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By Lee Bird
Rappahannock News Writer
The election of the president and vice president is over; now, we, the electorate, are being urged to accept the result without rancor or recrimination, and to recognize Mesers Bush and Cheney as legitimate holders of the highest offices in the land. The process so urged on us has been described as "healing".
Before one can heal, however, it is necessary to consider what caused the need for a healing process. Then, we can turn our attention to remedies that are appropriate, so that a repetition can be avoided. If this be done promptly, the healing process could begin in earnest.
What went wrong?
A. It is universally agreed that the election was unusually close. Mr. Gore won the popular vote by about 540,000 votes, representing slightly more than one half of one percent of the total votes cast. Mr. Bush won the Electoral College by a count of 271-266, after Florida s 25 votes were awarded to him.
Although the Electoral College vote is decisive, as provided in the Constitution, the popular vote has significance to the people and their sense of democracy. The Electoral College is biased in favor of less populated states: California, with c. 33,000,000 citizens is entitled to 53 electors, or one elector for 622,640 citizens; Wyoming, with c. 455,000 citizens, gets three electors, or one elector for 151,660 citizens.
B. The election of Mr. Bush was determined by the vote in Florida. Mr. Bush was named the winner in Florida by many media outlets even before the polls closed there and well before the Western polls had closed. He was certified as the winner of the popular vote in Florida by about 550 votes, representing about 1/100 of one percent of the total.
Florida law provides for manual recounts in the event of such a close election, and so does the law in many other states, including Texas, where the law was signed by Mr. Bush as Governor. Yet Mr. Bush and his advisors consistently and effectively opposed a manual recount in Florida by a series of legal proceedings in the Florida courts, and ultimately in the U.S. Supreme Court.
C. The tactics employed by Mr. Bush and his advisors to disrupt and halt the manual recounts sought by Mr. Gore in Florida included:
1. Obfuscation. The initial returns in Florida showed a very small majority for Mr. Bush. The Florida Secretary of State certified him as the winner on Nov. 14. Mr. Gore's attempts to have a manual recount thereafter were described by the Bush campaign as "an attempt to steal the election," even though as noted above, such recounts were provided by the Florida law. The wide circulation of this "spin" was intended to arouse public opinion against Mr. Gore and force him to abandon his perfectly legitimate request for a recount.
2. Physical Obstruction. It was widely reported that, shortly after the initial manual recount began, a group of Rep. Tom Delay s staffers were brought down to Florida, to disrupt the recount in one county. They were successful. They rioted in the hall where the recount was taking place, banged
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