Bad Voting Practices

George Bush may want all eligible voters to vote, and all legal ballots cast to be counted... but that's not how all Republicans feel.

There are two stories I'll cover in this entry, so that's why I didn't link up the title. The first story is about the continuing saga of the fight for Washington's highest office, the governorship. The major party contenders were Republican Dino Rossi and Democrat Christine Gregoire. On November 2, Rossi was declared the winner, by a margin of 261 votes. Because the vote was so close, state law automatically triggered a recount... which dropped Rossi's lead to 42 votes. There were over 2.8 million votes cast, and it's decided by 42 votes? Of course there will be a recount!

So the Washington Democrats, with the help of the kindred spirits across the nation, paid for another recount. This time, the lead was bumped to 74 votes, Rossi still leading. The Democrats would like another recount. Which I don't think is a problem, considering the term doesn't start until next year anyways, and as long as the ones who want it are paying for it. But there has been a bump in the road for the Republicans.

Apparently some 561 absentee ballots were invalidated based on incorrect information. This was found out after a head Democrat in liberal King County found his name on the invalid list... and he knew his was not. After his, they found some more... and then they also found some 22 ballots that were just stuck somewhere, forgotten in the storage container of a voting machine. I guess what happened with the 500+ votes was that the county computers were messed up and not updated with the correct information. But the Republicans are suing to have those votes not counted! What?! We don't want legally cast votes cast because... well no one's sure right now why they don't want them counted. Other than it'll probably give Gregoire the lead needed to win the gubernatorial post.

What I truly want the Democrats and Republicans to take away from this mess is this: more than 63,000 votes were cast for the Libertarian candidate for Washington Governor. That means either side, by courting the rational ideas of libertarians and the Libertarian Party, could have won election easily. Keep that in mind next election.

In other news, the Republican Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court has thrown out a challenge by Democrats and the Massachusetts-based Alliance for Democracy because... it mentions his recent election. Apparently, he's citing the fact that there is no precedent or state law that allows for the combination of challenges. The lawsuit says more than 130,000 votes in 36 Ohio counties that were destined for the Kerry/Edwards ticket column ended up in the Bush/Cheney column. So instead of actually hearing the case, Moyer is throwing out the case based on the fact, pretty much, that he doesn't want to hear it. Odd.

So all you Iraqis out there that we "liberated," keep this in mind: democracy works, as long as the party in power suppresses the votes of those that are challenging said power. Oh wait, that's what Saddam Hussein did... woops...