Mullings A Political Cyber Column By Rich Galen

�

Click here for the Secret Decoder Ring to this issue!

The Fifty Percent Solution

Monday November 13, 2000

After the 1998 election I held forth in many a forum on the notion that a turnout rate of 36 percent (as it was in that mid-term election) was, ultimately dangerous for a free society.

"The edges of each party are making decisions with which the remaining two-thirds of the nation will have to live," I said, making sure there were no dangling participles nor hanging chads.

Almost a week after election day it appears that barely over 50 percent of the voting age population participated by mail, by absentee, or by actually walking into a polling place.

That means some 100 million Americans could not bring themselves to spend 20 minutes once in 1,463 days to go and vote, in spite of the usual breathless (and incorrect) television reporting of "record turnouts" during the day.

It was reported that the two parties and their allies spent over $100 million on turn out programs. I would like to see someone do a legitimate study of that half of the voting age population which did not participate and find out why.

Think about half of your friends, colleagues, neighbors, and relatives who might not have voted on Tuesday because it wasn't going to matter.

On the Sunday shows, the worst possible word was being thrown around all too easily: Legitimacy.

No responsible person should be writing in newspapers, speaking on television, holding forth on the Internet, or standing on street corners (should I have switched those last two in terms of influence?) and questioning whether or not the next President will be "legitimate."

This process will end - probably in the courts - but it will end. At noon on January 20 someone will be standing on the West Front of the Capital and take the oath of office to be the President of the United States. That person will be the Commander-in-Chief, the leader of his political party, the owner of the national "bully pulpit," and; the ultimate appointee of over 8,000 Cabinet Secretaries, Ambassadors, and senior federal employees.

Perfection is a religious concept, not a political one. Mistakes get made; both by voters and by poll workers. Over the next two weeks or so, we could recount county-by-county, state-by-state around the country and look for every mistake. We would get a total different from election night.

In December we could do it all again, two more times. We would get a different total. Two more times.

Do I think the results of the automatic recount in Florida should have determined the winner? Of course. Because my guy won.

If I were a Gore supporter I would think that the cry of "Count The Ballot" should carry the day (notwithstanding "Count D'Ballot" sounds like a character in a Mel Brooks movie).

If you need any evidence as to why these hand recounts take the process out of the realm of mechanics into the realm of politics all you need to do is look at the actions of the Palm Beach County canvassing board in the early hours of Sunday morning.

After a third machine re-count. After they had to change from using a "light" test to see if light shone through a ballot, to a hanging chad test. After hand counting three precincts. The vote to proceed was: 2-1 with the two Democrats on the board voting to proceed.

Republican Congressman Billy Tauzin, made a good point, on Fox News Sunday yesterday, on the matter of hand counts and political appointees voting on what a voter's intention might have been, "Now you know how many votes you need to win�"

Dade County, as an example has not yet decided whether to do a hand recount. What are they waiting for? They're waiting to see "how many votes [they] need to win."

Here's a question: Who is dumber? A person who leaves the voting line because they heard that some network called the state for one candidate? Or, someone who thought you could punch two holes in ballot and it would count?

We may not like the outcome, but going back to the 50 percent participation figure, "The fault, dear Brutus," as Shakespeare might have written had he been born 400 years later, "is not in our (television) stars, but in ourselves."

-- END --

Copyright © 2000 Richard A. Galen

Current Issue | Secret Decoder Ring | Past Issues | Email Rich | Rich Who?