Florida’s Incompetence Disenfranchised Its Voters In More Ways Than One
I’m sticking with my opinion that the State of Florida should lose the right to run its own elections until they can prove they can do it right. Their incompetence is stunning.
Consider this… what if the election had come down to Florida? Anyone else see the replay of 2000? I do, and it makes me shudder. At my most cynical, I almost wonder if that was the plan, but then I shudder again because I sound like a conspiracy nut.
Meanwhile, all those Floridians who stood in line for hours, who did everything right, were denied being part of election night. Because in the end, they simply didn’t matter. The election is over and we still don’t know (although we can guess) who got Florida’s electoral votes.
And no one really cares.
And that’s a shame.
Tags: 2012 Presidential, florida
My significant other has a second home in Florida and we were just discussing that at dinner last night . . . you are so very right . . . it is so so sad!!!! Does ANYBODY care . . . will ANYBODY do anything . . . ????? how much more BLATANT does it have to be?????
It is stupid that elections are not nationalized. A patchwork of shitty equipment and corrupt local organizations isn’t fitting for the world’s democratic beacon.
On election night I was praying that it didn’t come down to Florida. Another recount election would have been a horror.
We should just put Florida on double-secret probation from the Electoral College. Give voters a sheet of construction paper and a box of crayons, then just set the results aside and let the grownup states decide the election.
The length of some ballots (Florida’s was 5 to 6 pages in some locations) is also a contributing factor. California has the same problem because of propositions. Additionally many people have to vote before or after work contributing to congestion during periods.
Wouldn’t it be nice to come up with a no cost, partial solution, to long lines? If federal elections were moved to Saturday, it would mitigate much (but not all) of the problem. What’s keeping us from doing that? Nothing. No law. No Constitutional provision, just tradition. Back when there were only 237 people in the nation, voting was a matter of getting in the buggy on Monday riding to the county seat, voting on Tuesday and riding back. Now we have 150 million voters and we make them all come before and after work when the vast majority could take all day. We are not yet at the point where we can comfortably vote from on the Internet but we should be able to change the day on which we vote. And best of all, it’s free! Plus, we wouldn’t have to close school for the day.
“Hello, Spain? This is the United States. Can we interest you in one of your old colonies? If you take it back, we’ll pay off your external debt.”
I have often thought that we could do just fine with just one Dakota, but subdivide Florida into a North and South.
Isn’t global warming doing just that?