A Free - Love Election Special
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The elections results from Florida are suspicious in many ways, and
they will continue to be so regardless of how many sailors' votes
can be shipped in from abroad, postmarked by U.S. military post
offices. It is also interesting to note that, in a state where
African Americans voted approximately 9 to 1 for Gore, 33% of all
black males aged 18 and above cannot vote. This is due both to the
high incarceration rate, and to laws that affect many southern
states which prevent former felons from ever voting again. Of
course, the more immediately troubling disenfranchisement is the
one affecting thousands of registered Palm Beach voters. I'm
willing to accept 19,000 disqualified votes from a state, but it is
too many for a single county. Not only was the Palm Beach ballot
interface design confusing, unforgiving, and tricky, I have heard a
first hand account suggesting that the placement of cards behind
the holes of the booth added even more uncertainty to the choice.
Unfortunately, Bush is not one to bow to the popular vote -- which
Gore appears to have won with a reasonably certain margin --
without a great deal of pressure. Building that pressure is
possible, but it will not happen without effort. I recommend
looking at the following web site, which lists pro-democracy (not
pro-Democrat) rallies across the U.S. this Saturday, November 11th.
http://geocities.com/countercoup/
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