We've already had the Al Franken Decade (unlike a few of you out there, I actually lived through it) and now we could have the Al Franken 6/10-of-a-Decade if his claim that he's taken the lead in the Minnesota Senate race against GOP incumbent and Woodstock veteran Norm Coleman holds up. The thing is, both sides agree that whoever wins this tally, by literally a handful of votes, still won't be the winner yet, that this thing will be decided by the courts and maybe even by the Congress, which I think would be a horrifying event to have happen.
Yes, an election that's decided by 22 votes or so is a teachable moment for all the voters who stayed home at the last minute. But do we really need to have any election that's within a couple of hundreds votes to be decided in a courtroom, by someone's subjective guess on what a hanging chad or stray pencil mark means?
Oddly enough, we just had a situation in Georgia where voters were called back to the polls for a runoff, no doubt at considerable expense, because no one received 50 percent the first time around. I'm not a big fan of that particular law, but if we have the ability to do that, why not declare a "tie" and have a runoff when the number of contested ballots if greater than the margin of victory. Since the voters learned more about the mettle of the two candidates during the recount process, some might change their votes -- a second "tie" is unlikely.
If another tie happened, I don't know...penalty kicks?
But in the lawsuit-crazed country we've become, isn't a runoff preferable to a judge deciding an election? Because as Donovan McNabb might say, I'd hate to see what would happen if there was a tie in a Super Bowl...or a presidential election.
It's hard to believe that there are that many voters stupid enough to vote for this tax cheat.— junethe4th- There is no tie, this is pure spin out of the Franken camp to try to prolong the outcome until he can find some possible way to get enough votes. Franken is a textbook case of how pathetic a liberal can be. Deal with it and stop the nonsense, you lost Franken. Move Along!— Delco Conservative
- Does that mean that George W. Bush in 2000 was a textbook case of how pathetic a conservative can be? At least Franken hasn't staged a Brooks Brothers riot...yet.— will
- I don't get this. If the votes are recounted and someone wins, even if it is by one vote, why do you need a court case to decide it? The one who gets the most votes wins right? There is no Electoral college in state races. Am I thinking to simplistically or what?— James TL
WILL A LITTLE REVISIONIST HISTORY THERE GORE STARTED EVERY CHALLENGE - BUSH RESPONDED: The Gore campaign, as allowed by Florida statute, requested that disputed ballots in four counties be counted by hand. Florida statutes also required that all counties certify and report their returns, including any recounts, by 5 p.m. on November 14. The manual recounts were time-consuming, and, when it became clear that some counties would not complete their recounts before the deadline, both Volusia and Palm Beach Counties sued to have their deadlines extended. The Bush campaign, in response to state litigation in the case of Palm Beach Canvassing Board v. Katherine Harris, filed suit in federal court against extending the statutory deadlines for the manual recounts. Besides deadlines, also in dispute were the criteria that each county's canvassing board would use in examining the overvotes and/or undervotes. Numerous local court rulings went both ways, some ordering recounts because the vote was so close and others declaring that a selective manual recount in a few heavily-Democratic counties would be unfair. Eventually, the Gore campaign appealed to the Florida Supreme Court which ordered the recounting process to proceed. The Bush campaign subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) which took up the case Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board on December 1. On December 4, the SCOTUS returned this matter to the Florida Supreme Court with an order vacating its earlier decision. In its opinion, the Supreme Court cited several areas where the Florida Supreme Court had violated both the federal and Florida constitutions. The Court further held that it had "considerable uncertainty" as to the reasons given by the Florida Supreme Court for its decision. The Florida Supreme Court clarified its ruling on this matter while the United States Supreme Court was deliberating Bush v. Gore.— bird11- WILL A LITTLE REVISIONIST HISTORY THERE GORE STARTED EVERY CHALLENGE - BUSH RESPONDED: The Gore campaign, as allowed by Florida statute, requested that disputed ballots in four counties be counted by hand. Florida statutes also required that all counties certify and report their returns, including any recounts, by 5 p.m. on November 14. The manual recounts were time-consuming, and, when it became clear that some counties would not complete their recounts before the deadline, both Volusia and Palm Beach Counties sued to have their deadlines extended. The Bush campaign, in response to state litigation in the case of Palm Beach Canvassing Board v. Katherine Harris, filed suit in federal court against extending the statutory deadlines for the manual recounts. Besides deadlines, also in dispute were the criteria that each county's canvassing board would use in examining the overvotes and/or undervotes. Numerous local court rulings went both ways, some ordering recounts because the vote was so close and others declaring that a selective manual recount in a few heavily-Democratic counties would be unfair. Eventually, the Gore campaign appealed to the Florida Supreme Court which ordered the recounting process to proceed. The Bush campaign subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) which took up the case Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board on December 1. On December 4, the SCOTUS returned this matter to the Florida Supreme Court with an order vacating its earlier decision. In its opinion, the Supreme Court cited several areas where the Florida Supreme Court had violated both the federal and Florida constitutions. The Court further held that it had "considerable uncertainty" as to the reasons given by the Florida Supreme Court for its decision. The Florida Supreme Court clarified its ruling on this matter while the United States Supreme Court was deliberating Bush v. Gore.— bird11
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- No Will, you moron, it doesn't b/c if you remember, GWB won the orginal count. It was Gore that tried to change the outcome with the recount (and lost).— Delco Conservative
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- They finished the recount and Gore won, Delco. Unfortunately it was suspended before that could affect the outcome of the election. Conservatives are just dishonest people. It's the world we live in.— HandNik
- "It was Gore that tried to change the outcome with the recount (and lost)." No offense, DC, but you are mistaken -- the closeness of the outcome triggered an automatic recount under Fla. law. Once it was underway, both sides fought aggressively, as they should have, given the stakes. Aren't Franken and Coleman doing the same?— will
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
E-mail Will by clicking here.
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