posted on September 21, 2004 06:00:18 PM new
Editorial in the NY Times. Discouraging, to say the least!
The Return of Katherine Harris
September 16, 2004
Every state has an obligation to run elections that are not
only fair, but also appear fair to the average voter. After
the debacle of 2000, Florida's officials should understand
this better than anyone. But its top elections officer,
Glenda Hood, is acting in ways that create a strong
impression that she is manipulating the rules to help
re-elect her boss's brother. After her maneuvers this week
to try to put Ralph Nader on the ballot, she cannot be
trusted to run an impartial election.
In Florida's 2000 election mess, Katherine Harris served
simultaneously as Florida's secretary of state and as
co-chairwoman of the state's Bush-Cheney campaign
committee. In her official capacity, she repeatedly took
actions that favored the campaign. This year has turned out
to be more of the same. When Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Ms.
Hood as secretary of state, he chose someone with a history
of partisanship, as a Republican officeholder and as a
Bush-Cheney elector in 2000. Now Ms. Hood's politics appear
to be influencing her election duties.
She recently conducted a highly suspect voting-roll purge
of felons. The voters who were to be taken off the list
included more than 22,000 African-Americans, who generally
vote heavily Democratic, but just 61 Hispanics, who tend to
favor Republicans in Florida. She was forced to scrap the
list.
In last month's primary, some people without photo
identification were turned away without being told that
they could vote if they signed affidavits affirming their
identities. After the same thing happened in South Dakota
this year, the Board of Elections there told every polling
place to post signs advising people of their rights. Ms.
Hood's office insists that voters need not be told of the
affidavit option. Voter ID is often a partisan issue
because poor people and members of other groups that are
less likely to have identification often vote Democratic.
Most recently, Ms. Hood has played a suspect role in
helping Mr. Nader get on Florida's ballot, where he would
be likely to weaken John Kerry. A court has ruled against
Mr. Nader's claim to have met the requirements to be on the
ballot.
Last night, the state was again involved in suits and
countersuits over a presidential election in Florida. Ms.
Hood's role has been a disturbing one. Instead of waiting
as an impartial bystander for the court's direction, she
seems to be trying to thwart any ruling that would take Mr.
Nader off the ballot. At one point, while the court ruling
eliminating Mr. Nader was under appeal, Ms. Hood's office
hurriedly directed every county to add Mr. Nader's name to
the ballots that will soon be sent to overseas voters.
Granting legitimate candidates access to ballots is
important, but officials should obey the law. Ms. Hood had
no right to try to proceed with her own preferred outcome.
It is hard to believe that she would have done the same
thing if the candidate had been one likely to hurt
President Bush.
The nation cannot afford another tainted election. Governor
Bush should quickly find an elections professional or
academic of unquestioned neutrality to run Florida's
elections.
Making Votes Count: Editorials in this series remain online
at nytimes.com/makingvotescount.
posted on September 21, 2004 07:22:40 PM new
NYT - TODAY
The hero in last week's story was the Florida Supreme Court. It told elections supervisors to hold off on sending out ballots and promised to act quickly. It did, ruling 6 to 1 in Mr. Nader's favor. If the court, which has a Democratic majority, had been as partisan as Ms. Hood, Mr. Nader would have lost. But four of the court's five Democratic appointees and its two Republican appointees ruled in his favor.
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Yes, the dems having been fighting to keep Nader off all the state ballots. No surprise there....appears democracy isn't on their platform. This election is going to be court case, after court case, after court case.
Glad to hear the Florida SC ruled in Nader's favor and that they didn't allow democracy to be blocked, at least not this time.
"Those who doubted whether Iraq or the world would be better off without Saddam Hussein, and those who believe today that we are not safer with his capture, don´t have the judgment to be president or the credibility to be elected president." - john kerry
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"These dizzying contradictions -- so glaring, so public, so frequent -- have gone beyond undermining anything Kerry can now say on Iraq. They have been transmuted into a character issue."
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"What kind of man, aspiring to the presidency, does not know his own mind about the most serious issue of our time?" - Charles Krauthammer
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