Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Now is the time for reconciliation and healing

Recounting the recount of the recount... Oh look, found enough "votes." We win!

I'm not the first to say, or suggest, this. Now, watch how quickly the story becomes, "Oh, the public is just tired of all this bickering. We've spent enough money and time. Let's all get together and sing because after all justice has been served now that we have a Democrat elected by 8 votes. It wasn't served when a Republican had won by 270."

This is maddening. So, what happens now? Should the Republican party in Washington follow the lead of the Democrats and begin data mining the more Republican parts of the state? Finding votes, interpreting votes, all but printing them up in the back room? This makes what happenned in Florida in 2000 look like a model for perfect election processes and yet, now we'll be told that it's time to stop. This is not how a democratic republic is supposed to work. This is how a banana republic is supposed to work, minus the bloodshed.

I don't know where to go with this. It makes me want to spit. I think I'm going to go up on the hill tomorrow and poke .45 inch holes through paper for while to make this feeling go away.

3 comments:

geekwife said...

But don't you understand? The Democrats are the GOOD guys. They're just looking out for the people. I'm sure everything they're doing is above board and strictly by the rules and will reflect the will of the people.

And if you don't agree, then you're obviously an evil Republican.

Nylarthotep said...

I have some magnmum 12 gage shells if you're really mad.

Have you seen any news about what the LAW is in the state? Have these recounts been following the written law? I'd be even angrier if this is, once again, someone deciding off the cuff how to do a hand recount.

From the articles content, I'd find it suspect that votes just keep showing up. The error rate for the machine count wasn't that bad.(I'll also point out that machine counts have lower error rates than hand recounts.) The 700 uncounted ballots though sounds fishy to me.

I agree though that the reconciliation whining is about to start. If I was state republicans, I would ensure that the laws controling recounts is revised and made very strict.

Granted said...

Bad news. They're making up rules as they go along. According to press reports, they found x number of ballots that had been filled out incorrectly on election day and got a judge to release confidential information in order to determine "voter intent." Of course they only did this in the heavily Democratic county and, surprise, surprise, found a bunch of "votes." This has been a horrifying debacle. The county election board has three people on it. Two Democrats and a Republican. Take a wild guess about the count when a mark next to a name, but not in the box on a ballot was determined to be a vote for the Democrat? If you guessed anything except 2-1 on party lines, you're slipping. It's a horror show, but the Demcrats are going to get away with it because, apparently, it's the will of the people...