Re: University Researchers Challenge Bush Win In Florida

[Paul Schmehl <pauls () utdallas edu>]

--On Wednesday, November 24, 2004 01:28:07 PM -0500 Valdis.Kletnieks () vt edu 
wrote:
> So when Jeb Bush, Governor of Florida, appoints a State Commissioner of
> Elections, and drops a hint or two, there's NO way for said Commissioner
> to make sure that things happen the way Jeb's brother wants them to
> happen?
Did you not watch the mess in 2000?  The *counties* decided how their 
ballot would be constructed and how the elections would be run.  Now how is 
Jeb Bush and/or his Commissioner going to influence *Democratic* counties 
run by *Democrats*?

Simple answer is, he *isn't*.

> Simply issuing an edict that candidates shall be listed alphabetically
> (and leaving the rest to the slight "first candidate listed" bias) would
> suffice unless the Democrats fielded somebody who's name started with
> 'A'....
Except that state law *explicitly* places that responsibility in the hands 
of the county election board for *that very reason*.

> Might want to study up a bit - political machines from Boss Tweed to
> Richard Daley have had absolutely *no* problems in getting the ballot
> to go the way they wanted....

Yes, *before* electronic balloting.

Paul Schmehl (pauls () utdallas edu)
Adjunct Information Security Officer
The University of Texas at Dallas
AVIEN Founding Member
http://www.utdallas.edu

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