[PhiKapMom]

Thanks for the ping! Can someone explain to me why American citizens need to have the ballots written in another language or explained in another language? If you cannot read and comprehend English, then IMHO you shouldn't be an American citizen and you shouldn't be voting!

Wish they would have investigated the high rise apartments in those three South Florida counties to see how many voted in New York AND Florida to double vote! Bet there were more of them then people that were denied their votes!

[Galtoid]

Too bad the Dems will just not buy this report. Ashcroft & Co. have absolutely NO credibiity with them. Nice try, tho.

[EllaMinnow]

I've learned my lesson. I'm a Florida resident, and I haven't missed an election since I was 18. On election day in 2000, the first thing I saw at the polling place was a station wagon, parked right next to the door, covered with obscene anti-Bush bumper stickers. When I took my daughter into the polling place, the volunteer helping her with "KidsVote" was wearing a big Gore button. I should have immediately called the local media and the Elections office and raised hell about blatant electioneering in a polling place.

Believe you me, if I see any irregularities this November (and I will have my eyes wide open) I am going to scream bloody murder.

[Bubba_Leroy]

Thanks for the ping! Can someone explain to me why American citizens need to have the ballots written in another language or explained in another language?

See http://www.fadetoblack.com/floriduh/.

"On Tuesday November 7th, 2000 millions of giddy and excited Americans patriotically shuffled to the voting booths to cast their votes for the next President of the United States. Overnight, it became clear we had a close race on our hands between the Presidential hopefuls Al Gore and George W. Bush. So close in fact, that it all comes down to the state of Florida -- the winner of this state becomes our next President.

Late in the day of November 8th, George W. Bush pulled away with a significant lead and will most likely go on to win. But wait! It was around this time a number of Al Gore supporters in Palm Beach, Florida stepped dutifully forward to say they were "confused" by the ballots and began demanding they be allowed to recast their votes.

Always pursuing both sides of the story, we got ourselves a copy of the Official Ballot of Florida, the one you see below:

Although it appears rather obvious, even with this low quality reproduction, one only needs to follow the arrow next to the candidate of your choice and punch a hole to cast your vote. Apparently, many Floridians were terribly baffled by these simple instructions. Shortly after the news broke, many Democrats, including Jesse Jackson (who seems always available for comment) came down to raise "awareness" of this grave injustice.

By Thursday, November 9th, lawsuits against the ballot started filing into the courts asking for an official "do over".

At the time of this article, we sit and wait for the recount and for the courts to hear the case of the "baffling ballot".

In the meantime, we decided to take matters in our own hands. We are simply not sure if we're missing something here, so we decided to conduct our own test. We asked a small group of children, too young to officially take part in the Nation's election, to cast their votes using the same Official Ballot the people in Palm Beach used, and sought to find out how they handled themselves.

The Test

The test was rather straightforward. We showed each child the ballot and explained to them the instructions and asked them to find the right candidate and mark appropriate circle. To make the test a bit more strenuous and to simulate as close as possible the actual voting experience, we told each child as they were presented with the ballot to cast their vote for Al Gore. This seemed to be the hurdle that many of the people from Florida had difficulty with."

[snip]

The result of the test was that all of the children were able to cast votes with no problems, except for a three year old who did not yet know how to read.

[Cold Heat]

Can someone explain to me why American citizens need to have the ballots written in another language or explained in another language?

The reason is simple! We have been trying for decades to get the English language deemed as the official language of the U.S. , but to no avail.

The dimocrats fight it tooth and nail each time it comes up. If the vote were taken today, I'm afraid some repubs would be against it as well.

Sucks!

[3D-JOY]

I agree and they brag about doing it! They say they have to pay taxes twice...so should be able to vote twice too!

[capitan_refugio]

"If you cannot read and comprehend English, then IMHO you shouldn't be an American citizen and you shouldn't be voting!"

I agree with you, in principle. It is true that "naturalized citizens" must pass an English proficency test - and in theory, be able to understand a ballot.

But believe it or not, there are many natural born citizens who do not have English as their first language, and who are not proficient in English enough to vote, get good jobs, excel at school, etc. Many, but not all of these people are Spanish speakers whose parents came to this country and have not been assimilated. This category can also include some East Asians (although it has been my experience that "first generation" Asian-Americans make a point of being English proficient!) and American Indians in isolated situations. I know this is a broad brush, but that has been my experience living in the Southwest.

In the Florida election, I recall there were problems with Haitian-born (French patois speakers) and Cuban-Americans (Spanish speakers). I think all citizens of this country should support an English-only Constitutional Amendment. There is nothing like language to divide a nation (just look at Quebec!).

(My comments above do not apply to my Cajun friends - "Come oon an pass a goud time!")