I just got back from voting and I’m pleased to say that the line was out the door! It was a real shock because I usually vote by absentee ballot. I must say, pulling that lever is a much better feeling than checking off boxes on a piece of paper. 
Well the backlash from this has already started. Other states are now taking up the cry. Maybe out of all of this, we will finally redo the voting process, electoral.
Now people are saying lets just vote again. This is like unbelievable. We can run computers, hack into our “Secure” national system, but we can’t even vote for our president without major problems. It sure makes you wonder!
My guess is that there are a few of us hanging around the old BB because it sure is more encouraging than listening to the reports as they file in.
I loved reading about those of you who rode to your polling places. Kind of gives new meaning to the word “polling”, eh?
Oops, sorry baymare, wrong Richie Daley! And yes, Jesse’s speeches and Bill Daley’s flat Chicago accent have me missing Chi-town politics too!
There’s a good article in the Washington Post today about how uncertain elections really are:
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57004-2000Nov9.html
The article brings up the point that out of 100 million votes cast nationwide, Gore won the popular vote by 200,000. That’s a margin of .2 percent. (If my math is right… someone correct me if I’m wrong!) Under Florida law, that would be an automatic recount!
I’m still amazed by this entire thing…
Does anyone else feel a bit nervous at the thought of these people doing the re-counting after a “quick nap, cup of coffee, and a bath”, as announced by my local radio station this morning??? eeeeeks!
I agree that the process is most important.
And with that in mind, I have changed my thoughts of the electoral college. This election turned civics lesson, caused me to investigate its purpose more throughly. I now “get it”.
I am continually amazed by the timeless wisdom of our founding fathers.
Someone on another BB posed the question: why the recount for Florida and not every other state?
I am guessing that it’s because there was a wide enough margin for every other state that the count would be considered valid enough. Is this true? I think just about every state I saw on CNN last night was like 48% to 49%. Am I totally missing something here?
Also, why are there so many absentee ballots in Florida, but not for other states? Again, was the margin so wide that no amount of absentee ballots would make a difference in any other state?
I’m so confused. Can somebody help me?
Too funny, Snowbird!!! Thanks for taking the “edge” off of the thread. Never hurts to laugh at ourselves once in awhile (and yes, I’ll be sharing this one)!
Here in Florida absentee ballots must be postmarked by election day. It is a big mess, not the least of it is all the people in Palm Beach County who inadvertently voted for Buchanan of all people.
It is obvious that at some point someone will have to concede.
If the Bush team takes the same position we will no doubt discover millions of defective votes all over the country. It is equally possible that with the same scrutiny we will find that Gore does have the lead in the popular vote. We may learn that every state in the country has equally horific situations and that there is no solution.
Suppose that’s true and it will take a year to put proper cross checks and modifications in place? Suppose that several states will turn out to have improperly recorded their votes, what would you want the government to do?
Perhaps, we should just leave Bill Clinton in place until every state has two or three recounts and every district has a hand count check.
At some point there has to be a leap of faith.
Boy, I am just finding this whole saga totally gripping. How amazing that some 100 million votes were cast, and that the race could be decided by a couple hundred votes in Florida!
As one of those people who’s always bugged people to vote because “every vote counts,” I’m totally amazed to see it actually happen. Of course, I didn’t get to vote in this election, because I haven’t yet registered in Maryland and my absentee ballot from Arizona never showed up! Wah!!
Anyway, I hope this will spark more interest in elections in the future. It’s such an amazing thing to watch a democracy at work, no matter which way it turns out.
Off my sappy political soapbox for the day. 
Guys, the pro-choice/pro-life issue was debated at LENGTH on the 15-page-long Gore vs. Bush thread, and I’m going to again repeat my request that that topic stay off the board. It’s just too contentious, no one is going to change their mind, and it has nothing to do with horses.
Neither, of course, does the election. But it only happens once every four years, so what’s the harm? Besides, this has been a very interesting and thoughtful discussion so far. Let’s keep it that way.
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jumpcrew:
i think the liberal press called fla for gore early tp discourage Bush voter turnout in the midwest and western states.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
That idea is good for a giggle…
First, I have always thought that the idea of competing entities getting together for an old fashion conspiracy to be a bit of a hoot.
Second, I sincerely doubt that the 8 pm call on FL would have significantly affected states who are only one hour behind, what with most polls closing at 7:00…
Third, if anything, that early call would have encouraged the West coast Nader supporters who where fence-sitting to cast their vote for Nader rather than Gore, so Nader would receive his 5%, which would have ceded the electoral votes to Bush…
It is pretty obvious none of that happened…
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Duffy:
[B]I received this email from a relative today. . .
<snip>
Dynamiting will begin in Florida next Wednesday, after which the state will
be completely geographically separated from the United States.
“After that, they’re on their own,” said Hastert. “I hope they sink.”
[/B]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
That would really make horse people unhappy if they had to cross H2O to get to the WEF…I think the gulfcoast series would become a lot more popular.
Poor Offcourse… there you go applying logic to the US electoral system… how precious and Canadian of you 
Actually, it sounds good in theory, but sadly the same candidates did not appear on all ballots! OK, get yourself off the floor now… I promise that Bush and Gore appeared on all the ballots, but other candidates’ appearances on ballots depend on state laws (we are sort of picky about that “state’s rights” thing, especially in the South).
For instance, as I understand it, six candidates appeared on FL’s ballot (republican, democrat, green, libertarian, and the two reform party candidates - the reform party had a “divorce” during their convention). Here in the enlightened state of “Jawjuh” we frown on people being able to vote for Green Party candidates (we are pretty durn proud of the many ways we can violate EPA rules), and by golly, we weren’t gonna let ANY reform candidate EXCEPT Buchanan on that ballot…
Well, I don’t know anyone directly who worked with the Nixon campaign, but I heard that the Republican’s dropped it because they had also done some crooked voting in southern Illinois, so a recount was only going to prove that both parties were crooked.
We have elderly residents throughout Florida, only with the Palm Beach County ballot do we have a problem. And it wasn’t just the elderly who had a problem. I’ve heard from well educated lawyers who were very confused by the ballot. If there were a few dozen, or even a couple hundred, it would be a different story, but there are thousands. In a strategic race. Even Buchanan admits that those votes surely are not his.
The 20,000 plus ballots that were thrown in the trash because there were two votes… another story all together. This again is in Palm Beach County.
I personally think there should be a re-vote.
Kryswyn (NOT A FLAME) then you don’t really understand the electoral college. AOL has a good summary of the process and it is really understandable. (even though they are probably ,like all the press, extraordinarily liberal) It is so the smaller (populus) states aren’t mowed down by the coasts. I can’t do the philosophy justice but read it yourself and see if it is any clearer. Don’t go psycho on me, I am not trying to flame.
Where does the “will of the people” come into this?
IF that will is important, then getting an accurate indication of it is important and a revote makes sense.
IF the process is more important than the accuracy, then the result should stand, IMO.
So WHAT if people changed their vote in a revote? Maybe more Republicans would jump in, maybe more people would say, “then again, maybe it should be Bush, Gore hasn’t handled this recount stuff very amiably”?
If you opponents fear that Gore would WIN if there were a re-vote, well, what does that mean? Doesn’t that mean you know your candidate lost? If Bush thinks the people in Florida really want him as president, wouldn’t he be unafraid of a re-vote?
Count me in! I voted and feel like I’ve done my part! SUZ
