A few random comments:
Re-Vote in Palm Beach County.
Absolutely not. Here is why. If that were to occur, every citizen of PBC would realize that their vote will name the next President of the United States. One county would literally hold the key to the President. Every person in that county now has information that the every other citizen in the United States did not know at the time of the election last Tuesday. Therefore their actions will be different "after the fact" than they may have been prior to the fact.
If you consider this, then perhaps an entire Florida re-vote would be necessary. This would be fairer as many in panhandle apparently went home and did not vote once Gore was named the winner of FL early on, before the polls closed. Under normal circumstances I would say if you are stupid enough to not vote because of whatever reason, then you should not be able to complain...however, these are not normal circumstances. If one county can vote in the President, then the Panhandle deserves some consideration.
However, the really only "fair" way would be to have a nation-wide re-vote. Absurd. However, if PBC has a re-vote I would contend that the entire United States should be up in arms and demand a re-vote so that the entire United States is voting from the same information base....something that I believe would be critical to ensure a fair and complete election.
Issue of Illegal Ballot and Other Irregularities
This type of thing happens across the United States...in every election. The redress here is not to invalidate an election and re-vote. The redress is to follow the procedure in place. That is to invalidate votes that are punched more than once and to fix the ballot for the next election. There is a procedure in place prior to the election to ensure a proper ballot. The time of complaint is prior to the election, not after the results have been tabulated.
Florida Procedure
If I was a resident of Florida I would be starting to get a bit ticked off. The issue is a Florida issue. Florida has laws in place to handle situations like this. To have the entire United States telling Florida what they ought to be doing is absurd. I believe the Florida judges will do what is right and just under Florida law. There is a procedure in place for recounts and for what do to with "invalid" ballots. Does this mean that the next President will get to the Whitehouse by "stealing" this election? Perhaps it does and if so, perhaps we have a better educated and informed populous for the next election. We all have a right to vote....what comes with that right is a reasonable duty that each voter takes serious their vote and proceeds with the due diligence necessary to ensure they vote correctly the first time. You get one time to do it right. There are no mulligans here.
Irregularities
To the extent that all of a sudden the irregularities in Florida are being examined, I believe an unfairness is being committed on the American people. If they examine the irregularities in detail in Florida, they ought to be examining them in WI and everywhere else they have taken place...which I would contend is every state in the United States.
Quite frankly, I think every contention of voter fraud should be researched, studied and prosecuted no matter where it took place and I believe that each party should aggressively support such actions. When I hear one party or the other dismiss voter fraud and irregulities in other states because the election is decided in that state I become disturbed. This is a very critical issue in any place where it took place and every citizen should be very disturbed when these matters are not looked into. To ensure a better vote next time around, they should be examined in full no matter where they took place.
Popular Vote
I wonder if the final actual numbers once all votes are counted will make it on page one of the American newspapers. Appears to me we could have a change in the popular vote once all is counted.
The End Result of This Situation
I think in the end this situation will be looked back upon as a catalyst to change in the reporting of elections, the way ballots are designed and the way votes are cast. I think that this will carry over positive results in the end.
Just my random musings....
-SE |
