It appears that voters in "battleground" states and possibly elsewhere will find that lots of people are loitering around the voting stations. This is because both parties are sending their people to the stations to make sure that everything about the voting is kosher.
Except, of course, they're worried about entirely different things.
The Republicans are sending "challengers," - people who will challenge an individual's eligibility to vote, so as to prevent them from voting more often than once for each election.
The Democrats are sending attorneys to make sure that everyone who is eligible to vote gets to vote, and that their vote gets counted.
You don't have to be too much of a cynic to see the bias here: Republicans feel that it is better that 10 votes too few be cast rather than one vote too many. Democrats feel that it is better that one vote too many rather than 10 votes to few be cast.
Commentators say all this only matters if it's a close race. In a landslide, who cares? Well, I do.
Voting is not just about the outcome; it's also about the process. The right to vote is one of those few, inalienable rights that is equal to all citizens of a country. Casting a vote is a solemn right that some people put on their best clothes for, and they have a point. It's why votes are counted even after the outcome is clear - people have the right to cast their vote and have it counted.
To me, it's not good enough to say that "there will always be errors," or that "my vote doesn't count."
It's also why I'm so disturbed by the debate about Florida in 2000. The Supreme Courts in both Florida and Washington, DC were preoccupied with the outcome, but disenfranchisement is just as important. "Voter intent" isn't just to find out who won, it's to be inclusive in the voting process.
I think that voter fraud - both to create votes and to deny them - amount to an act of treason and should be punished accordingly. And it doesn't matter whether the fraud made a difference to the outcome of the election, because it makes a difference to the process of democracy.
I think the Bushies are in for a real shock. It looks like there is a constituent of voters who are not represented in current polls. That is, the 30 and under. Most I know don't have phones and most, I have heard around, are really up for Kerry. I think there are going to be some surprises next week.
Posted by: dr pants | October 25, 2004 at 07:01 PM
I wonder what would happen, if there really was voter fraud in a US presidential election?
Something very close to that happened in Florida last time around, and according to reports I've read this year, it's about to happen again.
The people who should've paid attention in 2000 (media, Florida election officials) didn't care or didn't want to care (funny how that happens when the head honcho is the brother of the "winner"), and so nothing happened. It's truly amazing how people were illegally excluded from voting, but yet nobody got punished, procedures weren't changed and nobody raised a stink about it (well, other than some liberal kook exciled to UK where he can be safely ignored).
The founding fathers had an idea what to do when something like that happens, but I don't think a revolt would work in this day and age.
Posted by: TPP | October 26, 2004 at 03:42 PM