They don’t call it Reason magazine for nothing:
Why Every Vote Should Not Be Counted
Look, this is not very hard. In Ohio, you have a certain Bush lead and certain number of provisional ballots. Once you determine how many of those p-ballots are, in fact, valid ballots per the laws of the state, you look at that number. If that number is smaller that the amount of the Bush lead, you do not have to count any of them…
This is what happens routinely in recounts for dog catcher or city councilman around the country. The goal is to put the right person in office, not make some fetish out of counting things.
I am not going to link to any of the lefty blogs that demanded that Kerry not concede until ‘every vote had been counted,’ as they have had a bad enough couple of days and don’t need taunted further. However, I would suggest that demanding that the Secretary of State in Ohio and his staff physically tabulate each vote for the benefit of democracy is idiotic. The only reason for such a demand is to serve to delay the inevitable- that having been the Kerry concession.
When it is said that every vote should be counted, what is meant that every vote should be equal in value and mean something. They don’t mean every vote has to be individually tabulated for no reason whatsoever. Slowing down the forward progress of the body politic for a pedantic and meaningless count of every vote, regardless of the fact that has no impact on the election, is so stupid it is offensive. Besides, that will be done eventually.
BTW: As a side note, if it is known that there are 160,000 provisional votes, then technically, they votes have already been ‘counted,’ at least in the base sense of the term as it was employed rhetorically as of late.
bains
Anything but a look in the mirror to acertain the reasons for failure…
Ralph Gizzip
While your point may be valid for this Presidential election there are many statewide or local races / issues that could be decided by these ballots you don’t seem to want counted. Don’t you think these are important enough to have “every vote counted”?
John Cole
Of course, Ralph.
Ken
“While your point may be valid for this Presidential election there are many statewide or local races / issues that could be decided by these ballots you don’t seem to want counted. Don’t you think these are important enough to have “every vote counted”?”
Well, yes, but there’s no reason to pretend the Presidential race is anything but settled while this is going on.
CadillaqJaq
Knowing the risks of repeating idle gossip, I read in 2000 following Gore’s big triumph in California, that when it was discovered that the absentee ballots wouldn’t assure Bush of a win, they were tossed. Further it was said, that’s the case in every CA election. I lived there from 1985 through 1994 but other than heresay, I have no real knowledge. Makes sense though.
Al Maviva
I understand that at several Michigan polling places, thousands of provisional ballots were fed into the normal vote counting (optical scan) machines, without having undergone authentication. Way to go Michigan!
As for the no taunting – please. They’ve taunted the bejeezus out of us for four years. The least you could do is a little “neenner neenner naaa naaa!”
Kimmitt
when it was discovered that the absentee ballots wouldn’t assure Bush of a win, they were tossed.
That makes no sense whatsoever; there are downticket races for which the ballots are undoubtedly relevant.