STOP
TERROR
STOP
TORTURE
OUT
OF IRAQ
 
 

Thursday, December 30, 2004

Something's Going On. It Has To Do With That Number -- There's An Answer In That Number

So, the race for Washington Governor went on for quite a while. The Democratic candidate, state Attorney General Christine O. Gregoire, maintained there were a bunch of votes not cast. A judge tried to block over 700 ballots. And, when all the shouting, and the three recounts, were done, she had a lead of 130 votes.

And now her opponent, Dino Rossi, wants a new election.

Excuse me?

Never mind the fact that, apparently, hundreds of voters were disenfranchised because they'd been mistakenly rejected or simply put aside. Never mind the fact that, in a democracy, in America, everyone's vote is supposed to count.

Just try to imagine the Republican outrage -- especially on the blogs, especially on talk radio -- if a Democrat had asked for a new election.

"What, are they such sore losers that they want people to vote until a Democrat wins? The American people have spoken!" Et cetera.

Time and again, it has been shown that apparently the Republican party is afraid to let the American people speak. There were many, many accusations of voter irregularities in this election -- but most of the evidence shows those consistently and disturbingly work in favor of Republicans.

The Dems wanted all the votes counted in the first place, and by paying for, finally, a hand recount in Washington, they got that -- and they won. Are the Republicans such sore losers that they want people to vote until a Republican wins?

In one place, at least, the American people have spoken.

Comments:
While I hardly want more Republicans in office, especially the "business-friendly" ones like Rossi, Gregoire was too-much involved in the Brame case, in which the Tacoma chief of police shot his divorced wife and then himself, while their children looked on.

Washington is currently looking at an initiative to implement Instant-Runoff Voting, which would probably have made this election much less close. I hope it gets on the ballot, but it looks doubtful this time around.
 
I had to drag myself to the polls this year.
I never thought the day would come when I would have to wonder if my vote really did get counted.

And computerized polls with no paper back up to let you see if the button you hit on that touch screen really went to the right candidate?

It's so disheartening.
 
I think Rossi is right to call for a revote as different standards were applied to ballot canvassing in King County than in other counties. The standards in KC were very liberal (no pun intended) and if the same canvassing rules were applied to the other counties, Rossi may very well have the edge in votes. You say that every vote should count? I agree - so why not either recanvass all the other counties or declare this election totally hosed and revote?
 
Hmm. I'm having the damnedest time backing up my assertion that Gregoire was involved with intimidating Crystal Brame before the murder, so don't believe me unless you can find a reliable source to back it up.
 
Hey FT...just wanted to say happy new year and thanks for making me laugh so often...especially at times when I didn't think I could. All the best to you and yours in 2005!
 
While I am pleased with the results, one comment made by the Gregoire camp the other day bothered me: "A do-over ... is only in golf. We call it a mulligan. This is not golf, and this is not practice. This is an election. It's had three counts."

Is Gregoire's campaign saying that what happened a few days back in the Ukraine was democracy gone wrong? I support her, but her spokesman needs to pull away from the news coverage of his own canidate and glance at the world headlines time to time.

Also, New Frames tosses this one out, and I agree. It is why I have given so much attention on my blog to my northern neighbors:

"The Dem lawyers in this case were the kind of junk-yard dogs we could have used in 2000, but of course that's the past. So let's use these guys in the future. They know how to fight to get every vote counted (note to DNC.)"

http://democracyindistress.blogspot.com
 
Quickly, I just wanted to add, the name of this blog kicks ass!
 
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