Always A Doubt About The Election

To the Editor:

In his response dated November 29, Mr Viola writes that my letter “raises an interesting question.” But he makes no attempt to answer that question. Instead he uses an old polemical trick – introducing a red herring. He asks, is it fair to change the rules? The answer is Yes! The rules apply equally to both candidates so that there is no prima facie reason to presume unfairness. Mr Viola does not even try to show that any changes provide Gore with a selective advantage. And he cannot possibly substantiate his implied claim that it was the changes “which yielded an increase in votes for Gore.” Just make the charge and hope that no one notices that it has no foundation.

Why the rule changes? The Florida Attorney General stated that “the rules must remain flexible to address the wide variety of fact patterns that are bound to crop up in a review.” The statute provides no guidance on how examiners are to act; common sense is supposed to prevail.

Mr Viola claims that in trying to close out the election, Harris was just doing her job. “Florida law requires her to do so.” Florida Statutes, Section 102.111, states that “if the returns are not received by the time specified, such returns may be ignored and the results on file may be certified.” I am not a lawyer but I think I know the difference between being allowed to act and being required to act. If you tell me that I may act, you are giving me a choice, you are not requiring me to act.

Call me a cynic but I cannot help suspecting that if the vote count had been different, if her candidate had been awaiting the result of a hand count, Harris would have read those two “may”s as giving her an option.

Perhaps Mr Viola should look at the poll showing that 46 percent of people agreed with the Florida Supreme Court’s decision to order a hand recount while 47percent disagreed.

The Bush strategy has been to prevent a fair and accurate count of the undervote. In this they will no doubt succeed. The conservative majorities on the US Supreme Court and the Florida legislature will ensure that. They will also ensure that there will always be doubt about who won the election.

Sincerely

Brian Gibney

10 Checkerberry Lane, Sandy Hook December 11, 2000