I am embarrassed to be an American. Our country prides itself on, if nothing else, having a superior form of government, yet this government has become little more than a joke. As a democracy, our government is dependent on its people. Citizens are able to take part in the fate of the country by voting both for local and national offices, but apparently some of us are unable to do so.The recent election has shown us that not only can a dead man be elected to office, but that the future of our country relies on voters who can’t follow simple directions. While the butterfly ballot may have confused some voters, I hardly think the uproar concerning it is well founded. Even if voters were confused, I don’t think the voting centers were unmanned. As for the voters who realized their mistake only to punch another hole next to Al Gore’s name instead of asking for a new ballot, if you can’t figure out that voting for two presidential candidates will get your vote thrown out, you have no business taking part in an election of such importance.
I am skeptical of the contention that the majority of Pat Buchanan’s votes in Florida were intended for Al Gore. It is unfathomable that so many voters could be mistaken, yet not realize it until after the results had been announced. If these voters were not smart enough to ask for help at the voting booth, I wonder where they gained the knowledge needed to place a call to their senator notifying him of their mistakes.
I voted on a butterfly ballot and while I may have understood the ballot due to my advanced knowledge of arrows, I only needed to be literate to read the notice printed on the bottom of every ballot. It was stated, in a clear and easy to understand manner, that the voter should check the back of the ballot for any remaining ‘chads’ which had not been fully removed, and detach them before placing the ballot in the ballot box. This was not a hard direction to follow, and failure to do so seems to me to be the result nothing more than laziness and possibly illiteracy.
I understand that in a democracy every person should have a voice, but this recent election has proved to me that some voices need to be silenced. As for the lawsuits pending, I can only hope that our nation’s judges have more sense than the voters who feel it is the state of Florida’s fault that they were too stupid to understand what arrows mean.
I think if Gore wins the election, I might remember that I accidentally voted for Nader. I was just so confused! And who could blame me? The straightforward method of arrows pointing to holes just isn’t clear. I propose going back to the grade school style of writing the candidates name on a piece of paper, folding it, and putting it in a shoe box at the front of the room. That way, they can announce the winner over the P.A. system after lunch.