Should there be a revote?

[Nym90]

With the butterfly ballot and all, I'd say Florida 2000 would have made more sense then Washington 2004, but I voted no on both.

[Nym90]

Both no. The whole idea is absurd.

In every election, somebody must win and somebody must lose. In an especially close election such as this one, it's difficult to stand on any kind of moral high ground and start judging voters intentions and what-not. There could have been 50 people who had car trouble on their way to vote for Rossi. Maybe some future Gregoire voters were aborted in their mother's womb.

I've ran a voting station before and that experience made me realize just how precarious our voting system is. There are plenty of voters who have severe mental handicaps but that are brought in by relatives or friends to vote. A Democrat and I had to help one voter who was probaly 99 years old and completely out of his mind and was just randomly hitting his finger at the touch screen. I have to give him credit though - I'd consider him more informed than the lady who came in and asked if there was a button that she could press to vote all Democrat so she wouldn't have to bother reading the candidates names.

To sit here and quibble over 100 votes in an election where millions are cast is futile. It's difficult to talk about an irregularity here or there when in fact the entire system is an irregularity.

Rossi is down for the count. It pains me to say it, but he has no other honorable choice than to concede and live to fight another day.

With the butterfly ballot and all, I'd say Florida 2000 would have made more sense then Washington 2004, but I voted no on both.

Um... you Dems created the butterfly ballot. It's not our fault that Democrats are too dumb to follow instructions.

I know, that doesn't make it any less absurd, however.

And I didn't create it. Just because it was created by a Democrat, it's not fair to lump me in with them.

Notice I still said there shouldn't be a revote, just that having one would have been not as bad as having one in Washington.

[Nym90]

I'm actually quite surprised that half of the respondents to this poll support a revote in at least one of these two elections.

[Nym90]

Carl, what is your proposed solution? It seems that all you do is bash Dean Logan...if you feel there is a problem, what should be done about this? Should there be a revote?

Also, is Republican Secretary of State Sam Reed incompetent, or is Logan paying him off to say that there's no evidence of fraud?

[Nym90]

Carl, what is your proposed solution? It seems that all you do is bash Dean Logan...if you feel there is a problem, what should be done about this? Should there be a revote?

Also, is Republican Secretary of State Sam Reed incompetent, or is Logan paying him off to say that there's no evidence of fraud?

I'm still curious as to the answers to these questions.

[Nym90]

Yes. And if Mrs. Gregoire won the first time, why wouldn't she win again? Oh right, she's been tarnished by the fact that everyone in the state thinks she stole the election.

Why should there be a revote? Even if there was corruption or fraud, the fradulent votes should simply be thrown out. A revote is ridiculous in any circumstances.

In any event, I don't see any real proof of fraud. My motto in these matters is to never chalk something up to evil when it can easily be explained by incompetence. The votes should have all been counted the first time, and a lot of people need to be fired for not having done so.

[Nym90]

In any event, I don't see any real proof of fraud. My motto in these matters is to never chalk something up to evil when it can easily be explained by incompetence. The votes should have all been counted the first time, and a lot of people need to be fired for not having done so.

Setting aside for a moment the issue of whether or not there are enough irregularities to put the result in doubt, and also the issue of whether or not a revote is the appropriate remedy--

--it doesn't matter whether fraud or incompetence is to blame. All that matters is whether the irregularities exist.

I agree with this in principle, but in this case, the incompetence is that not all of the votes were counted in King County in the initial count. Those votes should have been counted the first time, and they weren't. But in the subsequent recount, the votes were tallied properly, hence Gregoire pulled ahead. So these "extra" votes for Gregoire were "produced" by the fact that they should have been there all along, but incompetence initially prevented them from being included. The problem has now been fixed.