Letter: Voting system favors wealthy

Friday, Dec. 8, 2000 | 9:50 a.m.

Life will go on and the greatest danger we face will not be a constitutional crisis, but that we will not have learned anything from this experience.

The error we may repeat is not just that we may have another close election, but that all elections may repeat the systemic unfairness of the varied voting methods in Florida.

The importance of a standard ballot in federal elections is well illustrated in Florida. Because of the nature of their constituency, Democratic strongholds are less wealthy than are Republican areas. The variety of voting methods has most Republican areas with efficient machines, which are nearly incapable of error, while the Democrats have the infamous punch cards. If punch ballots were prone to about 20 percent error, the Democrats would need 1.2 votes for each Republican vote just to break even.

Counting and recounting of ballots mean two different things when one is talking about machine ballots and punch ballots. The only way to recount ballots on machines such as those we used in Las Vegas is by machine. A machine may count a punch ballot, too, but only a hand count can determine the voter's intent.

It seems that while we have freedom and justice for all in our country, there is more freedom and more justice for the wealthy. The standardization of the ballot is likely to be opposed by the Republicans because such "big government" interference would use money from wealthy areas to level the voting playing field in the poorer areas. They believe they have earned the money and poorer people deserve a lesser vote.

Now you know what they mean by the "American Dream."

JERRY BITTS

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