Election Turns on Florida

The three Florida courts on Friday affirmed the most important electoral principle--count the votes that have been cast! That certainly is as it should be. It’s a shame to see partisan Republicans applaud this principle when it helps George W. Bush but decry the principle when it doesn’t. Their actions simply show that these Republicans only trust Americans who vote Republican, despite Bush’s campaign promises. The emperor has no clothes!

RAYMOND McKOWN

Los Angeles

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It certainly was enjoyable watching the courts in Seminole and Martin counties in Florida on Friday. I am quite relieved, knowing I can blatantly break the law if my intentions are to allow people to vote via absentee ballot. Perhaps I will be offered the chance to commit a felony one day, and I will be sure to mention in my defense that I was only doing so to guarantee the ability of people to receive absentee ballots. There is already a precedent.

MICHAEL E. RADER

Las Vegas

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I am beginning to see how the U.S. electoral college was supposed to work. If the popular vote is an advisory vote to the electors and it is the college that decides who should run the country, we should be allowed to see it in operation as a true political body. No one should concede the election until after the electoral college vote is in, and no one should call himself president-elect until the electors have elected him.

MARGARET MURATA

Irvine

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Even though I am a Democrat I fully support Florida Republicans’ efforts to choose their own electors. Once this process is complete we can use the precedent to allow states with Democratic-majority legislatures whose electors are currently committed to George W. Bush to convene special sessions and select their own replacement electors to vote for Gore. That would be fair, wouldn’t it?

JAMES HUDSON

San Marcos

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It seems that many people have forgotten that there is technically a significant difference between a republic and a democracy and that the U.S. is a republic. The founders purposely arranged for two senators from each state, regardless of area or population. This was done to ensure that the interests of the smaller or less densely populated states would not be overwhelmed by the votes in the House of Representatives, which are apportioned on the basis of population. The electoral college system was also purposely designed to more suitably reflect the interests of the nation as a whole rather than the interests of only the most populated states.

R.C. ANDERSON

San Gabriel

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It has been reported that $3 billion was spent on the 2000 campaigns across this country. A 10% campaign tax would be a good start toward modernizing the voting technology. Spend a dollar campaigning, pay a dime to the voting system. Let’s demonstrate that the U.S. is the most advanced technological country in the world and doesn’t depend on some backwater state for the outcome of a presidential election.

DONN PARSONS JR.

Anaheim