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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: zonkie who wrote (97823)	12/1/2000 7:58:38 PM
From: Don Pueblo	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769667

zonkie, you're a good person, but that's totally goofy. What makes you assume that the machine "can't detect votes"? Your argument appears to be: if the ballot does not show clear voter intention by the use of the machine, then the machine did not detect a vote. The fact is that if a punchcard ballot (or ANY ballot) does not exhibit a clear intention of the voter, then the ballot is not a vote, by definition. It's just a ballot with no vote on it. Trying to guess the intention of the voter by searching for a "dimple" or some other mysterious clue presupposes that the ballot is a vote and the voter didn't cast his ballot correctly. Your argument could be used on a ballot that had holes punched for two candidates, and you were trying to figure out which of the two was the one the voter actually intended to vote for. It won't wash. If the ballot is not cast correctly, then there is no vote. The mere fact that you are trying to figure out what the voter "intended" is evidence that the voter failed to make his intention clear, which means he did not vote. You can't say you want to throw out "all absentee votes that were not placed in accordance with state and federal laws" because if the ballot does not meet state and federal law, then it isn't a vote at all! You must understand that every ballot is not a vote. Some ballots are not votes, some are screwups. Once you have a screwup, it's totally subjective what the voter intended, therefore it cannot be a vote, because a vote is defined as a clear intention.