Hopefully one positive from the election mess is that states and counties
will see the need to place voting machinery somewhere higher on their
budget priority lists than where they are now placed, as John Allison and
Bob Emerson have noted.  Sorry if that means higher state taxes, you
conservatives, but sometimes we must learn the hard way that some
government costs are necessary.   By the way, how does one reconcile a
philosophy of cutting taxes and public budgets with a desire for higher
education funding?  I've always considered the term "Republican educator"
to be a contradiction, since in this state we fight the Republicans every
session for our life's blood, but obviously I'm missing something.  I
sincerely would like to expand my understanding of R politics, perhaps
off-line to spare subscribers such purely political content, if any of you
Rs are willing.  Anyway, here is the information, which makes an obvious
point but with data:

<At a Tallahassee press conference on Saturday, Florida election officials
revealed that in last Tuesday's election, there were far more problems in
counties using the punch-card system than the optical scan system, or
OpScan. In punch-card counties, 32 ballots per thousand cast had to be
invalidated. But in counties using the optical scan system, or OpScan, only
two per thousand were thrown out. Around Florida, and throughout the
county, election reformers are trying to move away from the punch-card
system. Massachussetts has stopped using them entirely; so has San Francisco.

Coincidentally or not, Florida counties using the OpScan system tend to be
Republican, while the punch-card counties are disproportionately
Democratic. And one Republican county still using punch cards, Seminole,
voluntarily hand counted its ballots when it conducted its state-mandated
recount last week -- and gave another 98 votes to Bush, his largest county
gain in the recount.>

We in Minnesota complain about our taxes constantly, and we often take for
granted what they pay for.  I don't think it's random chance that here and
in the Northeast, the Democratic strongholds, you don't hear much about
ballot waste.  Then again, you don't hear much about sunshine in winter,
either, so I guess it all balances out.

Brad
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Brad Sleeper                            Professor of Business Law
BB 301                          email:  [log in to unmask]
St. Cloud State University              telephone:  (320) 255-4227
St. Cloud, MN  56301-4498               fax: (320) 255-4061
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>To laugh often and much. To win the respect of intelligent people,
>and the affection of children.  To earn the appreciation of honest critics
>and
>endure the betrayal of false friends.  To appreciate beauty. To find the best
>in others. To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a
>garden
>patch, or a redeemed social condition. To know even one life has breathed
>easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
>- Ralph Waldo Emerson