Stuff like this sounds pretty shrill and partisan to me. "Democrats in the county designed the ballot. The notified everyone of it. They used it in the election. Now, when the election doesn't go their way, they backtrack? They put forward the ballot, knowing everyone would rely on it. Now they've got to suck it up and move on." "But it's ok and classy for Gore to promise to fight this forever and all this nonsense? I would hope Gore would want to be President by playing by the rules, not bending them. Which is what he is trying to do right now." I support the Gore camp's efforts to try to determine whom Florida actually favors. I think it's better that we have maybe a week of confusion than four years of the wrong person in the White House. Unfortunately I could not find the articles today to quote from, but I remember reading in several places that high ranking people in the Bush campaign, like Evans, were already talking about trying to get the electoral college to go their way if they only won the popular vote. They were planning on waging a radio war basically. In my mind, that's really not playing by the rules. At least Gore is just asking for careful recounts and possibly a new election in one county. He says he will abide by the electoral college's choice, no matter what. [Does anyone else remember reading what I read about getting electors to switch? I swear I am not making that up] According to the Wash Post, the Gore camp does have a basis for challenging the PBC results, as FL election law is very broad. "Florida law offers aggrieved candidates and voters broad opportunities to challenge the results of elections. The relevant state Supreme Court case, a 1998 opinion . . . says election results can be thrown out, even without evidence of fraud or intentional misconduct by election officials, if there is 'reasonable doubt' about whether the officially certified results 'expressed the will of the voters.' "The court left open, however, the issue that is critical in this situation--what remedy courts should impose in such cases." <a href=http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57142-2000Nov9.html target=new>http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57142-2000Nov9.html</a> About Palm Beach County, even Pat Buchanan says those votes weren't his. I think Gore has the right to try to correct an accident. I think not being careful about election results would be more a harm to our country and democracy than being silent. <a href=http://madison.hss.cmu.edu/ target=new>http://madison.hss.cmu.edu/</a> [a PBCstat analysis] If Bush winds up becoming president I wonder if he'll make an effort to reach out to the accidental Buchanan voters of Palm Beach County or just carry on as if he were meant to be elected. Jeff Bennett PS Good luck everyone at NAQT this weekend!
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0: Sat 12 Feb 2022 12:30:43 AM EST EST