Posted on 09/21/2002 11:27:46 AM PDT by forest
So, it's the Florida election redux. But, unlike the Sore-Loser-Man, at least it didn't take Janet Reno weeks and a few court challenges to concede. Reno only kept people waiting a couple days.
Remembering 2000, first the Democrats in Florida designed the "butterfly ballot." That style ballot worked fine in other states, just not in the Democratic strongholds of Florida. So they whined, cried and kicked up a big fuss because the very same punch card ballots used many places throughout the nation were somehow "unfair" for the people populating a few Florida counties. They got "hanging chads," and the vote does not count if there is not a clear hole. Besides, some Democrat voters said it was too complex to punch a hole next to the name of the candidate they wanted for office. It was acceptable for Republicans, who did it without difficulty. But, as they implied in public and in court, some Democrats had a much lower level of comprehension.
So, the State of Florida sent these complaining counties brand spanking new voting machines. Digital voting machines. The kind of voting machines that require no "punching" effort for the elderly and/or infirm Democrats because all that is necessary is to lightly touch the screen to make a selection. Idiot proof voting machines, with huge icons that are very easy to see.
Except, evidently, those voting machines were not quite all that idiot proof. The poll workers (and voters) of Miami-Dade and Broward County managed to screw up the vote tallies again, anyway.
Sixteen Florida counties used the same kind of touch-screen voting machines. No one else had a problem with the new voting machines. Only those "certain" counties that totally blew the last election managed to mess up the new system.
The Miami Herald reported last Saturday: "In an increasingly eerie replay of the 2000 presidential election in Florida, former attorney general Janet Reno today demanded a statewide, manual recount of the votes in Tuesday's Democratic gubernatorial primary."
The instant question to Janet Reno should have been: Exactly, how does one perform a "manual recount of the votes" on a digital machine? But, never-mind; these are Democrats. . . . .
According to the Herald, in this latest Miami- Dade and Broward County debacle, "The directions were written only in English, and the elections office didn't check poll workers' ability to read in English."
Oh? . . . Miami-Dade and Broward Counties hired illiterate foreigners to run an election in the United States? They couldn't read the instructions -- even though all they needed to know in English was "on" and "off"?
As reported, all poll workers had at least four hours training on the new machines. The election people teaching the class on the new machines said the poll workers were tested and passed. One would think that the training
class would be a great place to bring up any lingering incidental problems -- like how to turn the machine on. But, apparently one would be wrong to assume such silly things. Anyway, Democrats would probably class such thoughts as discriminatory.
Still, it gets better: Precinct clerk Dorothy Walton, a poll worker since 1973, said she came away from training without knowing exactly how to close out the machines at day's end. 'Why didn't she ask and learn,' was the simple question asked. She said she didn't ask questions because she was supposed to have a helper who did know. (She assumed!) But, on election day, her helper didn't show up.
Two bits says she took the pay for being there, though.
Anyway, they invented something new to whine about. As the Orlando Sentinel reported on Sept. 18: "Forget the pregnant chads of 2000. Now we get to blame South Florida voters' dirty fingers -- on smudges they left on the new computerized touch-screen voting machines that replaced old punch-card ballots. . . . Listen [sic] to a few South Florida voters complain that the wrong candidate names seemed to pop up on touch screens when they went to make their choice."
An even stranger situation happened in Michigan's August 6 primary election. Not widely related in the news is the fact that there is now a recall for the Detroit City Clerk -- the person in charge of Detroit's polling places and running the elections. Why? Because, according to local media, some of the precincts have still not been counted.
Among the allegations charged are: failure to count votes in a timely manner in the Aug. 6 primary; failure to properly maintain vote-counting equipment; sloppy vote counting; not opening polls on time and having poorly trained workers and; incompetence.
In Detroit, most election results are usually predetermined anyway. But, that's not the point. It seems that they could at least have the semblance of an honest election. Some voters (and officials) recommend (demand) that the State take over all voting precincts in Detroit. Otherwise, November will be just as screwed up as the primary was. But, again, that is seen by some as discriminatory. Incompetence must be allowed. False tallies will be accepted. Because . . . well . . . those liberals in government do not want to hurt anyone's feelings.
One thing is clear from this information: The old saying that "friends do not let friends vote Democratic" should be changed to 'voters should never allow Democratic poll workers to run an election without continuous supervision.' Because, left on their own, the tally often comes out wrong -- and some of them have the unique ability to later "find" votes that were not counted when the results did not come out exactly as they wish.
So goes the American election system. That's democracy in action, the Democratic Party way.
Try Florida's "complicated" touch-screen voting process yourself. Wander on over to http://www.pascovotes.com and look to the left side of the screen for "the New iVotronic simulator."
The instant question to Janet Reno should have been: Exactly, how does one perform a "manual recount of the votes" on a digital machine? But, never-mind; these are Democrats. . . . .
According to the Herald, in this latest Miami- Dade and Broward County debacle, "The directions were written only in English, and the elections office didn't check poll workers' ability to read in English."
Still, it gets better: Precinct clerk Dorothy Walton, a poll worker since 1973, said she came away from training without knowing exactly how to close out the machines at day's end. But she didn't even ask.
Except, evidently, those voting machines were not quite all that idiot proof. The poll workers (and voters) of Miami-Dade and Broward County managed to screw up the vote tallies again, anyway.
That's democracy in action, the Democratic Party way.
BINGO!
Reno is part of the corrupt Clinton/Gore/Lieberman machine which has a strong presence in those suspect Florida counties.
The Democrat party is planning on taking vote fraud to the next level in the next few elections.
You forgot the sarcasm tag. Either that or you are loopier than Reno.
Anyone care to post an icon of an OFF button? hehehe.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.