Gee. What a surprise. Bush II Fraudulency isn't enthusiastic about election reform. Said reforms suggested in a report from a bipartisan commission led by former presidents Carter and Ford. I'm so shocked. No, really. I am. I'm just shocked. Stunned, even. No, really.
The suggestions which make the most sense -- linking election day to Veterans' Day and making it a paid national holiday, and establishing certain rules for federal elections -- are the ones which have no chance to go through. If Election Day becomes a national holiday, voter turnout will increase; since there are more registered Democrats than Republicans, this favors the Dems, and the Republican-controlled House and the Shrub will never go for that. Given the staggeringly disproportionate number of minority/Democrat ballot challenges in Florida and Tennessee (just to name a couple states), the Republicans will also object to allowing people to vote first and sort out challenges later. As for rules changes, the states will object to being dictated to when they've been able to pretty much set their own rules for elections until now.
Frankly, I expect that the only part which has any chance of going through is requiring states to upgrade equipment as a condition of receiving federal election funds. And somewhere out there, at least one state will probably say, "Well, fine. We don't need your money," and maintain punch ballots on general principle.
Interestingly, from the Republican-leaning LA Times (well, it's owned by the Tribune Company, and you just don't get much more Republican than that), you get a somewhat cynical evaluation of Bush II's reaction; from the more liberal-leaning Washington Post, you get something rather surprisingly neutral. Considering the things they've said about him in analyzing his policies and reactions to date, the Post's restraint is rather ... odd.
Copyright © 2001, Iain Jackson, after-words.org
[Archives: 2001 and after]
Archives before February 5, 2001
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12/19/2001: vive la france
12/19/2001: princess, redux
12/19/2001: yemen and rumsfeld
12/18/2001: you're NOT in the army now
12/18/2001: interesting donation
12/18/2001: shame on winn dixie, indeed
12/18/2001: saudi princess
12/17/2001: new resolve
12/17/2001: a victim of the attack ... yeah, right
12/17/2001: polluters ho!