|
|
Editorials - 11/16/00Florida election law makes us proud to be Tar Heels |
|
There's one thing we can say for sure after observing Florida's election process. We're proud to live in a state with election laws and machinery far superior to that of the Sunshine State.
Knowing how elections work in North Carolina, it's been hard for us to understand how Florida could be experiencing so much confusion. Let's imagine for a moment that George W. Bush had a razor-thin edge election night over Al Gore in North Carolina, and our 14 electoral votes held the key to the White House.
The first step would have been to canvass the votes as was done here Friday. That would have allowed any mistakes regarding wrong vote totals being reported, mathematical errors, etc., to have been uncovered. Then and only then could a recount have been requested. The losing candidate would have had the right to file a request if he was within 1 percent of his opponent. By the time the recount got under way, the canvass would already have caught most errors. Unless the margin is literally a handful of votes, any change in the outcome would have been unlikely. Still, allowing the losing candidate to call for a recount is a safety net to make sure the will of the people prevails. Exactly that process will be followed next week when a recount is held in a local State House race and at least one statewide race. We predict the recounts will go smoothly. We admit that we're not familiar with election machinery used in other counties, but when we see the mess in Florida, we're thankful for what we have in Jackson County. No system is perfect, but the new machines used this year are about as foolproof as we can get. Our machines make it rather difficult to vote for the wrong candidate as apparently happened in some Florida counties. It is impossible to vote for more than one candidate as clearly happened in Florida. Another plus to our system is there would be no controversy about a hand recount. As the Florida recount drags on, much more is on the line than whether Bush or Gore becomes the next president. The integrity of our elections, the cornerstone of our democratic process, is at stake. If nothing else comes from the Florida situation, we hope states and counties across the country will adopt new election machinery and laws. They can look to Jackson County and North Carolina as examples. If North Carolina is as superior to Florida in other ways as it is in election law, it's no wonder so many former Floridians now call the Tar Heel State home. Editorial policyThe opinions expressed on this page are those of the Sylva Herald Editorial Committee. Opinions are derived independently and owe no allegiance to any group, organization or political party. We welcome opposing views. |
Back to Archive: 11/16/00. |