vision2020
Re: News from inside the FL recount: A Democrats perspective
Why were doors on polling places closed on thousands
of voters waiting in line? In St. Louis there were
court orders first to keep them opened and then to
shut them down. Isn't there a reasonable middle
ground here? I think if you're at the polls by
closing time you should be able to cast your vote.
What's the problem with cutting off the end of
the line at closing time and yet allowing the
polling place to process those who made it there
on time?
--- "William K. Medlin" <dev-plan@moscow.com> wrote:
> Comment: This "anomaly" apparently occurred in more
> FL counties than
> Palm Beach, both according to news reporting and
> from word-to-mouth
> accounts. For ex., I was sitting next to a Broward
> Co./FL woman on a
> plane into Seattle yesterday. She stated that the FL
> ballots differed
> greatly from county to county, and that her ballot
> was "confusing ..
> I really did not know how to punch it correctly, and
> in
> a couple instances, the paper in the punch hole
> partially stuck -- it
> did not drop off properly." Florida elections laws
> require
> standardization of ballots, but do not apparently
> get enforced by
> State government (Jeff Bush's govt.). She added that
> according to
> hearsay thousands of ballots were thrown away
> because people made
> mistakes. Other thousands were turned away from the
> voting places
> either because there were insufficient ballots, or
> because the lines
> could not be processed by closing time! From all the
> bits and pieces,
> it seems clear that the Florida State Government
> does not conduct
> elections in accordance with the law or with the
> interests of
> citizens uppermost. Do citizens have proper recourse
> to officialdom
> to redress these "anomalies"? Or do we just have to
> sit it out and do
> nothing? Is democracy in trouble? How about voting
> on Saturday or
> Sunday, like many other democracies? How about
> campaign finance
> reform? Etc. KM
>
>
> >At 11:33 AM 11/09/2000 -0800, Cliff Todd wrote:
> >> In the case of the
> >>Palm Beach County Ballots there is a big fat arrow
> pointing to the punch
> >>hole. What is so confusing about that?
> >
> >Agreed, I'm sure I would have figured it out. But
> given such
> >discrepancies as the high Buchanan vote for the
> county, and the high
> >number of invalidated (two-vote) ballots, perhaps
> the ballots should
> >have been more idiot-proof. Can anyone verify the
> claim that the
> >ballot was actually in violation of the layout
> prescribed by Florida
> >law? That will certainly be a crucial question.
> >
> >What disturbed me more than the layout was an
> interview last night
> >on NPR with a first time Palm County voter. She
> went to vote for
> >Gore, then noticed that she probably punched the
> Buchanan hole. She
> >took her ballot to an election official and said
> "Who did I vote
> >for?"
> >
> >The official said "Buchanan." The voter said, "But
> I didn't want
> >to, could I have a new ballot?" The official said,
> "No, once you've
> >cast your vote, we can't let you do that."
> >
> >The voter pointed out that the voting envelope
> explicitly stated,
> >"If you make a mistake, return your ballot to an
> election official
> >and take a new ballot." The official told the
> voter, "No, it's too
> >late," and TOOK HER BALLOT and dropped it into the
> box.
> >
> >If this is true, it is indeed an outrage. And how
> many more people
> >did it happen to?
> >
> >
> >Bob Hoffmann
> >846 Mabelle St.
> >Moscow, ID 83843 USA
> >Phone: (208) 883-0642
> >Fax: (877) 495-2279
>
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Calendar - Get organized for the holidays!
http://calendar.yahoo.com/
Back to TOC