Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: Stand up, be counted

Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2000 | 9:33 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

Should Vice President Al Gore concede?

The answer is simple. Of course he should, but not quite yet. There will come a time in the near future -- that's days, not weeks -- when it may appear obvious to most Americans that the vice president has lost the election and Gov. George W. Bush has won. That's when it is appropriate for the loser to concede and the winner to prepare to govern.

If you think about our own experience, that's the way it has always worked. That's because we have not had a situation in which it was unclear, except to the most zealous supporters, who the winner was. The Electoral College as well as the popular vote has left little doubt who the voters had chosen to lead them for the next four years. This time it is different. None of us has lived through an election quite like this and that, I think, is why most Americans have been more than willing to wait and see the process draw to a proper conclusion.

Election 2000 has for perhaps the third time in history resulted in the likely loser winning more of the popular vote than the man who won the Electoral College which, as we all know by now, is the constitutional way to the White House. What complicates the matter for most people is the fact that the ugliness of the voting process has been unmasked for all to see because of the way the state of Florida has conducted its election effort. And most people, those who voted for Gov. Bush as well as for Vice President Gore, don't like what they have seen and heard.

To be sure, the level of disappointment differs depending upon which group of voters are questioned about the Florida fiasco. Some who want George Bush to win naturally think all that has happened since the first count of the ballots has been a waste of time and something bordering on un-American activity. Likewise, for some of the people who supported Al Gore, there should be all the time in the world to vote, count, re-count and then question the motives of those doing the counting because there is no way Gore should lose Florida.

The truth, of course, lies somewhere in the middle of the mess, and that quite naturally does little to assuage the hurt feelings of those most zealous on both sides. But most people in this country don't think of themselves as partisans when it comes to a matter as important as the choosing of the next president of the United States. We are Americans first and and we have demonstrated -- much to the chagrin of the pundits who would wish otherwise, to boost the television ratings -- that we are more than willing and, even comfortable, with taking the necessary time to learn who the winner really is.

If you take Florida's certification Sunday night at face value, then it is easy to make the case that the election is over and we should move on. Following that logic, Al Gore should concede and the country should accept the fact that Gov. Bush will be the next president. But we all know there is more to this election than just what is floating on the surface. To be sure, the vice president has an uphill fight in his quest to have every vote in Florida counted. But his efforts are a sign of leadership in the face of popular will, and his goal, I believe, is a worthy one.

For if we don't stand up as a nation for the concept that each American's vote is as valuable as every other, then we are admitting to a conclusion that moves us away from the "one man, one vote" principle that has guided this democracy so well for so long. What the vice president is fighting for is the counting of thousands of ballots that to this day have never been counted. Not once. In an election that may turn on 530 votes, 150 votes or even a vote or two -- out of a total of 6 million Florida ballots -- should it not be incumbent upon the counties to at least do what they can to give value to each person's vote?

In an election that seems rife with complaints of partisan maneuvering against one candidate who isn't the brother of Florida's governor, shouldn't we look askance at an allegation that Republican votes, thousands of them, were illegally altered to benefit Gov. Bush? In an election that turned on hundreds of votes, shouldn't a charge that a few thousand were manipulated against Al Gore at least be aired so the public can learn the truth?

And in an election in which a hundred votes here or there would make the difference in terms of which candidate assumes the presidency in January, shouldn't the public be able to discern for itself whether it was mob rule or the rule of law that caused Miami-Dade County to cancel its own recount? A recount that most observers believed would have thrown the election Gore's way by a far wider margin than a few hundred votes!

What Al Gore is asking the American people to do is be patient enough for the courts and others involved in the process to make reasoned decisions about what is right and what is wrong in the counting of the Florida ballots. What he is asking the American public to do is support the idea that counting votes is more important than counting the days before one candidate or another takes office. There is no hurry. We have a president on the job who will be there until Jan. 20. Long before that time, we can all know the will of the people, and whoever it is who takes the oath of office will know that he has the people behind him because they know he deserves to be there.

I and most other Americans are fully prepared to support the next president of the United States. But I also believe that most Americans want to know that the person who moves into the White House got there not because he manipulated the law, the courts and the counts better than his opponent, but because the majority of Americans -- speaking through the Electoral College -- want him to be there. That shouldn't be too much to ask.

And when that answer is known, the loser should concede. Until that time, though, the people are entitled to know the truth. That's the American way. And that should be the only way a person can become president of the United States.