As I have written previously, I believe that Florida's voting procedures in 2000 were as fair and accurate as any in the country, and better than some.

I have no such assurance this year. Four years ago, any irregularities were minor and mostly attributable to innocent mistakes. Now everyone knows that Florida matters, and the stakes are so high that I no longer trust either side to resist the temptation to pretend that the ends can justify the means. The negative ads, on both sides and at all levels, have convinced me of one thing: that neither side can be expected to take the high moral ground on anything important.

Between "early voting" and the misuse of the absentee ballot system, chances of fraud, collusion, and coercion are high, and the chance of knowing the results in a timely matter is low.

People who tried the new early voting system found themselves harassed and harangued, as the rules against polling place electioneering were discovered to apply only to election day. Others, who thought they were registered to vote, discovered too late that their registrations had disappeared. There is a huge push for people to vote, vote, vote!—it doesn't matter if you know anything or care about anything, just vote!—as if the act of voting were a magical spell to bring forth wise decisions. And the state is crawling with Carpetbaggers, folks from other states here for the sole purpose of meddling in our election!

Whatever our Founding Fathers may have had in mind for democratic elections, they never dreamed of this.
Posted by sursumcorda on Monday, November 1, 2004 at 4:04 pm | Edit
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Voting today was certainly smooth in our precinct. We were in, done, and out in less than 20 minutes. If we'd had a name in the first half of the alphabet, the process would have been even faster, as there was no line at all for people whose names began with A-O.

It was easier than waiting for a theme park ride, and a lot shorter than the wait for plywood with a hurricane threatening!

Posted by SursumCorda on Tuesday, November 02, 2004 at 11:36 am
I have you beat. The only thing I had to wait on was myself. I don't know if they needed my ID, but I showed it to fool myself into think they needed to see it. Last time I voted in New York I could have pretended to be anybody. Anyway, I was the only person voting while I was there. Now I just have to wait. See Election Adivce-for Your Health!

Posted by Janet on Tuesday, November 02, 2004 at 2:18 pm
Well, I was stupid, I'll admit. I knew the election wouldn't be decided last night, and was on my way to bed not long after 11:00. But having our Favorite Carpetbagger here to watch with us as the election results came in was too tempting. So now I'm running on less than four hours of sleep. But if I go back to sleep until the election is decided, it may be days! If not weeks. Hmmm, that much sleep looks pretty good right now....

Posted by SursumCorda on Wednesday, November 03, 2004 at 7:13 am
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