of absentee
voter fraud.
Many have said that such "irregularities" exist in every
election. Although that is unfortunately true, a systemic failure in our
election process is not license to ignore the law, especially when the
very outcome of the election may be at stake. In fact, it is only when
elections are subjected to such intense scrutiny that problems such as
poorly designed ballots or racial intimidation surface.
Courts have the responsibility to ensure that elections are conducted
legally, and to order a new election if necessary. If the Palm Beach
ballots violate Florida law, this is not a legal technicality; laws
provide for a common format for ballots to ensure that the process is
uniform and clear statewide, and that the election reflects the intentions
of the populace. In fact, under Florida law, a new election is only
required if a court finds that violations of elections laws created doubt
as to whether the outcome of the election truly reflects the will of the
people.
Many people have spoken about the rule of law. What the rule of
law requires, however, is not a blind respect for the ballot count in an
election marred by denials of the right to vote, but a healthy
appreciation of the need for legal redress of any violations. Seeking
legal redress is not being a "poor sport." Rather, it is protecting
one's constitutional rights.
Other countries look to the United States as a bastion of legality,
stability, and above all democracy. Some have suggested that the
continued uncertainty over the outcome of the election is embarrassing,
but far more embarrassing would be a rush to an incorrect result. Any
country can have quick results. It is a testament to the strength of our
democracy and our legal system that the most powerful people in our
country must wait for the courts to completely address the concerns of
even the most vulnerable American citizens.
As law students, we are especially concerned about the assault on the right
to use the courts to preserve legal rights. The right to vote was granted
to blacks only after the Civil War and made effective only after the Civil
Rights movement, and was granted to women only after many years of
organizing. To assert that the courts should not intervene to protect
this right undermines the very right itself. The late Supreme Court
Justice Thurgood Marshall, a veteran of the Civil Rights movement himself,
once stated that "the right to vote is preservative of all other
rights." Surely, the ability, indeed the responsibility, to enforce this
right is equally important.
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Florida Common Law and Election "Irregularities"
=====================================================
Yale Law Students CAMPAIGN FOR A LEGAL ELECTION
Yale Law School 127 Wall Street New Haven, CT 06511
(203) 432-4888 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
=====================================================
The Yale Law School Campaign for a Legal Election
According to a CNN on-line report, Florida "Judges have the
discretion to invalidate elections and impose lesser remedies if
they agree with plaintiffs that there were improprieties on
Election Day."(1) That statement is precisely wrong. Such judges
have zero discretion - they are required to declare the election
void.
That bright-line rule comes from the Florida State Supreme
Court's decision in Beckstrom v. Volusia County Canvassing
Board, 707 So.2d 720 (Fla. 1998). Although the court in that
case validated the election in question (which hinged on the
legitimacy of the absentee voting process, a substantial
difference from the Presidential contest), it made clear that
the law in Florida requires judges to void elections in which
there is doubt about the true will of the voters. There are
several principles in that decision worth highlighting:
1) ELECTION IRREGULARITIES ARE APPROPRIATELY RESOLVED IN COURT.
"It appears that the validity of an election . . . is
an issue of great public importance whose resolution
is required by the high court . . . ."(2)
Note the use of the word "required"; we are not talking
about whether it would be in the best judgment of all concerned,
or whether it is politically responsible or wise for either
candidate to support a legal challenge. The law in Florida
demands that a court resolve the issue when there is a
legitimate concern as to which candidate the voters have chosen.
When people like Karen Hughes, Bush's Communications Director,
utter remarks like "We certainly hope the Democrats would stop
this talk of endless legal battles," and "I hope the vice
president and his campaign officials would think through their
responsibility to this country and to the process," she is
arguing against the rule of law.(3)
2) THIS IS ABOUT THE RIGHTS OF CITIZENS, NOT CANDIDATES.
"The real parties in interest here . . . are the
voters. They are possessed of the ultimate interest
and it is they whom we must give primary
consideration."(4)
Al Gore and George W. Bush are not the people whose rights
may have been violated (although one of them will be very sore
when this is all over). The thousands of voters who were
confused by the ballot and either voted for the wrong candidate
or had their ballots thrown out are the ones who have been
deprived of that most basic right in a democracy, the right to
vote. They are the people we should be concerned about, whether
they meant to vote for Al Gore or George Bush or someone else.
3) THE JUDGE WHO HEARS THIS CASE WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO VOID
THE ELECTION.
"[I]f a court finds substantial noncompliance with
statutory election procedures and also makes a factual
determination that reasonable doubt exists as to
whether a certified election expressed the will of the
voters, then the court . . . is to void the contested
election, even in the absence of fraud or intentional
wrongdoing."(5)
As with the first point, there is no discretion here - note
the language - a judge "is to void", not "may void." According
to a political scientist quoted by CNN, "It would take a
tremendously courageous judge to take responsibility for
[voiding an election]. That judge or that panel of judges would
be taking responsibility for deciding who is the next president
of the United States."(6) Although whichever judge (or panel of
judges) hears this case will face a great deal of political
pressure, and indeed must be courageous enough to withstand it,
he or she (or they) has little choice in the matter. The
application of the law requires that this election be voided,
for two reasons:
A) THERE HAS BEEN CLEAR, SUBSTANTIAL NON-COMPLIANCE
WITH FLORIDA ELECTION LAW AS REGARDS THE LAYOUT OF THE
BALLOT.
Florida law clearly states that the ballot punch holes must
be to the right of the candidates' names, and that the Democrat
be listed as the second candidate on the ballot.(7) The law exists
precisely to prevent voter confusion. In Palm Beach, however,
the holes were to the left of some names, and the one to punch
for Gore was the third one down. That elected Democrats may
have okayed this ballot is totally irrelevant; again, we are not
concerned with the rights of political parties or candidates,
but rather with the rights of voters.
B) THERE "EXISTS REASONABLE DOUBT" AS TO THE EXPRESSED WILL
OF THE VOTERS.
This is a no-brainer. The election hinges on 327 votes.
According to CNN, Patrick Buchanan received 3,407 votes in Palm
Beach County, a number even he admits is too large. "I don't
doubt a number of those ballots, of those votes that were cast
for me, probably were intended for Vice President Gore," he
confessed to Larry King. Considering that Gore received 62
percent of the Palm Beach Vote overall, there is little doubt
that the confused votes for Buchanan could have swung the
election to Gore.(8) Add to that the discounted 19,000+ ballots,
and there is simply no question about whether reasonable doubt
exists. Huge doubt exists.
Given the two clear facts - that there was substantial non-
compliance that resulted in doubt as to the expressed will of
voters, the Florida judges who hear this case have no choice but
to void the election. In so-doing, they will not be deciding
"who is the next president of the United States," because until
the re-vote is counted, we cannot know who that will be (and,
given the network election-night fiascos, we should all be wary
of any predicted outcomes). Rather, they will be affirming the
voting rights of the citizens of the Great State of Florida.
Notes
1. Reported at:
<http://www.cnn.com/2000/LAW/11/09/election.remedies.florida.pol/index.html>
2. Beckstrom, 707 So.2d at 724. This statement is made in the context of a
finding of gross negligence, but no fraud,
with regard to absentee ballots. Gross negligence is later defined by the
court to mean "negligence that is so
pervasive that it thwarts the will of the people." Id. at 725. Surely, the
validity of an election called into question by
gross negligence at the actual voting booths is equally an issue of great
public importance whose resolution is
required by the high court. . . ." Id. at 724.
3. Reported at:
<http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/11/10/election.president.03/index.html>
4. Id. at 724 (internal quotes and citation omitted).
5. Beckstrom, 707 So.2d at 725.
6. Reported at
<http://www.cnn.com/2000/LAW/11/09/election.remedies.florida.pol/index.html#1>
7. Fla. Stat. 101.191
8. The facts and quotes in this section can all be found at:
<http://www.cnn.com/2000/LAW/11/10/palm.beach.controver/index.html>
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Nobody Won!
From: "Ronald M. Jacobs" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Sat, 11 Nov 2000
The mask has fallen off. The facade of democracy we citizens of the
United States live under has cracked. One corporate candidate has won the
popular vote and another is ready to assume the presidency. The last time the
rulers were so freaked out was during the Watergate crisis. Just like then,
talking heads in their media speculate about what could happen while
politicians and establishment wise men put their faith in a system so corrupt
and non-representative that close to half of those eligible didn^t bother to
vote. Meanwhile, those who did vote only to find out their vote doesn^t
really
count grow angrier and more frustrated that the world's greatest democracy
denies their decision in the ballot box.
One has to admit that there^s a bit of humor in the situation.
Russia's leader Putin has offered observers from his country in what can only
be a clear dig at the presumptuousness of the American government's perennial
insistence in sending its electoral observers anywhere around the globe to
insure 'fair' elections. Italy's newspapers call the U.S. a banana republic,
pointing out that the only other countries that have electors who can overrule
the popular vote are those run by the military. Being a permanent fan of
Nobody's candidacy, I'm happy that s/he's still winning as of this writing.
Seriously, this crisis among the rulers is a graphic example of the
failure of the corporate republic government. It is the perfect time to point
out that U.S. elections have never been free and have been controlled since
their inception by the wealthy to insure their continued dominance. From the
slaveowners and wealthy northerners who insisted on the Electoral College in
the first place to today's paid-off legislators who refuse to pass meaningful
laws ending corporate contributions, the electoral system in this country
insures that the people will never have a real choice of candidates.
Like Watergate, the current electoral crisis is just the proverbial tip
of the iceberg and is more the concern of those who have a vested interest in
the outcome. Still, it is too important to ignore. The fact that millions of
Americans who believe in the system enough to vote are discovering for the
first time that their vote really doesn't count is a big step forward. Add to
that the irregularities in the ballots and the count that seemed to effect
mostly African-American precincts and one can only be amazed at the brazenness
of the system in its denial of the right to vote. This election proves more
than any that I can remember how little voting has to do with true democracy.
It is up to us to bring this point home, especially in light of the
opportunity their
system has handed us.
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From impeachment to a tainted election
<http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/nov2000/elec-n10.shtml>
The conspiracy against democratic rights
10 November 2000
The brazen attempt of the Bush campaign to declare victory in the presidential
campaign-in the face of mounting evidence of massive ballot irregularities
in the
state of Florida-exposes its utter contempt for the democratic rights of
the American
people. In 1998-99 the Republican Party, controlled by the extreme right,
sought to
overturn the result of two presidential elections through the impeachment
and trial
of Bill Clinton. Now it is attempting to hijack the 2000 presidential elections
through crudely antidemocratic methods, using their control of the state
government
in Florida headed by the brother of the Republican presidential candidate.
The issue goes beyond the fact that Gore won the popular vote but still,
under the US
Constitution's archaic and undemocratic Electoral College procedure, could
be denied
election to the presidency. In fact, Bush is presently trailing in both the
popular
vote and the Electoral College. His chances for eventual Electoral College
victory-by
a margin of only 271-267-depend entirely on the outcome of the tainted
Florida vote.
There is clear and convincing evidence that thousands of pro-Gore voters in
critical
Florida precincts were disenfranchised. Approximately 19,000 votes were
invalidated
in Palm Beach County because a defective ballot paper led people to punch
two lines
rather than one for president; several thousand votes in that county were
wrongly
cast for ultra-rightist Patrick Buchanan, because of the same improper ballot;
computer "malfunctions" caused a sudden drop in Gore's vote total in
Volusia County;
there was exclusion and intimidation of black voters at polling places in
the Miami
metro area and in the state's rural Panhandle.
Already, only two days after the election, revulsion against the ballot
rigging has
produced public protests. Hundreds of college students from Florida A&M, mainly
black, held a demonstration and sit-in at the state capitol in Tallahassee.
Hundreds
of elderly Jewish voters rallied in Palm Beach County to denounce the
Election Day
travesty there. Many expressed outrage that their votes were being counted
for the
anti-Semitic Buchanan, and they demanded an opportunity to re-vote.
So obviously compromised was the result in Palm Beach that a local judge
ordered a
full vote-by-vote hand recount in the county, rather than the cursory
recanvass of
computers and voting machines that the state government ordered for all 67
Florida
counties. Even this superficial retallying had slashed Bush's lead to only
225 votes
out of six million cast, before it was halted at the direction of Florida's
Republican Secretary of State on Thursday evening.
The evident irregularities, combined with the growing public protests,
compelled the
Gore campaign to reverse its cautious stance of Wednesday and announce that
a full-
scale legal challenge of the Florida vote would be made. Former Secretary
of State
Warren Christopher, named by Gore to represent his interests in the Florida
recount,
described the Palm Beach ballot as "illegal."
Gore campaign chairman William Daley, who the day before had refused to claim
victory in the state, told a press conference Thursday that Gore was the
winner of
the popular vote in Florida as well as in the country as a whole. "If the
will of the
people is to prevail, Al Gore should be awarded a victory in Florida and be
our next
president,'' Daley said, adding that "the disenfranchisement of thousands of
Floridians" represented "an injustice unparalleled in our history."
The initial response of the Bush campaign and the Republican Party was to
brazen out
the disputed election rather than to try to prove their case. Bush aides
scheduled a
victory rally in Austin for Thursday evening, after the Florida recount
results were
to be released. They announced that the Texas governor was beginning to
assemble a
transition team and plan his first appointments as president-elect. Campaign
officials Don Evans, Karl Rove and Karen Hughes dismissed the reports of voting
irregularities in Palm Beach County in a manner that demonstrated contempt for
democratic rights.
By late Thursday, as Bush's margin dwindled to near zero in the state-run
recount, a
partial retreat was sounded. The victory rally was cancelled. Former
Secretary of
State James Baker, Bush's designated representative in the Florida recount,
said that
the outcome of the election would not be known until November 17, the
deadline for
overseas absentee ballots to be received in Tallahassee. "The presidential
election
is ... on hold," he admitted.
An issue of democratic rights
The Socialist Equality Party did not support the campaign of Al Gore. We have
unbridgeable political differences with the Democratic Party. Nonetheless,
there are
fundamental issues of democratic rights involved in the struggle over the
outcome of
the 2000 election. The working class cannot stand on the sidelines and
allow the
extreme right-wing elements in the Bush camp to, in effect, steal the election.
The issues are essentially the same as those posed by the impeachment drive
against
Clinton. An attempt is underway, using conspiratorial methods, to overturn a
democratic decision by the American people.
In the impeachment, the far right made use of bogus lawsuits and
independent counsel
investigations to bring trumped-up charges against an elected president. The
Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted for impeachment
shortly after
the 1998 congressional elections had revealed widespread popular hostility
to the
anti-Clinton campaign. The right wing thumbed their noses at public opinion
and went
ahead with their politically motivated assault on the White House.
Bush and his congressional Republican allies speak for an entire layer of
the ruling
elite that has grown utterly contemptuous of democratic rights. They want
control
over all agencies of state power to ride roughshod over democratic rights
and impose
social policies of the most reactionary character—the abolition of all
taxation on
wealth and income; the elimination of federal regulatory powers over
business; the
destruction of Social Security, Medicare, and whatever else remains of the
social
welfare programs.
Impeachment failed to oust Clinton because of public opposition, but there was
widespread confusion about the political significance of this right-wing
campaign,
because of the cowardice of the Democrats and the torrent of media
sensationalism
about a "sex scandal" in the White House. In the struggle now developing
over the
presidential vote, the political line-up is clearer and more readily
apparent to
public opinion.
The Bush campaign's vicious response to the Florida vote fraud gives the
lie to his
entire campaign demagogy about "ending the bickering in Washington." Instead of
ending partisan warfare, Bush is engaged in a dramatic escalation, claiming
a victory
based on the disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of Democratic voters. The
installation of Bush in the White House on the basis of such a fraudulent
vote would
mean a government imposed on the American people against their will. The only
genuinely democratic resolution of the Florida travesty is to demand a complete
revote in the disputed precincts.
As for the Democrats, no one should rely on Al Gore & Co. to fight this
attack on
basic democratic rights. The Democrats fought impeachment on their knees,
and then
deliberately buried the issue during the election—thus contributing
directly to the
closeness of the final result and giving the right wing another
opportunity. In the
end, the deepest instincts of Clinton, Gore and the Democratic Party
establishment
are directed toward working out a rotten compromise with the Republicans
behind the
backs of the people. Even if the election is finally brought to a
conclusion with the
installation of Gore, it is all but certain that the back-room deal would
include
conditions highly injurious to the democratic rights and social interests
of the
working class.
Above all, it must be understood that the present crisis expresses, in the
final
analysis, the fragile state of American democracy. The breakdown of traditional
democratic norms-expressed first in the impeachment crisis and now in the
tainted
election-reflects the tremendous divisions and tensions in American
society. While it
is critical that workers oppose the present efforts of the Republicans to
steal the
election, they must recognize that the threat to democratic rights arises
from the
crisis of capitalist society. In a country whose social structure is
defined by a
staggering and historically unprecedented level of social inequality, with
nearly
half the nation's wealth concentrated in the hands of two percent of its
population,
democratic forms of rule cannot long survive.
The unfolding events testify to the urgent need for the development of a
genuinely
independent political movement of the working class on the basis of a
democratic and
socialist program.
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A Gore Coup d'Etat?
<http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=65000576>
It looks as if he really will stop at nothing to win.
The Wall Street Journal
Friday, November 10, 2000
The cliff-hanging Florida results won't be final until the
absentee-ballot deadline of November 17, but yesterday Gore
campaign head William Daley told a news conference that no amount
of recounting would do. Only one outcome would be acceptable: "If
the will of the people is to prevail, Al Gore should be awarded a
victory in Florida and be our next President." And if the
election results don't do that, the Gore campaign will try to
find a judge to do it instead. In your ordinary banana republic,
this would be recognized as a Gore coup d'etat.
When the day began yesterday, we set to work writing an editorial
for these columns that in fact was going to express some sympathy
for what appears to have happened to some confused voters in Palm
Beach County, and suggesting that we really do need a better-run
electoral process not only in Florida but across the land. This
is still a valid point, but was overwhelmed when Bill Daley and
other Gore campaign officials announced that the Democrats
intended to go to the mattress to cling to political power.
Mr. Daley said the Vice President wasn't going to settle for the
recount result, suggesting of course they knew it would go
against them and so some pretext needed to be found fast to
prevent the election from ending. "Let the legal system run its
course," Mr. Daley said. "We will be working with voters from
Florida in support of legal actions to demand some redress." He
added, "We believe with so much at stake, steps should be taken
to make sure that the people's choice becomes our President."
Shortly after this, guess what happened? The Democratic Palm
Beach plaintiffs seeking "redress" suddenly withdrew their suit
from federal court. Why? Because they wanted to shop around for a
favorable judge. They had happened to draw federal district Judge
Kenneth Ryskamp, whose nomination to the appeals court years back
had been defeated in the Senate by Joe Biden. The Palm Beach
plaintiffs then announced they would file in state court.
Obviously they are judge-shopping, reducing this noble enterprise
on behalf of the people's choice to the level of backwater
justice. Not only Judge Ryskamp, but any reasonably neutral judge
would likely dismiss the case outright.
At no point has the Gore campaign suggested that voter fraud has
cost them votes. Were that the case, we would be in wholehearted
support of their complaint. Voter fraud is one of this country's
most corrosive, unaddressed problems. Instead, Warren
Christopher, a former Secretary of State, yesterday cited
"serious and substantial irregularities." Their argument is that
the irregularities deprived citizens of Constitutional rights, so
undo the whole election.
Yes, voting irregularities do significant damage to elections in
America. No serious person involved in politics would doubt that
incompetent, flawed or antique voting procedures all over this
country disenfranchise some voters in every national
election--for the House, the Senate and the Presidency. None of
these concerns, however, is sufficient cause for allowing
competing squads of political lawyers to force the people of this
country into an unprecedented political crisis, which is
precisely what the Gore campaign has shown itself willing to do.
By turning over the Presidential election to the lawyers, the
Democrats guarantee that the Republicans would respond in kind,
seeking similar irregularities, as are commonly found in South
Florida, or anywhere else people voted in the U.S. last Tuesday.
The constant harping on the poor souls confused by the Palm Beach
butterfly ballot makes for good TV visuals and stirring speeches
about the "denial of justice." But no one should pretend this is
going to fly through the courts without a substantial
counteroffensive by the GOP's own lawyers.
And in any event, there is the prospect of recounts elsewhere. In
Wisconsin and Iowa, where Mr. Gore's margin of victory was
several thousand votes, automatic triggers may set off recounts.
Moreover, the national vote isn't over. Votes are still being
completed in many states, with a million absentee votes from
California alone. It is not beyond imagining that when this
process is done, the current result will be different, or even
reversed.
Poor Florida. It is being put under a national microscope to
determine the credibility of its voting system. No surprise, what
we're seeing is that the results aren't always particularly
edifying. There is no basis in law, however, to believe that
demanding that a vote be restaged because of "irregularities" in
Florida's election system, or any other state's for that matter,
is going to survive in court. Were that true, there'd have been
hundreds of restaged votes in this country.
Mr. Gore, Mr. Daley and all the Democratic lawyers know this.
Their case about irregularities and confusion is merely a pretext
for finding some friendly jurist who will overrule the voters in
an excruciatingly close contest. This is a destructive course of
action for the Republic and the Constitution. Also, by the way,
for a Democratic Party already tainted by eight years of its own
irregularities, that is to say, by a habit of trashing the rule
of law in the pursuit of political advantage.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Linked stories:
********************
VoteScam
by James and Kenneth Collier, New York: Victoria House Pr., 1992,
an analysis of past corruption of vote counting in Florida elections
is online at: <http://www.constitution.org/vote/votescam__.htm>
********************
Democrats Demand New Recounts in Florida
<http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=80180978&i=275885&d=590492>
WASHINGTON - Governor George W. Bush moved ahead with preparations for
a new cabinet on Thursday, but aides to Vice President Al Gore angrily
denounced those moves as premature and ''presumptuous'' and demanded a
hand recount of contested ballots in four Florida counties.
********************
Agitation Grows Over Palm Beach Ballot
<http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=80180978&i=275885&d=590493>
WASHINGTON - Democrats on Thursday cited several alleged voting
irregularities in Florida in hopes of spurring legal action,
conceivably including a court-ordered revote in a major county, that
could tip the presidential election to Vice President Al Gore.
********************
The Chilly Phone Call From Gore That Reopened the Race
<http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=80180978&i=275885&d=590494>
WASHINGTON - There was no script. Things kept happening that had never
happened before.
So it was simply the crowning weirdness on a wild and whiplashed
night, one among many bizarre things, when Vice President Al Gore
phoned the Texas Governor's Mansion to take back what he had said
about conceding the election to George W. Bush.
********************
=====================================================
"Anarchy doesn't mean out of control. It means out of 'their' control."
-Jim Dodge
======================================================
"Communications without intelligence is noise;
intelligence without communications is irrelevant."
-Gen. Alfred. M. Gray, USMC
======================================================
"It is not a sign of good health to be well adjusted to a sick society."
-J. Krishnamurti
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