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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
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To: donjuan_demarco who wrote (112196)12/12/2000 2:57:50 PM
From: Knight   of 769670
 
> And who is to decide whether a ballot indicates > a sufficient level of intent to be a valid vote in
> a Florida election?

> The FSC.

Yep. It's the FSC's responsibility to interpret the definition of "clear." Unfortunately, while usurping the power of the legislative and executive branches in changing deadlines, etc., they simultaneously shirked a responsibility that was clearly within their purview: INTERPRETING the law. The fact that Broward County set a standard that counted ballots with dimpled chads (a standard which doesn't meet the standard of "clear" by any credible interpretation of the word) made it glaringly apparent that judicial interpretation was needed. The Judiciary had the following choices:

1) Do their duty, and specify that a dimpled chad, etc. does not express the clear intent of the voter (with *perhaps* the minor exception that I mentioned in my previous post) and hence can't be counted, thus reducing Gore's vote total and probably putting the election out of his reach.
2) Try to argue with a straight face, that on a ballot with a "dimpled chad," the voter's intent is clear. (There is no credible argument for this.)
3)Punt

Option 1 would have been anathema to them and option 2 would have subjected them to rightly deserved public ridicule. They punted, so now we have this big mess.
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