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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alan Smithee who wrote (35936)	6/4/2005 12:12:53 AM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 90947

We're having fun here in Washington. Background for those who aren't up on it. Last November we set out to elect a governor. Dino Rossi, Republican vs. Christine Gregoire, Democrat. At the end of the first vote count, Rossi was ahead by something on the order of a thousand votes. Recount. At the end of the second vote count, Rossi was ahead, but by fewer votes. Hand recount. At the end of the third vote count, Gregoire was ahead by 129 votes, mostly because heavily Democratic King County (Seattle and Bellevue) found enough votes to put her ahead. I use the term found advisedly. They found uncounted absentee ballots in the bottoms of ballot trays. They found uncounted absentee ballots in various corners here and there. They dribbled in by fits and starts. Ballots were examined a la Florida's famous hanging chads to see whether this ballot, which the machine couldn't read, had enough indications who the person had intended to vote for. Maybe they didn't black in the box by the person's name but circled the name, which the machine can't count. Maybe they had marks in both boxes, which the machine would reject, but the poll workers (mostly Democratic in King County) thought that the person had filled in Rossi, then tried to erase it and fill in Gregoire. And on and on. I, of course, as soon as the first vote was announced, said quite publicly that eventually King County would find enough votes to change the outcome. And they did. The Repubs sued to overturn the election. They found many problems. Felons voting illegally. Dead people voting. Provisional ballots (which are supposed to be put aside and validated before they are counted) run through the machines without being validated, so it is now impossible to know which ballots run through the machines were valid and which weren't. More votes counted in some King County precincts than voters who had signed in to vote. A false report submitted reconciling the absentee ballots for King County when they admit they don't actually know how many absentee ballots were properly submitted and counted. Whether this was all just normal noise and understandable human error, or whether there was actual voter fraud, really depends on which side you're on. Republicans are arguing that if they can prove that the number of errors are sufficient to throw the election into question so nobody really knows who actually won, that should be sufficient to overturn the election; Dems are claiming no, you have to PROVE Rossi would have won by tracking down each felon who voted illegally and getting them to swear who they actually voted for (like you can find them all, and like they will necessarily tell the truth, and anyhow how do you find out who voted for dead people and get them to admit that they voted the dead person's ballot, which would be admitting to a crime, and get them to say honestly who they voted for, and I bet after the lawyers get done examinating and cross-examining them some people will honestly not be able to swear absolutely that they are positive which box they checked anyhow.) There was a two week trial that just ended, and it's now up to a Judge Bridges in Wenatchee to make an initial decision, which we all know will be appealed to the State Supreme Court. What fun we're having!