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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: blake_paterson who wrote (39509)	11/11/2000 2:33:15 PM
From: Sam Citron	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 70976

BP, What's wrong with alerting voters and election officials about confusing polls before the polls close? 4.1% of voters in PB county were disenfranchised because they punched more than one hole. This is an unusually high percentage. Many have said that they saw Gore's name listed second and automatically punched the second hole, but moments later realized their mistake and punched the "correct" third hole. Some may have been able to remedy their error. Others apparently were not. Florida law defines a legal ballot as one having a hole to the right of the candidates name. This ballot was not in compliance with the law and it obviously confused many voters. What's wrong with giving them the remedy of permitting them to vote with a less confusing ballot that conforms to Florida election standards? We have established a system of laws for dealing with such disputes and irregularities. It may not be a perfect system but it is a fair one. In an election as close as this, no one can emerge as the legitimate victor until ALL substantial irregularities in the balloting have been resolved. If this temporary uncertainty has a deleterious effect on your stock portfolio, that is just too bad. As far as your point about the delay making us seem weak to our enemies is concerned, I draw exactly the opposite conclusion. It demonstrates that in close elections in a true democracy we must take pains to ensure that the procedure was absolutely fair. There is no guarantee that election results be known the following morning. We must follow the law rather than trying to short-circuit it. I'd rather have a system that emphasizes fairness over swiftness. These are just my humble opinions. You have a right to your opinions as I do mine. But ultimately when there are important issues of voters rights on the table, I'd prefer that they be carefully adjudicated by an impartial judge. SC