Florida 2000: Even Better in 2004

Here's the intro to Greg's latest on Florida's version of representative voting:

Madame Butterfly Flies Off with Ballots Florida Fixed Again? Absentee Ballots Go Absent - by Greg Palast Sunday, August 29, 2004. On Friday, Theresa LePore, Supervisor of Elections in Palm Beach, candidate for re-election as Supervisor of Elections, chose to supervise her own election, no one allowed. This Tuesday, Florida votes for these nominally non-partisan posts. You remember Theresa, “Madame Butterfly,” the one whose ballots brought in the big vote for Pat Buchanan in the Jewish precincts in November 2000. Then she failed to do the hand count that would have changed the White House from Blue to Red. This time, Theresa’s in a hurry to get to the counting. She began tallying absentee ballots on Friday in her own re-election race. Not to worry: the law requires the Supervisor of Elections in each county to certify poll-watchers to observe the count. But Theresa has a better idea. She refused to certify a single poll-watcher from opponents’ organizations despite the legal requirement she do so by last week. She’ll count her own votes herself, thank you very much! And so far, she’s doing quite well. Although 37,000 citizens have requested absentee ballots, she says she’d only received 22,000 when she began the count. Where are the others? Don’t ask: though she posts the names of requesters, she won’t release the list of those who have voted, an eyebrow-raising deviation from standard procedure. And she has no intention of counting all the ballots received. She has reserved for herself the right to determine which ballots have acceptable signatures. Her opponent, Democrat Art Anderson, had asked Theresa to use certified hand-writing experts, instead of her hand-picked hacks, to check the signatures. Unfortunately, while Federal law requires Theresa to allow a voter to correct a signature rejection when registering, the Feds don’t require her to permit challenges to absentee ballot rejections. I know what you’re thinking. How could Madame Butterfly know how people are voting? Well, she’s printed PARTY AFFILIATION on the OUTSIDE of each return envelope. That certainly makes it easier to figure out which ballot is valid, don’t it? ....

As Greg is the head honcho on this subject, I cannot possibly critique his words. What I can do is remind readers that, as I and many have been saying for months now, no matter what polls might say, no matter what the voters might decide in November, it's the COUNTERS (electronic or manual) that will decide the election. And guess who controls the counters?

Don't toss out the protest signs and walking shoes just yet. You're probably going to need them starting November 3.