Balance of Power

Fellons voting illegally, Supreme Court argument

Criminals choosing our president

A recent development surfaced on Friday when the Miami Herald investigated voting records in search of indiscrepancies. What was found is beyond belief. It turns out that at least 445 felons voted on Nov 7th, and that these votes were counted. And that's only in a couple of counties. Of course, it comes as no surprise that most of those votes came from Palm Beach County, retirement home for the helpless fools of America.

Not only that, but almost all of the votes cast by these felons are for Gore. It turns out criminals prefer voting for Democrats! By federal law, convicted felons are supposed to be stripped of all voting rights. A felon is someone who has committed a crime whose penalty exceeds one year in prison. Felons all over are typically given registration cards (usually by the Democratic or Socialist parties), which make them registered voters. This is all well and good, of course, because when the criminals go to vote, the canvassing board's computers and employees are supposed to ferret out all invalid votes, such as those made by felons. The thing is, a few counties, such as Palm Beach and Duval, don't bother to screen out illegal votes from felons.

Since the Miami Herald's investigation only covered a small portion of the population, it can be safely assumed that there were well over two thousand votes cast illegally, mostly for Gore. However, since the recounts are already over with, this is not likely to affect the outcome of the election, which brings us to our next topic...

A long shot, to be frank

Gore resembles an irritating Energizer Bunny; he just keeps going, and going, and going, all the while complaining about this and that, even though it's quite clear that he lost. People all over say it was terribly unfair that Gore won the popular vote and not the electoral vote. These people just refuse to consider the details. As it turns out, Bush should have won the popular vote easily, but he failed to do so for some very minor, but significant reasons. We probably all remember on November 7th, when the media declared California, New Hampshire, and Florida Gore states when there were less than 1% of the precincts reporting. Even though polls indicated an even match in California, a Bush lead in New Hampshire, and a modest Bush lead in Florida, the media still called those states for Gore right from the outset, which is absurd. The tragedy is, these calls had a dramatic effect on voter turnout.

Republicans from California, New Hampshire and Florida were all set to vote for Bush, but when they heard that Gore would easily win those states on election night, these voters became discouraged, lost hope, and went straight home without voting. The effects were very noticeable: New Hampshire became a Bush state in the end, but only by a small margin. Gore outperformed Bush by a wide margin in California. And of course, we all know what happened in Florida. All of these results belied the final Zogby poll numbers, which correctly predicted the outcome of every other state. It is in this way that minor psychological factors can snowball into calamity in an election. It is a fact that Republican turnout in these three states was much lower than it should have been. A proper voter turnout would have resulted in several hundred thousand more Bush votes, enough to overcome Gore.

But there's still a chance

With Florida, Bush will win the electorate and become president. But can Gore still win? The answer is a qualitative yes. Nonetheless, Gore will need an awful lot of support from all three branches of the government, and a generous helping of luck, to win.

First, and most importantly, the US Supreme Court must not rule in Bush's favor. If that happens, Gore can start packing his suitcases and handing the VP mansion over to Cheney. If Gore wins in the Supreme Court, he must then also win the State court. Bush is challenging the thrown-out military ballots, which could give him a comfortable lead. Furthermore, Gore is challenging Miami-Dade's decision not to recount. A victory here would likely win Gore enough votes to win the state. However, even if this happens, the Florida Legislature can pick their own Republican electors, which would give Bush the state, casting Gore into the "Loser's Corner." If the Legislature does not do this, then the Electors will vote for Gore and he will win the presidency.

There is one more trick Gore can try if the Legislature picks the electors. Gore can try to have the state of Florida's votes thrown out and declared invalid. In such a case, the House would have to vote for president, with each state counting as one vote. The Republicans control 28 states, giving the election to Bush. Nevertheless, the Senate would pick the Vice President, and it is split evenly, which means that Gore would cast the tie-breaking vote. In this case, Lieberman could conceivably end up being Bush's vice president. Amazing!

So what will happen? Send your predictions to technews@wpi.edu and see if you're right!