My Vote Counts, Will Yours?
Election judges are encouraged to cast absentee ballots prior to the date of the actual election to ensure their right
to vote. This year a larger than normal turn out is expected at the polls so election judges will have little time for
anything other than scheduled election duties.
When I completed my ballot last week, I knew exactly what would happen to it from the time it arrived at the election
office, until it is brought back to the precinct for inclusion into the count on November 2, 2004.
After I filled in the ballot, I checked everything twice to make sure I hadn’t under voted or over voted as over votes
do not count. An over vote is when you inadvertently vote for more than one candidate. Since there is no way of knowing
‘voter intent’ no vote will be recorded for any of the candidates with an over vote, therefore extreme care must be
taken when completing your ballot.
It is estimated by the National Commission of Federal Election Reform (click here) that two million votes were lost in 2000 due to over voting and/or under voting.
In July of 2001 the CALTECH/MIT voting technology report was released (click here) indicating a loss of 4-6 million votes in the 2000 election. The report concluded there were 1.5 to 2 million votes
lost due to confusing ballots and/or faulty equipment, 1.5 – 3 million votes lost due to registration problems, and
another 1 million votes lost due to polling place operations.
On October 29, 2002 President Bush signed PL 107-252 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) (click here). The provisions within HAVA are intended to eliminate many of the problems experienced in the 2000 election.
The 2000 election was a shock to the American voting public. Every step of the way we kept waiting for “justice” to wave
a white flag and stop the insanity but it never happened. One day after another we sat glued to our TV’s watching,
hoping and praying the nightmare would soon be over.
The nightmare never ended and on December 12, 2000 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Bush v. Gore No. 00-949 (click here) and overturned the Florida Supreme Court decision for a recount, basically giving the presidency to George Bush on a
silver platter.
The highest court in the land, our symbol of fairness, impartiality, honesty and integrity had betrayed us. If you can’t
trust the U.S. Supreme Court, who can you trust?
Our answer was simple. When it comes to voting we will trust no one and nothing. George Bush convinced the American
people that Saddam Hussein had WMD, and opponents of electronic voting machines convinced the American people electronic
voting machines were unsafe.
How long will it take for us to realize DRE (Direct Recording Electronic) voting machines are the safest and most
accurate form of casting our votes? HAVA requires DRE’s to provide recounts, and if necessary, recreate an entire
election, yet people are still demanding a “paper trail” for these devices. This $500.00 add-on for a paper trail does
little except put additional profits into the pockets of the voting machine manufacturer.
Unfortunately, it appears U.S. taxpayers are eventually going to be paying the additional per unit fee for something
that’s not really necessary. The operation of an electronic voting machine is similar to that of the black box located
in an airliner – they record all activity and once the box is opened the data can be recreated from the starting point.
When was the last time someone asked for a paper trail for the black box in an airplane?
India just completed an election using 100% electronic voting machines for 380 million voters. They also have an
election system that is consistent throughout the country, where ours can only be described as a hodge-podge. Perhaps
the solution to our voting woes is to outsource our votes to India.
We missed the boat on the electronic voting machines this year, but there is something we can do in this election to
help change the outcome. In 2000 there were a total of 105.4 million votes cast, with 101.4 million votes going for
either Bush or Gore. That means there were 4 million ‘wasted’ votes.
Why were the votes wasted?
Presidents are not elected by popular vote; they are elected by receiving a majority of electoral votes. Our next
president will be the candidate receiving 270 or more electoral votes on November 2 (hopefully we’ll know the outcome in
November).
Whichever party ticket wins the most popular votes in a state, wins all the electoral votes for that state (Maine and
Nebraska are exceptions) (click here) so unless there is a possibility a candidate will win a large percentage of the votes in your state, there is
absolutely no reason to vote for the candidate.
In 2000 Ralph Nader received a total of 2.74% of the entire vote in the United States. Gore received 48% of the vote
while Bush received 47% of the vote, so you can readily see that any vote for Nader, or any other candidate was simply a
wasted vote. If 10 times the number of people had voted for Nader the percentage of votes he received would still only
be 27.4%
A review of the actual electoral vote indicates 266 electoral votes were cast for Gore and 271 electoral votes were cast
for Bush – there were no electoral votes cast for Nader or any of the other candidates; therefore the votes were
‘wasted’.
Many of the today’s papers are reporting that Nader may have as much as 5% of the vote in some states. Do the math folks
– there is no way he can receive any electoral votes with only 5% of the vote.
The papers may think they can snow you into casting a worthless vote, but you’re smarter than that – aren’t you?
2000 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORAL AND POPULAR VOTE
(Updated 12/2001)
STATE
ELECTORAL
VOTE
POPULAR VOTE
Bush (R)
Gore (D)
Bush (R)
Gore (D)
All Others
Total Vote
AL
9
941,173
692,611
32,488
1,666,272
AK
3
167,398
79,004
39,158
285,560
AZ
8
781,652
685,341
65,023
1,532,016
AR
6
472,940
422,768
26,073
921,781
CA
54
4,567,429
5,861,203
537,224
10,965,856
CO
8
883,748
738,227
119,393
1,741,368
CT
8
561,094
816,015
82,416
1,459,525
DE
3
137,288
180,068
10,266
327,622
DC
2*
18,073
171,923
11,898
201,894
FL
25
2,912,790
2,912,253
138,067
5,963,110
GA
13
1,419,720
1,116,230
60,854
2,596,804
HI
4
137,845
205,286
24,820
367,951
ID
4
336,937
138,637
26,047
501,621
IL
22
2,019,421
2,589,026
133,676
4,742,123
IN
12
1,245,836
901,980
51,486
2,199,302
IA
7
634,373
638,517
42,673
1,315,563
KS
6
622,332
399,276
50,610
1,072,218
KY
8
872,492
638,898
32,797
1,544,187
LA
9
927,871
792,344
45,441
1,765,656
ME
4
286,616
319,951
45,250
651,817
MD
10
813,797
1,145,782
65,901
2,025,480
MA
12
878,502
1,616,487
207,995
2,702,984
MI
18
1,953,139
2,170,418
108,944
4,232,501
MN
10
1,109,659
1,168,266
160,760
2,438,685
MS
7
572,844
404,614
16,726
994,184
MO
11
1,189,924
1,111,138
58,830
2,359,892
MT
3
240,178
137,126
33,693
410,997
NE
5
433,862
231,780
31,377
697,019
NV
4
301,575
279,978
27,417
608,970
NH
4
273,559
266,348
29,174
569,081
NJ
15
1,284,173
1,788,850
114,203
3,187,226
NM
5
286,417
286,783
25,405
598,605
NY
33
2,403,374
4,107,697
310,928
6,821,999
NC
14
1,631,163
1,257,692
22,407
2,911,262
ND
3
174,852
95,284
18,120
288,256
OH
21
2,351,209
2,186,190
168,058
4,705,457
OK
8
744,337
474,276
15,616
1,234,229
OR
7
713,577
720,342
100,049
1,533,968
PA
23
2,281,127
2,485,967
146,025
4,913,119
RI
4
130,555
249,508
29,049
409,112
SC
8
785,937
565,561
31,219
1,382,717
SD
3
190,700
118,804
6,765
316,269
TN
11
1,061,949
981,720
32,512
2,076,181
TX
32
3,799,639
2,433,746
174,252
6,407,637
UT
5
515,096
203,053
52,605
770,754
VT
3
119,775
149,022
25,511
294,308
VA
13
1,437,490
1,217,290
84,667
2,739,447
WA
11
1,108,864
1,247,652
130,917
2,487,433
WV
5
336,475
295,497
16,152
648,124
WI
11
1,237,279
1,242,987
118,341
2,598,607
WY
3
147,947
60,481
9,923
218,351
Total:
271
266
50,456,002
47.87%
50,999,897
48.38%
3,949,201
3.75%
105,405,100
* The District of Columbia has 3 electoral votes. Two votes were cast for Gore and the third vote was an abstention.
Total Electoral Vote = 538. Total Electoral Vote Needed to Win = 270
Voting Age Population (Census Bureau Population Survey for November 2000): 205,815,000
Percentage of Voting Age Population casting a vote for President: 51.21%center>
Source: Federal Election Commission
Patricia Johnson is a freelance writer and CEO of Articles and Answers. Visit us online at http://www.articlesandanswers.com
© 2004 Patricia Johnson