More irregularities in Florida?

October 28, 2004 12:42 AM

Postal Ballots go missing in Florida. "Some 60,000 absentee ballots were despatched by authorities in Broward County, north of Miami, this month. However, only 2,000 of them have been delivered. "
posted by viama (24 comments total)

... and so it begins.
posted by mkultra at 1:50 AM on October 28, 2004

It began long before this.

This election is going to be a total furbal.
posted by soulhuntre at 1:59 AM on October 28, 2004

oops. furball.
posted by soulhuntre at 1:59 AM on October 28, 2004

Meanwhile, the US postal service inspectorate said it was highly unlikely that 58,000 pieces of mail just disappeared.

The new curse of the Bambino!
posted by LeLiLo at 2:17 AM on October 28, 2004

DON'T LET THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN
posted by Pretty_Generic at 2:34 AM on October 28, 2004

Stop. Hammertime.
posted by Ljubljana at 3:42 AM on October 28, 2004

I got mine. Of course, it was marked with military rank and an FPO/AP address.
posted by tetsuo at 4:41 AM on October 28, 2004

Wow. If only there had been organizations and websites devoted to telling everyone about these potential problems earlier! How was the media supposed to know?

(lunges forehead into wall)
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 5:09 AM on October 28, 2004

Hm.. Maybe we should find a way to stamp ALL the elderly and black voters' absentee ballots with military rank. I'd bet they'd never have gotten "lost" to begin with...
posted by hoborg at 6:18 AM on October 28, 2004

I got my first ballot not long ago, and it also was a military ballot. A few days later I received a civilian ballot. Something stinks when the entire ballot system is so screwed up in the election which immediately follows a previously contested election.

If the republicans are so determined to use vote fraud as a tool against the system of democratic elections, shouldn't a congressional committee be formed to define whether the GOP as a party should continue to be allowed to participate in a democracy? Couldn't we set up a new, less corrupted party for normal, moral conservative folks?
posted by zaelic at 6:22 AM on October 28, 2004

shouldn't a congressional committee be formed to define whether the GOP as a party should continue to be allowed to participate in a democracy?

And I just think everyone in the world should just get along and love each other. Visualize whirled peas. What if they gave a war and nobody came?

[/not snarking at your comment, just sad that there's no way in hell your otherwise reasonable suggestion would ever come to pass.]
posted by Turtles all the way down at 6:38 AM on October 28, 2004

What's amazing to me is how both sides are adament of the other's percieved fraud: a quick scan of most right-wing sites will reveal countless quips about dead voters, multiple ballots, and Democratic elections supervisors and "activist judges" allowing voter fraud to take place to benefit Kerry.

It's interesting though, because they all seem to be angry that the judges/whatever are preventing challenges to votes, whereas the Democratic outrage is always over restrictions to vote access. FreeRepublic right now is up in arms about the judge blocking the Ohio challenge to 35,000 mostly-Democratic voters. Not much of an improvement from Bush suing four years ago to stop the Florida recount.

I'm simply amazed that Kerry, or for that matter MoveOn or some other independent left-wing PAC, never made a simple campaign issue out of there being only one party that actually wants everyone's vote counted. It's not like they didn't have four years to get this point across or anything.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 6:39 AM on October 28, 2004

I am curious; what would a list of "right-wing" and then a list of "left-wing" websites look like?
posted by fluffycreature at 6:45 AM on October 28, 2004

I am curious; what would a list of "right-wing" and then a list of "left-wing" websites look like?

Poop on your kitchen floor.

Photograph it from two different angles.

That oughta do it.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 6:47 AM on October 28, 2004

You think there's any benefit in muddying the water (or, on preview, crapping on the floor) so much that everyone knows in advance that everything's going to be contested?

If everyone (meaning, mostly, the parties and their pundit mouthpieces) assumes the election's going to be crooked, and then it is, not only will no one be surprised, there'll be no change afterward.

We're going to have the same issue in four years, regardless of how this one pans out. Damn it.
posted by chicobangs at 6:48 AM on October 28, 2004

a quick scan of most right-wing sites will reveal countless quips about dead voters, multiple ballots, and Democratic elections supervisors and "activist judges" allowing voter fraud to take place to benefit Kerry.

I don't doubt that both sides have, from time to time throughout history, tried to game the ballot box. But for anyone who thinks the two are comparable, consider this. What's easier and more effective: "losing" several thousand voter registrations or absentee ballots, or getting thousands of ineligible voters to the polls (or somehow slipping illegal ballots into the system)?
posted by jpoulos at 6:53 AM on October 28, 2004

I love it when they say "activist" judges. You know they want to call them fag-lovers under their breath.





(not aiming to offend here just preaching it)
posted by Keyser Soze at 7:23 AM on October 28, 2004

Pretty Generic: You just made me pull out a Toaster's album that I haven't heard in years.
posted by toddst at 8:00 AM on October 28, 2004

Florida came under intense media scrutiny 4 years ago and its entire voting system was shown to be grossly mismanaged.

Given 4 years, I would have thought that state officials would do everything they could to make Florida a model for all other states to follow.

If Jeb Bush ever runs for Presidency, this is the first stone I would throw at him. If your citizens are unable to vote then you can no longer claim to be a Republic.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 8:12 AM on October 28, 2004

I think you mean "democracy". North Korea is a republic.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 8:29 AM on October 28, 2004

i always thought the U.S. was a Republic, not a Democracy.
posted by callicles at 1:13 PM on October 28, 2004

It's a democratic republic.
posted by elwoodwiles at 4:08 PM on October 28, 2004

toddst - jinx! me too.
posted by dabitch at 4:57 PM on October 28, 2004

It's a Republic.
It's a Democracy.
It's a floor wax.
It's a dessert topping.
posted by wendell at 7:07 PM on October 28, 2004