Better late than never
Looks like I missed some good news late last night. Apparently a recount for a congressional seat has knocked off another Republican incumbent. "Democrat Joe Courtney's victory over Rep. Rob Simmons in their U.S. House contest was confirmed Tuesday by a recount that stretched nearly a week and uncovered significant vote-counting flaws. Both parties monitored the recount and confirmed that Courtney had the final edge, although their figures differed. Republicans said their count showed Courtney winning by 96 votes, while Democrats had the margin at 93. Nearly 250,000 votes were cast." So while a few more races are contested here is another Democratic pick-up. Not a single Democratic incumbent lost in the House or Senate on November 7.
The other thing that comes to mind is that in nearly a quarter million votes to decide a congressional race it came down to less than 100 votes. The course of history was changed because of 537 votes in Florida in 2000. Your vote matters. It does. Just vote. The second thing that comes to mind is that our voting system is an embarrassment. In the not so distant past Olympic races were decided by eye-balling it. Judges would stand on the edge of the pool and when a racer touched the wall the judge would try to quickly see if anyone else was doing the same thing. So the guy who came in second could easily have been first. Of course it happened and happened a lot. That's how we do it today. We eyeball it. Wal-Mart can keep track of every Pop-Tart in their chain of distribution but we can't (won't) track every vote. You get a receipt when you buy a pack of gum but not when you vote. If your bank lost money you had deposited you wouldn't do business with them and that probably wouldn't be a problem since they would probably be out of business. Votes? We have no choice. We have to do business with every mope running an election using machines that inspired as much confidence as an airline pilot who crosses himself and rubs a rabbit's foot before takeoff. Spend the money and track the votes as well as we track Pop-Tarts. Otherwise we'll be just another banana republic. If we aren't that already.
The other thing that comes to mind is that in nearly a quarter million votes to decide a congressional race it came down to less than 100 votes. The course of history was changed because of 537 votes in Florida in 2000. Your vote matters. It does. Just vote. The second thing that comes to mind is that our voting system is an embarrassment. In the not so distant past Olympic races were decided by eye-balling it. Judges would stand on the edge of the pool and when a racer touched the wall the judge would try to quickly see if anyone else was doing the same thing. So the guy who came in second could easily have been first. Of course it happened and happened a lot. That's how we do it today. We eyeball it. Wal-Mart can keep track of every Pop-Tart in their chain of distribution but we can't (won't) track every vote. You get a receipt when you buy a pack of gum but not when you vote. If your bank lost money you had deposited you wouldn't do business with them and that probably wouldn't be a problem since they would probably be out of business. Votes? We have no choice. We have to do business with every mope running an election using machines that inspired as much confidence as an airline pilot who crosses himself and rubs a rabbit's foot before takeoff. Spend the money and track the votes as well as we track Pop-Tarts. Otherwise we'll be just another banana republic. If we aren't that already.
posted by Crankyboy at 11:14 PM
2 Comments:
Sounds like the "warm fuzzies" from the elections have passed and it's back to "cranky." dK
Yes. I was happy - for about 10 or 15 seconds and then it passed.
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