My voter registration card has no party affiliation information whatsoever. When I registered, I just said “independent”. for all I know, I am one of the 16,000 members of the “Independent Party”. I can assure you that such “membership” in no way predisposes me to vote for Buchanan.
The statistical arguments for confusion among the voters of this county are compelling and overwhelming. That does not mean I favor a judicial remedy to the results of this election. However, efforts by some to pretend that no confusion took place are weak and disingenuous.
So are the arguments that asking for a recount is an example of “whining” by the gore campaign. The present recount was, in fact, mandatory under Florida election law. The Gore campaign had nothing to do with it. The present recount has also shown significant “anomolies” in several counties. The Gore campaign has asked for hand recounts in those counties. I fail to understand how one could object to a request for an accurate count of the ballots as cast.
I hear some Bush supporters objecting because the Gore campaign has asked for hand recounts only in counties where the machine recounts showed a shift towards Gore. Well, these are the same counties that recorded the greatest shift overall. If the Bush campaign objects to the selection of counties, the simple remedy is just to ask for hand counts in whatever counties they feel the Gore campaign has neglected. Again – what is the justication for arguing against an accurate count in a close race?
As to the Buchanan votes and the 19,000 disalowed ballots, I am torn. I find compelling reason for PBC to revisit its procedures and correct the obvious flaws in ballot construction and/or voting process. I have some sympathy for the position that the paramount concern in any election should be that the voice of the people be acurately recorded. However, allowing the judiciary to “interpret” that voice and override a completed election, absent clear evidence of fraudulent intent and practice, strikes me as a dangerous precedent. Sometimes, you just have to take one for the team. Gore got screweed in PBC. PBC must fix its process. Should the recounts confirm the present results, Gore likewise must place personal and party interests below the interests of the republic. There is no principal in American politics more important than the peaceful and orderly succession of Presidential power.
That said, Bush is behaving poorly in applying pressure against the most accurate possible count of votes. Bush supporters are liekwise acting poorly in denying the obvious truth that the PBC electoral process was deeply flawed.
Finally (for now) while I don’t support the idea of drastic judicial remedies in the resent case, the following argument hits my irony bone head on:
Didn’t Bush make “trust the people” one of his primary pieces of campaign rhetoric? Apparently, we are now seeing exactly how far that trust extends.