Our Voting System Is Faulty - Time To Fix It Now - Not In 2020. Here's How.
You have to try to catch this film. Apart from being one of Kevin Spacey's best, it's a valuable insight into American Politics. And it might prepare you for an incoming storm if anything similair should happen in 2016.
The Florida vote - and the Presidency itself - was ultimately settled in Bush's favour by a margin of a mere 537 votes when the U.S. Supreme Court, in Bush v. Gore, by a margin of just 5 to 4, stopped the Recount Process that had been ordered by the Florida Supreme Court... a recount which it was later determined may well have handed Florida, and the Presidency, to Al Gore.
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Ballots being examined vote by vote, Florida, 2000 |
In the end it came down to a 'judgement call' on recount halts and timescales by Katherine Harris, upheld - just - by the Supreme Court.
In short: Republicans delayed the process just enough ... that time simply ran out.
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"Is that a 'chad'?" "No, it's a 'dimple'" "It's definately a 'chad'" |
Ironically, Gore would have won Florida easily had Florida had the same standards and laws as Texas, laws which had been introduced by the then-sitting Texas Governor .. George W. Bush.
We rarely agree with Ukip but one one thing we do agree: Our Electoral System is too outdated and open to fraud from many directions (Note; we are talking here of the actual Voting Process on the day, not other factors such as Candidate Selection, Election Spending, etc). It is simply time for a better mechanism, more suited to the 21st Century. Tradition is a fine thing, but we must move on.
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'Recount', the Movie. It's really good, try to check it out. |
So we need to do it now.
We need:
- More Secure Online Voter Registration;
- Multiple Voter Registration checks by a neutral Government-funded Agency;
- Electronic Voting Machines in every Ward and Constituency;
- Government-funded Adjudicators to replace local volunteers;
- A National Election Data Collation Centre staffed with IT experts.
Else one day we, too, will have a 'Florida 2000' to content with.
If you want to watch 'Recount' - and we heartily recommend it - it's here on the HBO site. You may have to pay.
Illegal torrents are available to download but of course we wouldn't suggest you go that way. Oh, no. Not at all. :-)