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• Friday, January 2, 2009 07:03 PM

  That tired old GOP lie

  Christopher1988 wrote:

  "It doesn't help when reasonable people still insist Gore really won the presidential race, when he clearly didn't (yes, even after all the votes were re-counted). It is unfortunate, but true, that W. won by a narrow margin and would have under any scenario."

  Once again the tiresome lie is repeated. It's a pity that the facts disprove it, eh?

  Fortunately I saved the links in case I should run across any GOP liars online.

  First, the Virtual Voting Booth. It contains the impartial results of a statewide recount of Florida's 2000 Presidential election votes. You can pick what standards you like (for example, would you accept "hanging chads"? Overvotes? The decision of two out of three ballot judges, or only those in which all three agree?) and see who would have won.

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/elections2000/recount/yourvote.html

  Here's the second half of the puzzle: Title IX, Ch. 101.5614 of Florida state law as it stood in 2000. It REQUIRED that all votes in which the voter's intent was clear be counted. That includes overvotes.

  The (Republican) State Senate in Florida not only revised that law later (I wonder why?) but they even eliminated the online archive of the 2000 version. Fortunately I saved the relevant text. I've highlighted the key portion for your convenience:

  "If any paper ballot is damaged or defective so that it cannot be counted properly by the automatic tabulating equipment, the ballot shall be counted manually at the counting center by the canvassing board. The totals for all such ballots or ballot cards counted manually shall be added to the totals for the several precincts or election districts. No vote shall be declared invalid or void if there is a clear indication of the intent of the voter as determined by the canvassing board. After duplicating a ballot, the defective ballot shall be placed in an envelope provided for that purpose, and the duplicate ballot shall be tallied with the other ballots for that precinct."

  As you'll see (if you have the guts), if overvotes were counted (as - it's worth repeating - the law at the time REQUIRED) Gore won in virtually every scenario. In fact, George W. would have to push for partially-detached chads to be counted in order to have a chance!

  Not to mention the thousands of African-Americans who were illegally denied the right to vote based on a false set of reports from a Texas-based company that already had strong ties to George W. Bush.

  American democracy was mugged that day, and it's still in the intensive care unit. I hope it pulls through, despite the sleazy lies of online GOP apparatchiks.

  —Peter Maranci Read Peter Maranci's other letters
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