>> I myself am *quite* critical and displeased with the lack of dignity some down there are showing about it, threatening lawsuits and complaining that a ballot format that has been in use for 30 years down there, which no one has been confused about before, is suddenly confusing after all.


Just in case you haven't seen the ballot in question, here it is: http://cnews.tribune.com/news/image/0,1119,oso-nation-82373,00.html All I can say is that in my first glance at the ballot, I thought the wrong thing as well, until I noticed the arrow. It's not at all tough for me to believe that thousands of people could have voted for one person when they meant another.

And it's not necessarily a case of being "suddenly confusing", but being suddenly an issue. This may well have been a problem in previous cases, but it didn't matter because the margin of victory was so large. It's just the unfortunate -- and rather bizarre -- circumstance that this razor-thin margin was in the most prominent election of them all.

As far as the lawsuits go: many of these are being filed by outside groups and organizations, of course. The two I know of are citizens filing suit over the Palm Beach affair and the NAACP suit. The NAACP claims, if I remember correctly, that thousands of black voters were denied the right to vote because their race didn't match what was listed on their registration cards for some reason. That certainly sounds like something that should be investigated, in the interest of fairness.

In addition, there is a new development in the issue of the absentee ballots; some people received two ballots and sent both in. http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/11/09/duplicate/index.html

While it is unfortunate that Gore is in the position of having to seem like a "sore loser" to some, I am more disappointed in the way that Governor Bush is handling it. With a 300-vote lead, several days to go before the absentee votes come in, the first-recount results not officially certified, and several legitimate questions about the election raised, he is still claiming victory and saying that Gore should drop the legal challenges. While this is to be expected, I suppose, it is disappointing. In an ideal world, both candidates would want to make sure that the voting was as fair and accurate as possible, rather than just hurrying the process along.

I think Gore has shown class. The Republicans said openly before the election that they would raise a legal challenge to the result of the election if they won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote, despite that being how the U.S. Constitution is set up. We already know that Gore was willing to concede the presidency if he lost the electoral vote but won the popular vote, from the phone call he made to Bush.

Incidentally, though I am a strong supporter of Al Gore, I equally support any attempts George W. Bush makes for election fairness if he recounts states that Gore won by slim margins, or looks into any election irregularities in those states that might emerge.

Finally, whichever side of this issue you are on, here's a website where you can voice your opinion to the Florida director of elections: http://actforchange.com

-- Trip