[Vision2020] FW: seattletimes.com: Let's hope court'sonvoters'side

Wed Dec 22 13:34:09 PST 2004

In the spirit of the Christmas season, I can see Dan's side of this also.  
But only because it's Christmas.  Starting December 26th I'll think he's 
just totally, absolutely, woefully wrong.  What amazes me is how these 
things happen.  When I go to the polls I've always believed my vote counted, 
although in Idaho my vote usually is a lost cause.  To find out that I took 
time off from work, stood in line (with a bunch of Republicans yet) and cast 
a vote that wasn't counted and will not be counted would be disconcerting.  
I realize that the perception is that liberals are loath to say this, but 
Merry Christmas.                                                             

                                                          Carl Westberg Jr.

>From: "Dan Carscallen" <predator75 at moscow.com>
>To: "'Tom Hansen'" <thansen at moscow.com>, <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Subject: RE: [Vision2020] FW: seattletimes.com: Let's hope 
>court'sonvoters'side
>Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 13:10:09 -0800
>
>Mr. H,
>
>How much should be paid?  What services should take a hit just so one
>politician or the other gets their ego stroked?
>
>I'd much rather have a smooth road in front of my place rather than
>worry about which butt is in the seat in the governor's mansion.
>Especially if I were an Eastern Washingtonian.  You know all the cool
>stuff is going to be done for the west side anyhow.
>
>DC
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Tom Hansen [mailto:thansen at moscow.com]
>Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 1:02 PM
>To: 'Dan Carscallen'; vision2020 at moscow.com
>Subject: RE: [Vision2020] FW: seattletimes.com: Let's hope court's
>onvoters'side
>
>
>Mr. Carscallen -
>
>You appear to be placing a price tag on our right to vote and having
>those votes properly counted.  Should we simply disenfranchise those
>additional 12,000 votes that resulted from the recount?
>
>Each person's freedom of speech and right to vote are the elementary
>foundations of our society.  If you take those away, you might as well
>live in Florida.
>
>Tom Hansen
>
>We could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some
>are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors....but
>they all exist very nicely in the same box.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com
>[mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
>On Behalf Of Dan Carscallen
>Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 12:41 PM
>To: vision2020 at moscow.com
>Subject: RE: [Vision2020] FW: seattletimes.com: Let's hope court's
>onvoters'side
>
>Carl,
>
>As your favorite conservative, I do agree that if the roles were
>reversed the republican party would be pulling out just as many stops as
>the democrats.  That's what politicians do.  What I don't dig is the
>fact that it costs each of the counties money to do the recounts, and
>belts are tight enough as it is.  Whatever happened to being a gracious
>loser?
>
>I'd be saying the same thing if the swing was the other way.
>
>DC
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com
>[mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] On Behalf Of Carl Westberg
>Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 12:19 PM
>To: vision2020 at moscow.com
>Subject: [Vision2020] FW: seattletimes.com: Let's hope court's on
>voters'side
>
>
>
>Does anyone really believe that, if the circumstances were reversed, the
>
>Republican party in our neighboring state would not have pulled out all
>the
>stops to ensure a valid count?  From this morning's Seattle Times.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>                                      Carl Westberg Jr.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >Let's hope court's on voters' side
> >Full story:
> >http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002127117_danny22.html
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Seven weeks after Election Day, we have arrived at our Florida moment.
> >
> >As precarious as the race for governor has been so far, today it could
> >truly veer off a cliff — potentially becoming a travesty that tops even
>the
> >2000 presidential fiasco in Florida.
> >
> >Our state Supreme Court will hear arguments  on whether King County can
>
> >count up to 735 ballots that were rejected seven weeks ago in a
> >bureaucratic screw-up.
> >
> >What was so jolting about the 2000 presidential election is that it
> >ended
> >when a court stepped in and declared: No, you cannot recount the votes.
>You
> >cannot try to get a better sense of who really won.
> >
> >In a clearly partisan 5-to-4 ruling, the court decided the presidency.
> >It
> >was a shocking low point in American democracy. The court said: Voters
> >don't have the final say, we do.
> >
> >Today, in Olympia,  the legal details are different, the stakes
> >smaller.
> >But the overarching principle is the same: Do we count all the legally
>cast
> >votes? Or is the will of the voters going to be obscured by judges?
> >
> >Let's be clear about these 735 ballots, as all manner of partisan hacks
>
> >have cast aspersions on them. There is zero evidence they are
>fraudulent.
> >They were never "missing" and suddenly found by scheming elections
> >officials.
> >
> >They are absentee ballots still in their original envelopes, still
> >sealed,
> >with the voters' signatures on the outside.
> >
> >All are either postmarked or dated Nov. 2 or earlier. Nobody has broken
>
> >the
> >seals to look at the ballots inside (they might all be write-ins for
>Ron
> >Sims, for all we know).
> >
> >They were rejected because county employees thought they did not have
> >signatures for those voters, but they failed to check the original
>paper
> >registration forms.
> >
> >If the signatures match those of voters on valid registration forms,
> >then
> >how could we not open the envelopes and count the votes?
> >
> >Republicans argue that in a recount you can tally only those votes that
>
> >were counted the first time.
> >
> >State law isn't clear on this point. In one section it says a recount
> >is a
> >"retabulation." In another it says a county can revisit any votes to
> >correct "any error that it finds."
> >
> >For as long as anyone can remember, counties finding legal, uncounted
> >votes
> >during a recount have made the blindingly obvious choice to count them.
>Six
> >counties have done so just in the past few weeks.
> >
> >A major advantage we have over Florida is our state elections chief,
> >Republican Sam Reed, cares more about voters than partisan politics. He
>
> >says if the court bars King County from counting its votes, then
>logically
> >these other counties must uncount hundreds of votes they have already
> >tallied.
> >
> >That's retroactive disenfranchisement. Even Florida didn't try that.
> >
> >So far our election has been marred only by mistakes. Officials across
> >the
> >state have ignored the shrill, irresponsible claims from both parties,
> >instead serving their true masters: the voters.
> >
> >The state Supreme Court ought to do the same. Or else we'll all be
> >heading
> >down an election rabbit hole that goes deeper than Florida.
> >
> >Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at
> >206-464-2086 or dwestneat at seattletimes.com.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >
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> >
> >             Copyright (c) 2004 The Seattle Times Company
> >
> >                         www.seattletimes.com
> >                        Your Life. Your Times.
>
>
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