You just have to ask. More than that, you want an answer that is more than the double talk that spills off the lips of officials like syrup from a bottle.
The question is: “Why does it take days or even weeks to calculate the elected winner of a public election?”
It’s not just national elections, it’s a fact in many states, counties and cities and where we live.
Last time I checked, America is a country that does many things well. You know what I mean. We send astronauts to the moon and back, we build planes that fly at thousands of miles per hour, we have apps on our phones that can direct us to the nearest supermarket and tell us whether it has Diet Coke on sale.
However, when it comes to counting ballots at election time it’s like America is suddenly transformed into a fourth-world country, struggling to come up with an accurate tally.
This my friends is a problem. If the Registrar of Voters ever wanted to create doubt and suspicion, delaying the results for days and weeks ranks right up there as a number one method.
Keep in mind that we have elections every two years and we have been doing this for centuries. There is nothing new here except excuses and those are getting old.
If you were appointed as the Registrar of Voters, and you had to produce accurate results every two years, you would probably want to know what successful methods were in use. For example, Florida counted all of their seven million votes, tabulated the results and had totals available the same night.
Imagine that.
Maybe, just maybe, it would make sense to adopt their methods.
Ahh, but that would eliminate excuses and require action.
In this rocket-paced society, the IRS can find the balance you owe them in less than a minute. Yet we have to wait 10 days to find out who won an election?
This is a scourge on our election process. It is unfit, unfair and unjust.
There were even states and cities that took weeks before they declared some election winners. This is nonsense, irresponsible and smacks of corruption.
“Avoid the appearance of all evil” is still a great axiom, especially in government.
Timely reporting is available, doable and demanded.
Enough of the excuses, delays and rhetoric. America has the methods and technology for prompt and accurate reporting.
Just do it!
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As a former longtime resident of Florida I laughed out loud at the suggestion their elections are a model worth emulating, after all this is the state of the “hanging chad” that took months to ultimately prevent the 2000 Presidency of Al Gore and in the last election led to the arrest of 20 former felons who had been (per voter mandate) had their voting rights restored only to (wrongly) be accused of criminally voting. Thankfully all the charges were dropped, but not after quite publicly being humiliated by being handcuffed.
Then I realized there was no punchline forthcoming, just an ill-informed opinion the ignores that mail in and provisional ballots take TIME to count and in the interests of Democracy and the will of the voters ALL legitimate votes must be tabulated. Short of a voting holiday and online voting the notion that delayed results are a problem only serves those seeking to disenfranchise voters. It’s offensive to anyone that values Democratic norms and it’s laughable to suggest the chaotic state of Florida merits anything beyond mockery and condemnation.