Counting Votes In Florida

To the Editor:

One can certainly empathize with Ms Recht. It must be hard, having been told that your candidate has won the election, to find that that is true only if you don’t bother to count a few thousand votes which were cast for another candidate. The Bush league believes that if the hand count is allowed to be completed the numbers will show that Gore won Florida.

Their strategy therefore is to stop the count if possible, to delay it by any trumped up excuse, and to so muddy the water that they can claim that the hand count is invalid even if it is completed. They have told us that a hand count is unconstitutional, illegal, and immoral. But there are rules to determine whether hanging chad, swinging chad, or pregnant chad is or is not to be counted. Why were these rules set down?

 The machine certainly doesn’t use them. Obviously they were intended to guide people doing a hand count. One might have hoped that there would be some argument so ridiculous, so devoid of merit, that the Bush people would decline to use it. The evidence so far suggests that such hope is in vain. They are screaming that “there is chad on the floor.” Well of course there is. Thousands of punched cards which have hanging or swinging chads are being handled. Some of this is going to drop off. It is supposed to drop off. They are crying “anarchy.” Rubbish, both sides are of course trying to interpret the laws to their advantage but no one is suggesting that there should not be any laws. If you want to know which side most lacks regard for the law just look at the results. The Republicans have tried at various times in various courts to get the count stopped, all were disallowed. Harris has twice tried to close out the election and declare her candidate the winner, she was prevented from doing so by the courts.

The man who has been assuring us that he “trusts the people” has now decided that the people cannot be trusted to count.

Cordially

Brian Gibney

Checkerberry Lane, Sandy Hook   November 21, 2000