And now, on to the courts.
November 8, 2000 3:12 PM Subscribe
And now, on to the courts. I don't think this has a chance, nor am I sure if it is even a good idea.
Do they have a complaint? Absolutely.
Do they have a remedy? Not at all. Suit dismissed.
Can they wholesale convert Buchannan votes to Gore votes? No, Buchannan could stop that, as could any single person who claims they voted for Buchannan.
Can they allow anyone who claims they voted for Gore to vote one more time? Obviously not.
Can they have a whole new election in that area? They'd have to restrict it only to those who voted on Nov. 7th, and it would still be a ludicrous exercise. Bush and Gore would be holding block parties and promising ambassadorships to influential PTA moms.
(Although it is sad that only a strange error in elections could elicit a bizarre remedy causing a ludicrous sort of compaigning ... which millionaires benefit from around the country during campaign fundraising.)
posted by MattD at 3:35 PM on November 8, 2000
Do they have a remedy? Not at all. Suit dismissed.
Can they wholesale convert Buchannan votes to Gore votes? No, Buchannan could stop that, as could any single person who claims they voted for Buchannan.
Can they allow anyone who claims they voted for Gore to vote one more time? Obviously not.
Can they have a whole new election in that area? They'd have to restrict it only to those who voted on Nov. 7th, and it would still be a ludicrous exercise. Bush and Gore would be holding block parties and promising ambassadorships to influential PTA moms.
(Although it is sad that only a strange error in elections could elicit a bizarre remedy causing a ludicrous sort of compaigning ... which millionaires benefit from around the country during campaign fundraising.)
posted by MattD at 3:35 PM on November 8, 2000
Actually I read today that the amount of voted for Buchanan isn't all that outrageous-- in Broward County, Buchanan got 785 votes, from a voting pool that included less than 2,000 registered independent voters. In Palm Beach county, there were 3500+ votes for Buchanan, but with a voter pool that included 14,000+ registered independents. I saw the ballot and it did look confusing, but I wonder how many of those 3500 votes were really for Gore? Enough to make a difference?
posted by s10pen at 3:41 PM on November 8, 2000
posted by s10pen at 3:41 PM on November 8, 2000
I've lived in Palm Beach County, and that area is definitely not Buchanan country - very heavy Jewish concentration that would much more likely swing Bush or Gore... Something's wrong.
posted by owillis at 4:14 PM on November 8, 2000
posted by owillis at 4:14 PM on November 8, 2000
I grew up there -- Palm Beach would be pretty much the last county in Florida I'd guess as a possible haven for right-wing fundamentalists.
Check out this statistical plot of Presidential votes for each Florida county if you're still not convinced. (Warning: it's Java-tastic.)
See that big clump of dots in the corner? That's the rest of Florida. See that one dot way off by itself near the top? That's Palm Beach. This sort of thing doesn't naturally happen.
posted by jjg at 4:38 PM on November 8, 2000
Check out this statistical plot of Presidential votes for each Florida county if you're still not convinced. (Warning: it's Java-tastic.)
See that big clump of dots in the corner? That's the rest of Florida. See that one dot way off by itself near the top? That's Palm Beach. This sort of thing doesn't naturally happen.
posted by jjg at 4:38 PM on November 8, 2000
Mistakes were made, others will be blamed. Gore will concede and ride the martyr-mobile to 1600 Pennsylvania in 2004.
Dems win the House and Senate in 2002 (which is where the real power is any way) and lose it in 2006, life goes on unchanged.
posted by Mick at 7:27 PM on November 8, 2000
Dems win the House and Senate in 2002 (which is where the real power is any way) and lose it in 2006, life goes on unchanged.
posted by Mick at 7:27 PM on November 8, 2000
The Washington Post has an excellent article on the Florida recount and Palm Beach:
About 1,000 Florida voters live in Israel and many can be expected to have supported the Democratic ticket.
...
Florida is an attractive state of residence for expatriate Americans because it has no income tax. In addition, Florida is home to several military units frequently deployed abroad. But the only one with thousands of potential voters – the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy, with a crew of 5,000 – is at its dock in Mayport, Fla. (emphasis added)
So maybe no military votes for Shrub after all, but the rich expats might help him (Let do all these expats realise how important there votes are). CNN also report there could be legal challenges in Florida and Missouri.
posted by jay at 7:36 PM on November 8, 2000
About 1,000 Florida voters live in Israel and many can be expected to have supported the Democratic ticket.
...
Florida is an attractive state of residence for expatriate Americans because it has no income tax. In addition, Florida is home to several military units frequently deployed abroad. But the only one with thousands of potential voters – the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy, with a crew of 5,000 – is at its dock in Mayport, Fla. (emphasis added)
So maybe no military votes for Shrub after all, but the rich expats might help him (Let do all these expats realise how important there votes are). CNN also report there could be legal challenges in Florida and Missouri.
posted by jay at 7:36 PM on November 8, 2000
Also, 19,000 ballots were disqualified in Palm Beach County. Apparently, Florida law specifies that voters mark an X in the blank space to the right of the name of the candidate they want to vote for. If you look at this picture of the ballot in Palm Beach then this is clearly not the case.
posted by jay at 7:57 PM on November 8, 2000
posted by jay at 7:57 PM on November 8, 2000
But by punching the ballot instead of marking an X, isn't that illegal also? Or does marking an X cover punching the ballot?
posted by gyc at 9:22 AM on November 9, 2000
posted by gyc at 9:22 AM on November 9, 2000
Apologies in advance for posting a link to a right wing web site for you liberals, but they have an explanation about why that law that jay points to doesn't apply to Palm Beach County. I'm not sure how accurate that is though.
posted by gyc at 10:38 AM on November 9, 2000
posted by gyc at 10:38 AM on November 9, 2000
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Zool at 3:32 PM on November 8, 2000