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| Winning At All Costs
by John M. Curtis Copyright November 16, 2000
No matter whose side you’re on, the national disgrace is undeniable, far outweighing the blinding quest for disputed votes. With a fraction of the reported irregularities, the victor may envy the vanquished, whose national standing—and credibility—is permanently tainted. With so much bad blood, any declaration of victory by either side will have enduring fallout. Sure, someone must eventually win, but neither candidate can now claim the moral authority to govern—and certainly not a popular mandate. Power without authority can only go so far. Just look 90 miles away at Fidel Castro thumbing his nose at the national will. Playing hardball, Florida Secretary of State and Bush campaign co-chair Katherine Harris assured that blatant partisanship sealed the deal for Bush. "It is my duty under Florida Law to exercise my discretion and to deny the requested amendments," proclaimed Harris, justifying her decision to sandbag Democrats. Rejecting hand counts, Harris forces Gore back into court begging for injunctive relief. With more than a million votes at stake, Harris’ latest move narrows Gore’s options and positions Bush for eventual victory—or so it seems. Let there be no mistake, if the tables were turned, both parties would play it exactly the same way. "There’s an attempt to bring the curtain down that I think is really unfortunate," said Gore campaign chairman Bill Daley, understating the obvious. With the GOP holding the cards, Harris’ move is a shrewd but shortsighted tactic to certify Bush’s victory. There’s only one minor glitch—the Florida vote is truly too close to call. Sure, Bush has a 300-vote lead with more expected from overseas absentee ballots. But thousands of votes are in dispute. Blocking hand recounts forever casts doubt on the legitimacy of the Florida election. With Democrats crying foul, winning on a legal technicality won’t undo a massive public relations nightmare—for either side. Checkmating Democrats sounds like good strategy, but might boomerang by creating the impression that Bush legally hijacked the election. Strong-arming the election won’t lead to a national consensus needed to govern. Protecting a shrinking lead doesn’t erase the growing reality that irregularities in Florida have tainted the election’s legitimacy. Regardless of Florida law, preventing hand recounts now appears like Republicans have something to hide, namely, that hand recounts would cost them the election. With the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta giving the green light to hand recounts, Bush faces a permanent record proving that he lost Florida’s popular vote and was handed the election. Confronted with this possibility, Republicans will now have to do some fancy footwork. With the 11th Circuit upholding Judge Middlebrook’s ruling, hand counts in Broward and Palm Beach Counties will no doubt go forward creating an undeniable record of who actually won the Florida vote. Fighting hand recounts arguing that they’re subject to "mischief" jumps to unwarranted conclusions. There’s absolutely no proof that responsible citizens can’t fairly hand count ballots. Whatever the outcome, you can’t assert with any certainty that human error exceeds the verified 5% error attributed to Florida’s punch-card system. While we’re getting closer to 2001, humans still have the last word over their brainless labor-saving devices. Pulling their heads out of sand, both sides must face the music that Florida’s election is still too close to call. All the legal maneuvering won’t reassure voters about the growing reports of voting irregularities. Nor will it convince skeptical voters who really won the election. Power grabs on either side won’t lead to the kind of national consensus needed to undo the suspicion from the heated propaganda battle waged by both campaigns. Looking for a remedy, some have suggested holding new elections in Palm Beach County where thousands of voters claim to be disenfranchised by a controversial ballot. Holding a new election changes the dynamics of the original vote. No matter what the arguments, hand counting does not. With the election in dispute, neither candidate stands to gain by out-maneuvering his opponent and shooting himself in the foot. Faced with endless litigation, both sides need rise above partisan bickering and accept the stalemate. In the current situation, both sides have little to win and much to lose. Without a convincing victory, the election loses its legitimacy and popular mandate. Throwing the election to the courts only invalidates the vote by allowing attorneys and justices to pick the next president. With all its flaws, hand counting represents the only remaining option to legitimize the Florida election. If machine counting produces predictable errors, it’s not the right method to certify an accurate count when the entire election turns on a 5% margin of error. With the razor-thin margin, only hand counting can improve the accuracy needed to know who really won the election. While there may be some human error, it should be far less than the verified problems with Florida’s automated punch card system. Citizen volunteers will do their best to accurately hand count the vote. Suggesting otherwise invites unjustified cynicism about the integrity of concerned volunteers performing their civic duty. When machines fail, people must still pick up the pieces and do the job. When the vote’s finally in, America can once again breathe a little easier knowing that the system still works. About the Author John M. Curtis is editor of OnlineColumnist.com. He’s also the director of a West Los Angeles think tank specializing in human behavior, health care and political research and media consultation. He’s a seminar trainer, columnist and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma. |
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ragging the country down, Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush are pulling out all the stops in their battle royale for the White House. With all bets off, both candidates are playing their best political and legal hands to advance their agendas—blanketing the airwaves with endless propaganda. Holding onto a shrinking 300-vote margin, Republicans’ first line of defense is blocking, by whatever means, hand recounts. Playing catch up, Democrats are pushing hand recounts to make up lost ground. Despite giving America a black eye, both campaigns are recklessly pursing their political ambitions at the expense of world opinion. "These events are very badly received in this part of the world," said Tokyo University political scientist Takashi Inoguchi. "People think, 'My God, the United States is like us.' And with all these election irregularities, Florida is starting to look like the Philippines," lamented Inoguchi, fearing that the U.S. looks more like a 'banana republic' than the world’s most respected democracy.|
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