Election 2004: Vote Early and OftenNovember 11, 2000
Sunday, October 17, 2004, 02:13 PM
NYT front page headline: "Bush and Advisers, Confident of a Victory in Recount, Urge Gore Not to Stand in Way".
The headline covers two separate articles, one on GOP strategy and one on Gore's camp. Some excerpts:
"According to several Republican officials, the Bush campaign was considering the possibility of seeking a legal injunction against manual recounts requested by the Gore campaign that were set to begin in several Florida counties, and Mr. Bush had given Mr. Baker permission to take that step. But campaign officials had not reached a decision late tonight."
And
"For all their threats of court action and dire warnings about illegal ballots, Democratic strategists said today that the last place they wanted the presidential election to wind up was before a judge."
They, too, had phone lines for voters to call in case of trouble. Here's what happened in Palm Beach:
"Bob Weisman, the Palm Beach County chief administrator, said that the county had set up several telephone lines to help voters, but some were unstaffed on Election Day. He said that the county set up 28 telephone lines to help voters and precinct workers calling in with questions, but hired only 34 people to operate them.
'There were telephone lines, but no one to answer them,' said Mr. Weisman, a registered Republican.
At the same time, some precinct workers said that they were under strict instructions to turn away people asking for voting assistance -- mainly out of fear that it would slow down the voting. Louise Austin, a precinct worker in Boynton Beach, said she and other workers at her precinct turned away voters who beseiged them with questions.
'People were coming up to me,' Ms. Austin said, 'and I had to follow the directive -- "Don't help anyone. Don't talk to anyone." ' "
This year we are so paranoid^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hrealistic that all of the domains with the name "votewatch" are taken. Maybe that's what all of the folks who don't vote can do this year: go to the polls and watch those who do. Of course, that presumes that people successfully register in the first place.
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