November 12, 2000
Monday, October 18, 2004, 01:00 AM
NYT front page headline: "Bush Sues to Halt Hand Recount in Florida".

According to the NYT, "the campaign cited the 'potential for mischief' and said the process was inherently less fair and more subjective than counting by machine."

That will be an interesting argument to try to make this time around.

"The announcement, by James A. Baker III, came a day after the Republicans criticized the Democrats for threatening to take the ballot issue to court, a step that the Republicans said would lead to endless wrangling in a number of states."

Palm Beach County was supposed to take 12 hours to conduct a manual recount of 4671 ballots. County Judge Charles Burton oversaw the process, as we all watched on TV.

"What should have been a simple question -- whether or not a vote was cast when a hole was punched in a piece of paper -- was complicated because the hole was not punched through cleanly and left a hanging or torn piece, known as a chad."

On page A32, chads got a whole column of coverage. An excerpt:

"Chads -- the term dates to the late 1950's when punch cards were the standard way of reading data into a computer -- may be unknown to the lay person, but they are so contentious that some election officials will not talk about them on the record."

A number of editorials to date called for a quick resolution and urged the candidates not to resort to the courts. The NYT repeated that sentiment on the front page:

"By next weekend, a group of scholars and senior politicians interviewed this weekend agreed, the presidential race of 2000 must be resolved, without recourse to the courts. With remarkable unanimity, they said that would be in the nation's best interests and, in the last analysis, those of the candidates, Vice President Al Gore and Gov. George W. Bush of Texas." On the inside, though, Larry Tribe wrote an op-ed urging exactly the opposite: "Let the Courts Decide".


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We don't need no steenkin' paper trail!
Sunday, October 17, 2004, 11:42 PM
In Florida, the lawsuits have already begun. For example: it would be really nice to have an audit trail, such as paper receipts, for those electronic voting machines, wouldn't it? But the supervisor of elections, Theresa Lepore, isn't interested. Now it's in federal court. Read all about it!

Yes, those machines are so reliable we don't need no steenkin' paper trail. If there's no audit trail, then there's no recount, and it will all be so much tidier...

If you wanted to be registered Republican but were too shy to tell anybody, you had your chance in Alachua and Bay Counties, also in Florida.

For a summary of much of the litigation nationwide, check the list at electionline.org.





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November 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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Never fall asleep listening to the radio
Sunday, October 17, 2004, 01:42 PM
Now if only I could take my own advice.

Last night I fell asleep listening to a broadcast of "Frontline: Choice 2004". What a mistake! When I woke up, I couldn't tell if I had a nightmare about the conversation with Bush and Robison or not. Am I the last person to know about this?

I've otherwise been out of the loop for a couple of days,. so there will be four postings today to make up for yesterday.

And btw I have absolute proof that Bush was *not* wearing a transmitter during the debates. See for yourself!


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November 10, 2000
Friday, October 15, 2004, 11:30 PM
NYT Headlines: "President Could Be Picked Without Florida". Good thing too, considering the mess we have this year with the hurricanes taking away mailboxes so that folks can't get their absentee ballots!

Also, "Close Vote Uncovered Flaws, Experts Say". The lead paragraph:

"The controversy swirling over Florida ballots in the still-uresolved presidential election has drawn back the curtain on what election experts have long been saying: that the American voting system is no system at all."

On Novebmber 10th, a county-by-county recount of the vote in Florida was underway, to be completed by Tuesday, Nov. 15th. They were supposed to have been done the night of the 10th, according to a request by Florida's Secretary of State, Kathleen Harris, but some counties weren't able to finish by that deadline.

Meanwhile, "in Austin, Nashville and Tallahassee, the two sides accused each other of politicizing the Florida situation..."

Well, we're certainly above that this year, aren't we, boys and girls? Glad to hear it!

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