My children are on my mind a lot, because they are intelligent, articulate, vivacious, energetic and a lot of fun to be around. They also count really well and really fast. I wish now, though, that we lived in Minnesota. Al Franken would have been declared the winner in the same year as the election.
I realize that counting ballots takes a while, especially when there are so many excited and engaged voters participating. And I haven’t seen the HBO movie Recount, yet, but I’m starting to get flashbacks of Bush-Gore 2000. And the Coleman camp is now threatening to file legal action because the count didn’t go their way. And I have to echo Will over at Will Rhodes Portmanteau when he asks the question, “Is this the real face of American democracy?“
1. Candidates run.
2. Citizens vote.
3. Votes are counted.
4. One person wins.
My children can count to four.
And while I realize the Democrats are trying to count to sixty, and the Republicans are trying to count to forty-one, I think we all need to start worrying more about the big picture issues (economy? Afghanistan?) and stop with the stuff that doesn’t really count.
Panel to declare Franken winner of Senate race
I agree that 2000 was a pathetic embarrassing situation for vote-counting. However, I would have to say that this “recount” is just as crooked and twisted. In my home state of Washington in 2004, the governor’s race was very tight, with the Republican challenger taking on the Democratic front-runner (the incumbent governor was stepping down). On the night of the election, the Republican, Dino Rossi, was ahead by 1,500 votes, or so. The recounts lasted until January and the Democratic election official in King County (largest county – Seattle), kept allowing Democratic votes to be counted and disallowing Republican votes, such as absentee ballots. Basically, they kept counting over and over again until the Democrat won… sound familiar???
I think the “big picture” items can come into focus more if we can assure the people – from both parties – that our election process is on the up-and-up. People who ultimately decide these close votes should not have any party affiliation and the process should be easy to understand.
The biggest issue in the room is partisan politics and always has been.