Hey, this is simple.
* There was an election.
* The election was close. So close out of a difference of six million votes only a few hundred votes separated the candidates.
* Because it was within a specified margin, the state mandated a recount.
* A candidate has a right to request a recount.
* Florida law allows for a candidate to request a hand recount in a county specific, not necessarily the whole state.
* Gore, against a backdrop and controversy of 20,000 of his votes going to Buchanon, and in the full knowledge that the kind of ballots used had an error rate of two to five percent, rightfully requested a handcount of the ballots. He did this not so much to get the votes unfairly attributed to Buchanon because of the butterfly ballot, but rather in order to get the votes which had chads the machines never tabulate, i.e., votes which hadn't been counted at all.
* Bush had the same right as Gore to challenge the results in any county and to request a handcount. He opted not do do this. Gore should not be penalized because of Bush's bad decision. Because Bush made the mistake, the campaign took the matter into the federal courts in order to override the state's ability to decide its own election. Fortunately, Bush lost.
BOTTOM LINE:
Ultimately the four counties will complete their handcounts. The results of this, in conjunction with the absentee ballots, will determine Florida's winner. Bush should accept this fate. I believe Gore will.
Does anybody dispute what's writting above? If you do, please refute point by point. Thanks!
Also noteworthy is Florida's Seminole and Polk counties both used handcounts. |
