Will we be spending November 8th in court?
Betsy's Page
John Fund looks at the possibility that politicians will spend the day after elections in court as they file petitions against every outcome they don't like.
<<< Many states and counties will be using electronic voting machines for the first time, and in some places there have been delays in the delivery and setup of the machines. A large majority of Election Day workers are elderly and uncomfortable with new technology, which makes training difficult. A shortage of technical workers to service broken machines has forced vendors in some states to advertise for such workers on job sites such as Monster.com.
Then there is the possibility that pure incompetence will throw an election into chaos. Last month's Maryland primary almost melted down after election officials in affluent Montgomery County forgot to deliver access keys to the electronic machines before polls opened. Some polling places ran out of paper provisional ballots, and thousands of prospective voters gave up and went home. For next month's election, both Gov. Bob Ehrlich and his Democratic challenger, Martin O'Malley, are suggesting voters consider casting an absentee ballot to dodge potential problems at the polls. >>>
But as more and more people start casting absentee ballots, there is an increasing chance of voter fraud.
<<< But absentee ballots aren't the answer to election fears. They clearly increase the potential for fraud "The lack of at-the-polls accountability and protection from intimidation makes absentee ballots the tool of choice for those who commit fraud," the Florida Department of Law Enforcement concluded in 1998 after a mayoral election in Miami was thrown out when it was learned "vote brokers" had submitted hundreds of phony absentee ballots. More recently, in Wise County, W.Va., three elected officials were charged this past March with 900 counts of ballot fraud. They had filled out absentee ballot applications for others, intercepted the ballots in the mail, and then filled them out themselves. Last year a Connecticut state representative admitted, according to the Hartford Courant, that he "illegally induced elderly residents of the Betty Knox housing complex in Hartford to cast absentee ballots for him." He got off with a $10,000 fine and community service. >>>
So, if the election comes down to one or two seats won in close elections, expect to spend the rest of November reading about voting irregularities and waiting for judicial decisions to find out who won and who will control Congress.
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