Whose Equal Protection

Mr. Clark,
I must respond to your article with disagreement.  If (and I do not
believe the "if" has been satisfied) the votes in question were
objectively "legal" votes, you and I would be in full agreement
in chastising such a decision as made by the US Supreme Court.
However, I believe that the legality of those votes is the
ESSENCE of the issue. That is, are they legal votes?  By what
standard do we define a ballot as "legal?"  How can one CONCLUSIVELY
discern the intent of a voter by a mismarked or ambiguous
ballot, if one can at all?  Does the law even allow for such
recounts (with the sole purpose of ascertaining the intent of the
voter) in cases where there has been no ballot counting fraud,
failure, or other such ballot corruption? The FL Supreme Court ordered the
counting of ballots of questionable intent (if not questionable
legality, given that a ballot is a legal document) without regard
to any such standard; without instructions to assure that
the ballots be counted in a fair and consistent manner; and with
blatant disregard to established processes in place (including,
but not limited to, the authority of the Secretary of State of
FL, the FL legislature, and the existing statutes of the State
of FL).

On the other hand, if I were a Gore supporter with no scruples
and excessive self-interest, I would argue that we should recount
as often as necessary to see him elected.  Hey!  Wait a minute!
I AM a Gore supporter!  But I'm not mindless, either.

Regards,
Tom Georges
-- 
Thomas L. Georges /BellSouth S&T/675 W. P'tree St/16L32/Atlanta/30375
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