Posted on 03/19/2002 7:40:02 AM PST by soycd
No matter how successful George W. Bush proves to be as president, a pall will forever hang over the 2000 election. In national scrutiny of the way Americans cast and count their ballots, many states were found wanting. The chief among them was Florida, where the outcome, with the help of the U.S. Supreme Court, gave Bush his victory over Al Gore.
Reform efforts are under way, but at least one major flaw in the system should be repaired by Congress before another national election is held. A chilling two-page account in the current issue of Harper's magazine by Greg Palast, who investigated the 2000 election for the BBC, illustrates why.
Had thousands of voters not wrongly been turned away from the polls, the outcome in Florida probably would have been different and Gore, not Bush, would be in the White House. Most of the disenfranchised voters were black.
I interpret this as: They are giving up on the "count every ballot" argument, because counting every legal ballot still shows GWB the winner.
Had tens of thousands of voters in western Florida not been turned away from the polls because of premature network "calls" that Gore had won Florida, Bush's victory there wouldn't have been close.
And still to this day, Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton hasn't been able to put one in front of a camera...
If they passed a law limiting voting to those who understood the Constitution, Bush might have had the first ever electoral college shutout!
Their thinking is pretty screwy. They want to divine the intent of the voter. Now, if the voter voted for Bush and also wrote in on the same ballot: "President Bush" that vote would be disqualified. (Obviously this voter is confusing Papa Bush with candidate Bush). If a voter voted for both Gore and Bush, that vote would be counted for Gore, because G comes after B, and they really meant to do G.
If Gore had even won his own state, none of this would have happenedAND, that of HIS president's home state of Arkansas.
Gore stated he needed to literally and figuratively mend some fences in his home state of Tennessee. The recent 'trial balloon' of Tipper running for the Senate and the resultant polls showing Tipper losing to Marilyn Quayle by 57% to 27%(AND dropping),shows that Gore would still lose Tennessee.
Black republicans you Clymers....
This is the perfect message to send them if we were inclined to freep.
Anybody got an email address?
He he he he
WRONG!! Having just driven through the Florida panhandle and seeing how much territory it covers, WHITE, REPUBLICAN, voters were disenfranchised by calling the state early. What about the military ballots?
Ugh! I don't even want to go there. This subject makes me vibrate with rage every time I think about it.
And another thing -- I have a bone to pick with the Taft election....
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