Election Issues Taken to Court

Re “Bush Takes His Case to the U.S. Supreme Court,� Nov. 23:

Was it a dream or did the United States actually get turned upside down? The Republican George W. Bush campaign has asked for the U.S. Supreme Court to tell the state of Florida what to do regarding the Florida election vote counts, while the Democratic Al Gore campaign plans to defend the state of Florida’s right to manage its own affairs.

If our country isn’t upside down, it’s apparent that the two parties have had a reversal of historical political philosophy with regard to the issue of states’ rights.

ALEX BRITTON

Long Beach

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We as a country need an ultimate ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court so each state can then use that decision to standardize its voting procedures, ballots and certification times, and to ensure there is an equitable election standard for all Americans in a national election.

The Supreme Court has intervened many times on state issues when the citizens of that state felt they had not received equal treatment under the law. There are obviously many citizens in Florida on both sides of this issue who feel that they have been denied their lawful rights in this election. Let our country benefit in a positive manner from this history-making election.

LARRY ZINI

Camarillo

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A striking feature of the current imbroglio in Florida is the attitude of the Bush campaign. Any reliance at all on hand counts is tantamount, in their eyes, to stealing the election. The fact that many jurisdictions, including Texas, rely heavily on manual recounts is of no consequence.

Another complaint, echoed in James Pinkerton’s Nov. 23 column, is “the lawyerization of the Democratic Party.� While many lawsuits have been brought, some have even been filed by the Bush campaign. Indeed, the Republicans were the first to move in federal court, despite the constitutional provision that makes elections primarily a state matter.

Elections as well as polls have margins of error. While these margins may be smaller with elections, they still persist. And the presidential election in Florida is surely within that margin of error. No matter what the outcome is, we can never really know the true winner.

WILLIAM S. COMANOR

Los Angeles

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I keep hearing things like “disenfranchise� and “the will of the people� and “let’s count all of the votes of the people.� I was really amazed to find out that all of the “people of Florida� live in four counties of the state!

EDMUND G. HIDALGO

Santa Fe Springs

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If at the deadline set by the Florida Supreme Court Gov. Bush has more votes and Vice President Gore still refuses to concede, the vice president’s true intentions will be displayed for all to see. Gore only cares about winning, no matter the cost to the nation.

JOE F. PARRA

Long Beach

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Let’s have a recount of the military absentee ballots, particularly those ones rejected for postmark technicalities, to determine the intent of the voters. (An investigation should be made as to when the votes were actually cast and handed over to authorities.)

MACKAY HOLMES

Cypress

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So the members of Miami-Dade County canvassing board let themselves be bullied out of doing a recount by a mob of Republicans (Nov. 23). I don’t know whom to be angrier at, the board members for their cowardice or the Republicans for their cowardly resort to mob rule. These are the Republicans who rant on and on about states’ rights, then run whimpering to the U.S. Supreme Court when they don’t like what the state court does.

MARCIA J. BATES

Van Nuys

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Think of how many Republicans have been elected on the theme of law and order. But for a week now, the Bush team and its surrogate talk-show hosts have been inciting the flock to riot. They certainly succeeded, as we watched their disciples storm the ballot-counting center in Miami-Dade. Law and order, but not for them.

WILLIAM ZINTL

San Juan Capistrano

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Re “Counting That Chad Is Just the Texas Way,� Commentary, Nov. 23: What’s with Robert Scheer? His vitriolic columns on Bush are so full of hatred and absurdity, I pity the man. Bush is a decent, extraordinary man, capable and worthy of being the next president. Both he and Gore deserve the chance to be judged on what they have accomplished with their lives. Bush has accomplished the enactment of many social programs in Texas that previous governors were unwilling or unable to do. In foreign policy, we will at last have a president who does not have the arrogance to consider our country as policeman for this planet, yet he sees our need to use our power with restraint. I find Scheer’s histrionics truly offensive and totally unjust.

MARY LOUISE LOPEZ

Montebello

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Re “Cheney Suffers a ‘Very Slight’ Heart Attack,� Nov. 23: If Bush’s choice of a running mate who has a history of heart problems and Dick Cheney’s determination to run despite these problems are any indication of this twosome’s decision-making abilities, Americans better fasten their seat belts, they are in for a bumpy ride!

MARYLYN TABER

Chatsworth

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Gore needs to stop his endless fishing expedition for votes in the three Democratic counties in Florida. He is looking more and more like a sore loser, willing to bend the rules to win an office he has clearly lost.

DON HEADLAND

Morro Bay

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More than anyone else, I’m angry at Gore for running such a milquetoast, ineffective campaign. He has tried so hard to distance himself from Bill Clinton that he has also made himself completely irrelevant to the prosperity and sound policies of the past eight years. Gore couldn’t even win his home state. The Bushies can have it.

MARK McINTYRE

Los Angeles

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Watching Gore lose through one bad circumstance after another--incomprehensible ballots, worn-out voting machines and Miami-Dade delaying its hand count until it became impossible--has been like presiding over the death of a friend. Yet Gore still can achieve a victory of sorts by conceding. Now. Before the Florida Legislature or the Supreme Court or the uncounted ballots do him in. He can still come off as a statesman. And he might end up glad he doesn’t have to preside over a nation of angry hornets.

MARALYS WILLS

Santa Ana

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Although I voted for Gore, I am becoming reconciled to the fact that Bush will finally be elected. I could accept this more easily if Bush would demonstrate what he promised in his campaign, i.e., that he would end the “finger-pointing� and divisiveness. However, what I see now is strident and unnecessary “finger-pointing� and inflammatory rhetoric coming from the Republican politicians, when they will probably win anyway. Bush should realize that over half the voters voted for Gore and that even if he wins the popular vote in Florida, that will not change.

This does not bode well for his being able to win over the Gore voters or to work with a closely divided Congress. If he is going to be my president, he needs to start showing some maturity and statesmanship.

ROBERT E. NOFER

Pasadena

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Respect for the law may be summed up by the adage, “It’s not whether you win or lose that counts, it’s how you play the game.� The “win at any cost� mentality provides a large arena in which litigation can flourish and invites scrutiny and rewriting of the rules. Some of this is undoubtedly healthy, but a pervasive “winning is the only thing� attitude will over time decrease respect for our laws, our institutions and each other.

W.A. MUELLER

Sherman Oaks