a reasonable person would believe that the ONLY way manual counts can be used to contest is statewide. anything else is unfair
I would agree, Skeets, provided uniform equipment, or uniformly functioning equipment. I could envision a limited manual recount in Washington State (all scanned ballots) if there's a strong reason to believe that a certain precinct had a technical problem. I also have no doubt that our GOP Secretary of State, Ralph Munro (who I have voted for for many years) would order such an isolated manual recount to protect the integrity of the election.
By extension, I would have to support the notion of doing partial manual recounts in Florida where the votomatic was used and not necessarily anywhere else, because it begged for a manual count. The scanners did not so far as I know.
What really surprises me is that the entire state wasn't upgraded at once. My dad said he heard Doris Kearns Goodwin refer to this as a systematic disenfranchisement of minority voters. You know, I believe she hit the nail right on the head. Hopefully, that will be eliminated within two years, but I suspect it is going to take a lot of people getting voted out in two years before any action is taken.
Since I believe that the integrity of the election in Florida was systematically skewed, as does Goodwin, then it follows that no such fairness or accuracy or integrity issue would come from the Harris, who in my view is the cause of the problem (it's her job), since that skewing was by design.
Unfortunately, that left it to be fought out in the courts. Since I want people to be held accountable, that is the way this process must start. I don't think it will end when Bush is sworn it, I expect more litigation and possibly class action lawsuits against Harris and the State of Florida (although perhaps those are not possible?). It does not seem like it would be that hard to prove a minority discrimination case. |
