Recount
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is calling on both Jack Voight and Kathleen Falk to officially throw in the towel today. Why is there such urgency? No one is hurt by waiting for the official canvass to come in. There are errors that do turn up. Like this example from Wispolitics:
But La Crosse County Clerk Marion Naegle said her office found a mistake yesterday that flipped the results. Instead of 20,374 no votes and 20,358 yes votes that were initially reported, the final numbers were 21,172 no votes and 21,324 yes votes.Elections are run by humans that sometimes make mistakes. That is especially so when they have had a really long day like election day. So why not wait for the official results? J.B. Van Hollen and Dawn Marie Sass can go ahead with their planning to be in office. That's their right. But how is the planning harmed by Voight and Falk waiting to see the official results?
Naegle said the Town of Campbell had incorrectly tallied its votes, causing the discrepancy.
5 Comments:
Exactly. That's one reason why we don't swear them in for several months.
The over-eagerness of the media to call races before results barely trickle in -- remember, the Journal Company was embarrassed doing so, calling the race for Falk too soon, so it blames her :-) -- and the brevity of the media's attention span are just ridiculous.
The cable channels must have a ratings star of a story about another white, blond girl gone missing somewhere and can't wait to get on it. And the Journal must have its next Pulitzer Prize also-ran series in the wings, with a deadline looming -- a prize deadline or a circulation ad rates deadline -- so it just can't wait for all the votes to be counted.
It will be interesting to see, with a 9000 vote lead, how close it will turn out. With the State Elections Democratic Party Board on the stick, perhaps we'll see a 10,000 vote Falk flip that nobody saw coming, because it dosen't exist. Both races are far enough apart that a recount, although allowed, should not take place. Throw in the towel now!!!
Wow, Lon . . . your aluminum foil hat is showing.
Do you seriously believe the State Elections Board is intent on undermining democracy simply because the majority of its members are Democrats? Okay, so let's assume that your paranoia has some basis, but without pointing fingers at who is trying to subvert our votes. How do you know that any election rigging that may have occurred is yet to occur, rather than already occurred? See, recounts are allowed in part to guard against carelessness, but are also a safeguard against malicious tampering. That's why recounts aren't conducted by merely a subset of the elections board in a dark room. Representatives of both parties participate and are monitored during the process.
Most likely, you are correct. The original vote tallying was probably accurate, or accurate enough to not change the outcome. There are probably not that many 1000s of votes tampered with, lost or otherwise subject to malfeasance. If this was a relatively unimportant matter, then I'd agree with you. Why waste the time double checking something that's not likely to change. However, our governance is an important matter and while it is not likely to change, the possibility is not so remote that we can't be patient for however long it takes to conduct the recounts to be sure.
For what it's worth, I don't see the rush either. Good grief, let the people do their work, then we'll see.
Yep, the question is: Why don't the media, especially the Journal Sentinel, want all of our votes to count?
That takes time to officially count them.
There must be other matters for editorial boards to ponder. I have a long list, if they really are clueless as to the message sent by the electorate this week.
It was a message for media, too.
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