What up, Florida?!?
Last night on the news I saw a feature about the piles upon piles of the Etcha-Sketch-looking touchscreens now being used in Florida’s voting system. People who won’t be using the touchscreens include the 94,000 people on the list “scrubbed” by the “felon purge” list compiled by DBT Online at the behest of Katherine Harris. Though DBT (whose CEO was a major GOP donor) warned that the search would turn up many false positives and that only 3,000 could be verified as former felons (not permitted to vote in FLA), the list is still in use for this election. Salon studied the list and found that there were indeed many thousands of false positives. 400 people on the list were reported to have carried out crimes in the future. Eight people were said to have been convicted of crimes before they were born. Over half are African Americans, most of whom would likely vote against Harris and the rest of the GOP. It turns out that Harris was (of course) instrumental in keeping the list in place for today’s election. Unfortunately, even after all her brazen underhandedness in 2000, she’s now all but guaranteed to win herself a seat in the House. What’s going on down there?
I’m more concerned that when I recently registered to vote, I was required to submit absolutely no proof of citizenship or even eligibility to vote. Nor did it seem that any such system was in place to check my eligibility after the fact. Seems that literally anyone can just walk to their town hall, pick up a registration form and vote.
The article you cited is 15 months old. How does this show that Harris is meddling in her own election (was she running in this same election 15 months ago?). Is your beef with Harris alone, or with the Republicans. Are Democrats somehow immune from the temptations of political corruption?
Yes, I too voted on one of our fine Eastern Bloc-looking relics this morning without showing any form of ID, which is disturbing to say the least.
Anyway, my beef is most certainly with Harris in this case, as I can’t imagine how it’s possible for someone to get away with robbing such a large number of voters of their constitutional right (twice!) in broad daylight. Mind you, this is a former co-chair of Bush’s campaign who (I believe) abused her powers as secretary of state to swing the 2000 election.
Whatever anyone may believe happened in Flordia two years ago, and no matter how old an article may be (though there are plenty of new ones)…. it’s pretty hard to argue that Katherine Harris was doing the right thing here. In fact, I find it hard to argue that it wasn’t unprecedented, given the scope and the shockingly narrow election that 2000 was.
In any case, whether or not one could claim direct meddling in Harris’s 2002 race by Harris herself is not my concern here. I’m bothered enough by the facts that many thousands of people who should be able to vote are still unable to, and that the person who willfully created and maintained the situation is now likely going on to help make laws on a national level.
But yes, you’re right …. temptations and corruption abound in politics. She’ll surely be in good company in Washington amidst her own party as well as the one across the aisle. Let’s hope that with the campaign reform laws taking place tomorrow things may inch along in a better direction, and that at some point people like Katherine Harris (whatever their party) will find no place in our government.
What folks should realize is that the limousine liberals and the country club conservatives are EXACTLY the same people. Corruption and deceit are the stuff of power politics. It’s how the big boys play. Sure you can be a linebacker and not take steroids for ethical reasons. But that’s not going to stop others in the league from taking them and soon you’ll be out of a job.
The government is run by C students. Does anyone actually believe that they have the skill and ability to carry out these things espoused in these grand conspiracy theories? They are generally far too stupid.
Problems with policy or how policy is enacted are generally viewed with a grain of salt if there’s a detectable political agenda. I wonder if the democrats would be so filled with righteous anger is their candidate had won?
So as somebody who is in the business of getting things done, I’ll offer this. Having a good idea means absolutely nothing. NOTHING. You have to be able to make it happen. Execution is the key and you don’t learn how to do that reading books or going to college. The idea of figuring out a more efficient way to vote is right and proper. But there will shitloads of mistakes along the way and most of them will be honest ones. You’d be surprised of the kind of things otherwise smart people will miss. Trying to make a political statement out of what could have easily been honest mistakes helps nobody. Sure this felon thing could have been done better. But it takes a while to get the bugs out of anything, particularly when its something as human driven as voting. And when it comes right down to it, you simply can’t account for the 10 percent of any given population that is simply too stupid to do anything right, regardless of the directions.
Well, that’s the difference: I don’t happen to view this as a simple, honest mistake. And if it was, then one ought to err on the safe side for an election two years later and remove the mistake that unfairly disenfranchises so many. This was not bureaucracy being slow and unyielding here. In this case, it took efforts (and political risks) by Harris to keep the infamous list in place.
Neither do I view clear-cut efforts by someone who co-chaired the Bush’s campaign to use her powers (quite unethically in this case) to be the makings of a conspiracy theory. The scope of the effect of Harris’s actions can be argued all day, but I think her intentions and the nature of her practices have been clear all along.
If the Government is run by C students (and this is quite literally the case in our highest office) then there needs to be change. If there’s going to be change, as you say: the only way to enact it is through voting. If people are denied this right, it’s no less than counter to everything our system stands for. If they are denied this right willfully by someone supposedly in the service of the people (or even, for argument’s sake, by this person’s unthinkably grave error, twice in a row), there has to be a better response than electing said person to Congress.
Unfortunately, some of the people who would have responded otherwise were sidelined.
Wait a minute. The USG is run by C students because the smarter ones are all in business. How are you going to get the top 10 percent of any Ivy university to work for shitty shitty gov pay? Voting can’t change this. What, do you propose enacting a statute that requires the 5 top students of every Ivy University to work for the USG? That’s a true infringment on freedom.
And I totally disagree with you about her intentions. How do you know? You’re looking at it from a particular point of view. And it’s fine to do that, but how is that helpful to the process?
I’m pretty sure that she’s rushed this whole project through because she was embarassed about how the elections were ran last time and because she’s under shitloads of scrutiny and pressure to do a better job. If she takes 2 years to study it, dems would complain about that too. It’s a no win situation for her because those that don’t like her have already condemned her.
And erring on the “safe” side, like you say, isn’t possible. Define safe. How many great engagements were lost due to lack of action? And by safe, you don’t mean safe, you mean what you agree with.
And felons can’t vote. That’s the law. If there’s a problem with the list, that comes from the court system, not KH. She can only use the information she gets. Reform the Court System then! Yes! But how?
Changing the system is not done through voting. Popular vote is rule of the mob and populist movements have been the primary source of evil and destruction in the 20th Century. How can people change the system when not even 10 percent of the population have any real understanding of how it works?
And unspeakably grave error? How so? Who died? Did the country fall apart? I daresay, after 9/11, her unspeakably grave error yielded better results.
I agree that Harris should have backed away from any decisions in the 2000 matter, as she had a definite conflict of interest. She’s obviously using her high name recognition from that time period to help further her political career. She’ll always be remembered for her role in that fiasco, and I suppose that in a heavily Republican district, her role would likely be viewed as a positive one. I’m sure Democrats hold the opposite opinion.
We’ve just experienced an exact reversal of the abuse of election laws here in NJ. Rob Torricelli finally realized he had no hope of winning the Senate race, and dropped out of the race 15 days past the clearly stated legal deadline, but with NJ being a heavily Democratic state, no one really seems to mind much (except his opponent and the few Republicans here). Because he was (at first) winning by such a large margin, Doug Forrester never bothered spending a dime (wisely so, so it seemed. Why bother spending anything to fight an obviously defeated man?). Democrats now get to dance in the street, yet the Republicans feel robbed. The victors always feel justified, and the vanquished always feel cheated.
People have often said the we’re in need of a third political party in this nation. I’d be satisfied with two.
Ha! That’s right! 2 actual parties!
What a vote for the libertarian party?
A wasted vote.
Just a note to Rich as to the law on felons: this does not apply to many out-of-state former felons who subsequently moved to Florida. By the laws of the states that convicted them they should have been allowed to vote in Florida in 2000 as well as today. Their numbers were in the thousands. The last election was won by a margin of hundreds. Even if it wouldn’t have mattered in the final outcome, it’s quite a shame. But mostly we’re talking about a larger number of people who never committed a crime in their lives. Let’s not forget that DBT themselves declared that the search parameters created many false positives.
And yes, I think that if a state official, with what we’ll just call a big ol’ mistake, decides a national election on her own (or gives the appearance of having done so)… it is unthinkably grave. Even if the election would have gone to Bush anyway, the perceived integrity of our electoral system has been damaged by the 2000 elections. It’s still reeling.
“Safe”: (in this case) could mean not using a system you know is flawed, continuing to wrongfully keep more people out than you rightfully deflect, further adding to the cynicism of the voting public. It’s not inaction. You declare the felon profiling system unready for use and remove it.
I don’t feel any better about a gained Democratic seat via Torricelli’s stunt. It’s terrible. I’m hoping (perhaps in vain with all the loopholes that will be exploited) that some of the laws coming our way will help take some of the huge piles of soft money out of the equation. If so, could a third party ever work? What about alternate means of voting, such as this?
I didn’t know specifically about Florida’s law. If that’s the case, then the one’s that should be able to vote should vote. But all in all, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. Things are fixed while in motion, not while they are on the drawing board. Many leaders use the “70% solution.” Get a working solution in the mix and fix as real problems come up. You can never fix all the problems on paper. It seems to me that this is especially true in the tech fields.
And grave? In the grand scheme of things, this snafu in Florida can be seen as a good thing. It did no irreparable damage. In 10 years, nobody is really going to care. And it let the US population know that we have a serious problem in the execution of voting. Without this wake up call, I doubt we would have done anything to fix it.
I understand your concern with perceptions… they are important, but far more important is getting a system that works. And that can only happen by making mistakes. We are hardly reeling. Grave is when the trains don’t run. When you have an armed uprising. When cities are burning and people are dying. A bunch of political hacks upset because their candidate did not win is not “grave.” Where do you go from there? Exceptionally grave? Excessively grave?
Systems requiring the input of people are always flawed. There is simply no perfect system because people are unpredictable. The question is where do you draw the line? Lockheed Martin uses the 90% solution dealing with aircraft. With people, it has to be a 70% one or NOTHING gets done.
Plus you have to look at all the interests. If KH didn’t do something… anything at all… she’ll be dinged for not caring or being a fuckup. Where do you draw the line? Regarding a general voting public, felons are a politically safe place to draw a line. You have to remember all the problems Florida has had with elections. In 99 (I think), the mayor of Miami was removed because of ridiculous voter fraud and Penelas was installed. This isn’t the first time this has happened and it won’t be the last.
Bottom line- it simply doesn’t matter. This whole thing is a bait and switch. The USG is far too large and cumbersome, far too controlled by regulatory agencies for us to think that votes matter. They really don’t. Maybe in the immediate time but time is the great leveler. Unless our people sort our own selves out, our time as a world power is limited.