The errors now bein;g proposed as endemic in fact were heavily one-
sided--pro reactionary
w>
> from these disastrous Florida voting machine mechanical and procedural
> failures can we assume that ALL state legislatures have received the
> message and will soon work to revamp their entire voting mechanics and
> procedures so that in every state each voter who wants to cast a vote
> can be assured that it definitely be counted?
>
> norm
>
>
> PNEWS wrote:
> >
> > That isn't as easily done as you suggest. I voted in Marion County, which
> > is North Central Florida and our ballots were very similar to those used
> > in Palm Beach County. In fact there were problems here also, but we're a
> > small county and there wasn't much noted in the press about it, except we
> > really found out about it when the Florida Supreme Court ordered the
> > recount, which terminated before it began. When I punched my ballot I
> > voted for Nader (also not my best choice)* so the hole was a bit easier to
> > find but admittedly it was still very confusing and I recall having to put
> > more pressure on getting the stylus to punch all the way through than I
> > thought necessary and none of the holes lined up with the arrows. None of
> > them. It took me almost an hour in our small county at my precinct, which
> > was a Baptist Church, filled with people there to vote and long lines. I'm
> > sure NO ONE would even consider going back and waiting another 45 minutes
> > to an hour to get another card or especially to admit in front of all
> > those people that they may have made a mistake. Looking at the ballots to
> > see if the holes were all the way through was not a good indicator because
> > once you extracted the ballot you could not tell which numbers represented
> > which candidate. It was what we use to call in the service a "cluster
> > fuck."
> >
> > I could not help but remember the old clunkers with the levers that were
> > so easy to use and how much better it would have been even to have had
> > those to use in lieu of this lousy system we had. I'm sure there were many
> > who made the mistake of either not perferating the hole in their ballot or
> > over punching and I believe the count was extraordinarily high for
> > overcounts --- due no doubt to this very confusing butterfly ballot and
> > the fact the machine was old and holes did not line up with the arrows and
> > if like Miami, they probably had not been cleaned and were full of chads.
> >
> > I don't think there was much of a concern for whether we counted or
> > not. The intent was to count more Republican votes and that is what they
> > did.
> >
> > TheGolem
> > http://pnews.org/
> >
> > *The best choice is not to compromise and to vote socialist:
> >  PEOPLE INSTEAD OF PROFITS!
> > ====================================================================
> > 331 message board forums at: http://pnews.org/mall/mb.html (DIRECTORY)
> >    and EIGHT PNEWS "progressive" LISTSERVER Forums [Since 83]
> >    PNEWS-L (Progressive News & Views, the OLDEST socialist-left
> >    LISTSERVER Forum on the internet) - CUBA-ANALYSIS - USA-ANALYSIS
> >    [Americas in crisis] PAIN-L - RHETORIC - INTERNET - ZIONISM - JWV
> > ======================================================================
> > TheGolem
> > http://pnews.org/
> >
> > On Fri, 15 Dec 2000, Jeff Shaddock wrote:
> >
> > > The interview sent by 'The Golem/PNEWS' makes some good points but skirts
> > > the real issue: democratic voters who 'mis-voted' ie puched twice, didn't
> > > punch all the way etc are at least partially to blame. I understand that
> > > often the 'clear intent of the voter' can be determined and agree that it
> > > SHOULD be done. However, the democratic voters who did not vote properly
> > > should bear some of the burden; ask for another card, or MAKE SURE YOU PUNCH
> > > A CLEAN HOLE to make sure that your vote has the potential to be counted by
> > > machines.
> > >
> > > I agree that the system was/is stacked against AG & the Democrats in
> > > Florida, but it is the citizens who voted improperly that allowed those
> > > measures to be effective.
> > >
> > > J.
> > > _________________________________________________________________________
> > > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.
> > >
> >
> > --
>