Ken Hirsch writes:
>The ballot Palm Beach County ballot was designed by Theresa LePore, the
>*Democratic* Supervisor of Elections
>(http://www.pbcelections.org/Supervisor.htm), so I think that any
>accusations of deliberately misleading the voters are out of line.

If the supervisor would have been a Republican, things would have been
*much* worse than already are indeed, especially for Governor Jeb Bush.

Thus it is written in the Epistle of Ted Ashton:
>The 19,000 double-punched ballots also interest me.  That's 4.39% of the
>county's vote or 0.3% of the Florida vote overall.  Once again, pretty
small in
>a typical election.  But when the vote spread is 0.004% of the vote, 0.3%
seems
>pretty large.  What I'd like to know is, why did 19,000 people think that
they
>could get away with punching two holes?  That is, even if those two holes
were
>Buchanan and Gore, why didn't they call an offical over and complain and
ask
>for a new ballot?

There was a copy of the ballot in our newspaper on Thursday.  I did not find
it confusing if you follow the arrows that point to the exact hole for each
candidate.  If you follow the names  then you get into trouble.  I think an
electronic check of the ballot (if possible) at the time of the cast will
soon be the rule of the day.

>Anywho.  If I were in Bush's place, I think I would be loudly calling for a
>revote, at least in Palm Beach, if not in Florida overall.  A president
needs
>the support of his people and I'd by far rather lose than try to face the
next
>four years with that question hanging over my head.

Oh my sweet Dear Lord, NO!  If we EVER allow an election to be reopened, I
say in no uncertain terms that it is the beginning of the end of our
Republic.  This is not hyperbole.  First, how do you do such a thing?  "OK
folks, we want only those voters who voted to come in and cast your ballot
the exact same way as you did on Tuesday."  Would there be a higher
turn-out, you bet, maybe even higher than the population of the county.  How
much greater would the absentee ballot vote be?  Would people vote the same
way.  Not a chance.  Nader and Buchannon voters would most certainly switch
their votes.  Second, if you ever reopened an election just once, you will
have opened a Pandora's box that will surely take your vote away forever.
Every single close election would go to court.  We would have to create a
branch in the Judiciary that did nothing but elections.  For example, the TV
pundits called the election in Florida before the polls even closed in
Florida!  The Florida Panhandle is in the Central Time zone.  How many of
those folks sat home because the outcome was known?  Certainly, they could
sue to reopen the election because of the irresponsibility of the media.  We
would no longer need campaigns anymore.  Instead of voting for candidates,
special interests would just hire the best lawyers to get their candidate
elected by throwing out the other candidate or her votes.  Elections could
be strung out by lawyers so long that one-term candidates could actually get
two terms or a partisan Governor could appoint "temporary" representatives
while the candidates battle in court.

As for the "support of the people argument", I assume that this is in
disagreement with the Electoral College.  Back in 1992, President Clinton
received upward in the high 300's of electoral votes yet he only had 43% of
the popular vote.  Did he have any support issues hanging over his head?  If
memory serves, the Electoral College has two basis for its existence.
First, the small states did not want the large states to always choose the
President, which would be the case for Vice President Gore.  George Bush won
more states but with lower populations and Al Gore won the large states
(except Texas).  The second reason for the College is that some founders
felt that the general public would not be smart enough to elect a president.
(They may even argue today that there are at least 19,000 reasons in Florida
that prove them right.)

A vote cast is a vote made - period.  Can you really recall an election on
the grounds of ignorance or stupidity?

On a brighter note, Missouri Sen. Ashcroft conceded the election to his
deceased opponent and requested that no legal action be taken.  He said, "I
hope the outcome of this election is a comfort to Mrs. Carnahan".  He said
he lost the election and that's that. (See
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20001109/el/eln_missouri_senate.html)  He
certainly could have taken that election to court.  It is a touch of class
at a time where "Win at all costs" rules American politics and class is at a
premium.

Anyway, I don't expect such class from either Gov. Bush or VP Gore.  From
what I see here on the horizon, they are fighting to be the President who
oversees the next recession, which will guarantee him a single term.

Mark Wonsil