VOTE!

[woodbern]

Uh huh.

I’m in FL right now, doing some “fixing up” things on my house before WEF.

I flew in mid-day with a mind-blowing planeload of reporters, all talking at once, etc., etc., blah, blah, yada yada. Enough to give you a migraine!

While I was leaving the airport at noon, all hell was breaking loose over at the government center… the alleged disinfranchised, the Rev. Jackson, et al. all milling about. I get the picture.

Let them sling matzohs… this is the same group that can go from Century Village out to eat the early-bird special and get the waitress to split the check 44 ways and know if she’s off a nickel … and you actually think they can’t get a ballot straight?

Please…

[baymare]

I have heard both reports, Pwynn. The last one I heard was about half an hour ago, can’t remember which network (they all look alike after a while) and they said the Dade county reports were still missing. That would be more hopeful for Gore, but who knows. Then they were going on about absentee ballots that might not be counted until FRIDAY.

[This message has been edited by baymare (edited 11-08-2000).]

[Jumphigh83]

Revote becasue people are stupid and don’t READ something before they sign it? All you contract law attorneys listen up! A whole new way to breech a contract “I didn’t know what I was signing” They will weep til they get to count enough times to make it come out the way they want it. (Like the dems NEVER dug up dead people to vote, or bussed in retarded people to “help” them vote) Take the results like a MAN (whatever they are). Palm Beachers like a little whine with their vote. I wonder if it’s a robust red or a tart, yet not impertinent white??

[Jo]

It’s 10:00 here in Austin – home of the George W. Bush “celebration” party that started yesturday afternoon. I wonder if anybody is still hanging out at the Capital… I wonder if I could use that as an excuse that I didn’t go to class – ha ha…

And no, I wouldn’t be going to support.

[Policy_of_Truth]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by pwynnnorman:
[B]WHAT ABOUT THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE, PEOPLE? WHAT IS MORE IMPORTANT: THE PROCESS OR THE THE PEOPLE?

What are Republicans AFRAID of? If, as so many conservatives profess, you believe in God’s will, then why fear a recount?

I’m STUNNED that you guys won’t address this.[/B]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don’t care if we have a recount! Why are you lumping all of us conservatives into one assuption of intention? I want whoever deserves to win to win! Yes, I want that person to be Bush, but if Gore is legitimately the winner, the so be it. It doesn’t matter much anyway, we still have the house and the senate
Please trust me when I say that I think regardless of who wins under the letters of our constitution, we need to seriously consider changing our system to reflect the majority instead of the electoral college.

[BlueGooPonyShampoo]

Heelsdown,
Don’t despair. There is really very little mandate that “W” can claim with the vote so close and the Congress split nearly down the middle. I have to say that some of us thought that when George Sr. lost in '92 to that Governor from Arkansas, it seemed like the world as we knew it (and preferred it) would come to a screeching end. In '96 when the Clinton/Gore ticket won again … well we we’re pretty sure that civilization as we knew it was surely over (WHAT!!! 4 more years of this mess???). However, the world didn’t end … just as it won’t now for you if Bush reconfirms the initial electoral count in the next few days.

Whistlejacket is correct … pick your issues and work towards a goal. One candidate can’t be the panacea for everyone. Give it a chance - if it doesn’t work for you then get yourself out to that polling booth in four years and make your voice heard (as I did yesterday).

[system]

And my beast did come with me to vote, bless her little heart. I piled her into the trailer for an EARLY (before work) zip around our local horse park. Voting venue was on the way home, soooo, we both stopped in! I left her outside, natch. Turning the rig around was a bear, but I was glad she could feel part of the process!

[Hattie]

Florida has a huge absentee ballot due to the large amount of military stationed here. That is, the Navy. At any one time when a aircraft carrier is out we are talking about at least 5000 at sea. What I find amazing is that there is a 1763 difference between Gore and Bush in Florida. Those 1763 votes (unless recount changes these figures) will determine our next president of the United States. So you see, EVERY vote counts! These are fascinating odds!

[aubreyuga]

Yeah right, Kate Brown. We are surely in danger of there not being enough people to see the land preservation. Sure, what overpopulation?

[Erin]

Ugh, I hate “liberal press” conspiracy theories. People give the media way too much credit sometimes.

The networks called Florida for Gore at about 8 p.m. Eastern time. I don’t know for sure what time polls closed in the midwest, but at MOST, there was probably an hour of voting left in the Central time zone. (Not counting the whole poll-closing-time-changing fiasco in Missouri.) And, as I mentioned in a previous post, studies have apparently shown that TV coverage during an election does little to influence voter turnout.

And didn’t Bush win just about every western state, except for California, which was strongly for Gore from the get-go? I don’t think the liberal media helped Gore much in the West.

There’s an article in the Washington Post about the networks’ flubbing of Florida – basically, they got erroneous data. Did they jump the gun? Yes, undoubtedly. But did they do it to change the outcome of the election? Phooey. They did it to be able to claim that they were first. They did it for ratings. That’s what pays their bills.

There are some very self-deprecating comments by Brokaw and Rather in the Post article. They know they goofed. The article’s quite good:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49600-2000Nov8.html

[This message has been edited by Erin (edited 11-09-2000).]

[baymare]

On a lighter note: did anyone else catch the story about the voters in Michigan held hostage by a 300 lb. disoriented black bear at the polling place??? Apparently there was at least one legitimate excuse for a late ballot box!

[Glimmerglass]

I am amazed that some people in this country have the audacity to actually suggest a re-vote for some counties where ballots where improperly cast - be it that multiple selections where made for president or no choice was made.

Gee, it’s that group of “brilliant” people that I want deciding the race for rest of us. Not.

[Policy_of_Truth]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Becca:
[B] I thought the point of voting was that you voted for whomever you thoguht deserved to win?? So even if the person you didn’t vote for wins, wouldn’t that mean that the person (in your opinion) who won didn’t deserve to? I udnerstand that we’re talking numerically here, but conceptually…?

[/B]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yes, Becca. But my pint is that even as a Bush supporter, I want the person the country has elected to win, get the presidency. In other words, as much as I like Bush, if he is not the legitimate winner, I do not want him running our country for the simple fact that it would rock the country’s trust in a valuable and much needed process.

If I sounded as if I didn’t care who won, that wasn’t my intent. I just want the man that our country as a whole elected to be president. I also want this to be done right, so I don’t care if the re are recounts. I do, however think a re-vote is very unconstitutional and would hurt our country much more in its politics as well as its integrity of the voting process…regardless of whether it needs to be revamped.
And no, I do not think in terms of whether if Gore wins that just because I didn’t vote for him, he is not the man who deserves to win. I trust in the American people deciding by a majority who shall be president. The electoral college is a whole new ball of very sticky wax, in my opinion.

[Cactuskate]

Thanks Erin for the tips.

But I do have a bone of contention on the freedom of the press, and freedom of speech issues. I have never felt that anyone should be suppressed in their right to report the news. I just question the need for the immediacy of “the news”. Like if I didn’t know for that 7 hour window, how would it have negatively affected my life?

I think it is all hype and who can get the big scoop. Mind you this is a country that was mesmerized by the God awful OJ ordeal. We are a pretty news mongering bunch.

[spfarm]

I haven’t read this whole post yet, so forgive me if this has already been covered. One thing this election has shown us is that we have become a nation strongly divided. Almost 100 million people voted in this election and only 200 thousand seperates the popular vote. The map of the United States clearly shows that the heart of this country went the conservative route and heavly populated areas favored the liberal vote.
What do you think will happen to this country if we continue to be so seperate? Will we have another civil war? How can a nation as a whole survive when we have such strong differences?

[Cactuskate]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by astraled:
This is not the country’s finest moment <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Doesn’t seem like many recent elections have been. It is a sad state of affairs when you wish there was a box that said © none of the above.

[This message has been edited by Cactuskate (edited 11-09-2000).]

[Snowbird]

Well Kryswynn it evens out! I am a Republican and voted for Bush but New Jersey went for Gore because of our big city votes.

Don’t you see that the rural areas where there are farmers are never going to beat a popular vote from the city, so they would never be represented. There just are not enough people living in those areas compared to people who live 10 deep in the city.

I was active in the Nixon campaign, and the Republican Party. The Daly family earned it’s priority in the Democratic party because they could deliver their districts and state. The boxes were found after the results from that area had been sent in. I believe they were democratic votes and they were counted which gave JFK the edge he needed.

Perhaps, if Nixon had not conceded we wouldn’t have this problem today because they would be no butterfly forms. However, since there is a 6% margin of error anyway in all states and districts, if you are going to recount manually then you have to do the Republican districts too and find their 6% errors. So the entire state must be counted.

Now, it is possible that there are hundreds of thousands of votes in New York and California by illegal aliens who have registered without having to show their birth certificate. We can find those. And, there are 6 or 7 close states they need to be recounted too to be fair.

If we do all that who will ever trust and election again. It will do irreparable harm to both candidates and the system. Surely, no one was so naive as to think the system in place was 100% accurate.

[SLW]

I can make it horse related…I live rural and I vote in one of the old one room schoolhouses 2 miles from my home. I plan on riding my daughters mare up there, rather than take the car, to vote! The temps REALLY dipped overnight and the north wind is making for a cold morning so I won’t be heading out for a few hours. Hee, hee I could put my hunting flask & fuel in my jacket to help keep me warm!!

I agree with you, this is the best country on earth and we should be thankful for it!

[elghund]

The best line I heard about the issues in Florida.

“How come these people can simultaneously handle fifteen bingo cards but they can’t handle one ballot?”

You do the recount and then you move on. To do anything else is to worsen the situation.

[Magnolia]

Yup, I voted, and for all my griping on the Bush/Gore post I was glad to vote for one person, a county commisioner that is one of the nicest men I’ve ever met. He renewed my faith in our system. His name is Dumont Clarke, and he rode around our district on a bicycle to meet everyone he could, he walked in the woods with a group of us, and he NEVER used a negative word in his campaign. To me, I didn’t feel particuraly enthused about voting for anyone else, but I was proud to push the button for Dumont! and that is what freesom and the right to vote is all about.