Other Than That...

[billroper]

Other than that, I find the election situation depressing. This is not because I expect Kerry to win or because I expect Bush to win.

This is because I believe that we're all going to lose.

I see ample evidence being presented that we're going to see plenty of vote fraud and dirty tricks, likely being perpetrated by both sides in this election. I believe that we're likely to see a flood of lawyers invading any state where the results were close. And I think there will be no shortage of states where the results were close and irregularities occurred.

I see people who are bright, normally rational individuals making absolute statements that I find to be just remarkable in their level of both partisanship and cluelessness. Any data that might undermine their position is obviously wrong and probably fraudulent.

No matter who wins tomorrow, the side that lost will claim that the other side won by cheating. And they will be right. And they will be wrong.

Because both sides will have cheated. And we may simply be measuring who is better at cheating.

Or we may be measuring the will of the electorate as all of the assorted cheating cancels out.

But we will never know. And that depresses me.

Comments

[alymid.livejournal.com]

I wish I could say that I disagree with you, but as more and more reports of voting weirdness roll in, I don't see anyway for this to play out other than in the courts ... *sigh*

[jrittenhouse.livejournal.com]

I'm seeing a ton of voter disinformation reports (especially on DKos) that are just - well, by God, I'd jail the sons of bitches. I also understand the idea of taking Heywood U. Blomi off the voter rolls, but the level of dirty tricks on this sort where RNC dudes sit there and try to blow people off the rolls every which way are just horrible.

WHat I see that we need is massive electoral reform, starting with taking the Secretaries of State out of the picture and placing the management of the polls under a non-partisan group of judges.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. My hope is that the margin of victory is big enough that both sides trust the result. I'm not optimistic about that, but I hope so.

B

[kevinnickerson.livejournal.com]

Buck up Bill. A couple of decades from now, and the kids will be saying "'Bush?' 'Kerry?' That's history, and therefore boring."

Both sides are "Hurting America", and I wish they'd stop. And several of my friends seem to have stopped taking their medications.

[mrlogic.livejournal.com]

Regardless of the outcome, a huge proportion of the country is going to be not just disappointed, but (from what I can make out) terribly upset. That can't be good.

Something needs to be done to allow this country to come to terms with itself, or this is just going to continue to happen and get worse every time.

Maybe it's time for a co-presidency.

[greenmansgrove.livejournal.com]

This has been one of the most negative campaigns that I can remember. It started early with the Democrats bashing Bush instead of each other, and once the dirt starts flying, it's not going to get any better.

I think that the biggest loss so far is that of any remaining dignity of the electoral process.

[poltr1]

This is because I believe that we're all going to lose.... No matter who wins tomorrow, the side that lost will claim that the other side won by cheating. And they will be right. And they will be wrong. Because both sides will have cheated.

One of the local news stations had a poll: Will the results of the election be known by 11 PM? A good number of callers said no.

As bedlamhouse would say, "Relax. Don't worry. Have a homebrew." Tomorrow night, I think I'll amble over to the local watering hole and have a Black & Tan.

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

Out Hotel is hosting the Oakland County Republican Party Party and we're supply all the A/V. And since we're projecting the results using our keen new LCD projector, I have to babysit.

I should make for a very weird and interesting evening. I doubt it will end on a high note nor will the results be known by the scheduled end of things at 1am.