A few weeks ago, six weeks ago exactly, I wondered about the first vote, the first time a group of people, probably at least three people, faced with a decision said, “Let’s vote on it,” and by doing so decided that what ever the majority wanted to do was what should be done. (See Votin’.)
Now I am wondering when was the first time following a vote and a clear determination of what the majority decided that someone said “Hey, let’s vote again. That first time didn’t count.”
Whenever that first time was that was the first time the integrity of an election slipped. Doubt of credibility is the cancer of the election process. Regardless of the reason for the doubt, the mere presence of doubt is the presence of a malignancy.
Today, the second Tuesday in March, is the day Florida would have voted had the Legislature left well enough alone. The reason the bright boys and girls of the House and Senate did what they did was so our vote would count, so our voice would matter. They wanted to be close to the front of the line of primaries so Florida voters would have a greater voice in selecting the presidential nominees. But by doing so they broke the parties' rules. Democrats had all their convention delegation tossed; Republicans saw their's cut in half.
Apparently the Republican Party in Florida is ok with half for its not complaining, but the Democrat Party is all in a tizzy. It cheated, broke the rules, and now wants what is being called a do-over.
Image if the Legislature (Republican majority with a complicit Democrat minority) had just left it alone. Image if we were voting today with Clinton trailing Obama by only 150 or so delegates and Florida stood ready to offer up over 200 to one or the other. Imagine how much our vote would have counted.
No matter what the process of the do-over, it will be tainted. Today is today; it is not the world of six weeks ago. Obama and Clinton have said things and had things said about them in the last six weeks. There are voters who did not vote who will now vote, people who voted for one and will now vote for the other, voted for Edwards who cannot vote for him now. No way to do a do-over and have it be the same.
When the Legislature moved the election it screwed-up. Orchestrating a do-over will screw-it-up even more, and worse will call into question the integrity of the results. The State of Hanging Chad rises again.
I always vote on Election Day. I do not vote early, even though it is all the rage and no one dares speak against it. I have voted absentee when I knew I would be out of town and unable to get to my own precinct polling place on Election Day, but my preference is to only vote on Election Day and the best time is during the last hour the polls are open for the simple reason something might change. I might learn something I did not know the day before. Ask all those early Democrat voters for Kucinich and early Republican voters for Thompson. They saw their candidate quit before Election Day. No one considered allowing those voters to vote again just because their candidate had quit. What about making sure their vote counted?
For the integrity of the system, the election process, the cornerstone of Democracy, the screwers should leave their screw-up alone. They can’t un-screw-it and have anyone believe it was fair.