Florida viewed from Bulgaria

[Chavd]

> This is what I get from post election coverage on CNN:
> 1. A recount in the state of Florida leads to an increase in the votes. Mystifying. Where were the
> additional ballots hiding at the time of the first count? No explanation offered. They just sprang up.
> How many more stray ballots could emerge in a third count? In a fourth count?
> 2. And on close examination these additional ballots turn out to be not only rompish, but slanted in
> favor of the man who lost in the first count. When added in, the distance between the 2 candidates
> decreases by about a thousand. Which means that there was a pattern in the negligence of electoral
> officials on Tuesday night. Isn't that a statistical quirk?
> 3. In the county of Palm Beach the punch cards have been printed in such a way, as to allow for 2
> interpretations of the voter's choice. And it so happens that the votes for a marginal candidate shoot
> up in that county at least 10 times higher than in the rest of the state. At the expense of the man
> declared to have lost. And black people demonstrate before the mayor’s office to protest some kind of
> hinderences that prevented them from voting. I did not hear what these difficulties may have been.
> 4. And it so happens that the head of that same state's administration is the brother of the candidate
> who stood to gain from all of these coincidences.
> 5. While the recount in Florida is going on, the Bush camp warns that it may lose patience and ask for a
> recount in 3 other states where Gore won by a small margin. And that in that case Bush surely would
> receive also a popular majority, besides the victory. How do they know? Does this mean that Iowa,
> Wisconsin and New Mexico have Democratic governors?
> 6. Pundits warn that if there is a repeat election in Palm Beach, this could precipitate a chain of
> repeat elections in many more counties. Were similar irregularities so widespread? If no, why should
> there be a chain reaction? If yes, are not new elections absolutely necessary?
> 7. If such irregularities are common, does this mean that they have come out in one particular state,
> only because the race happened to be so close? Are they typical for elections in the USA?
> I guess that Gore will strike some bargain and back down, but still, what should a person make of this
> whole scenery?
> I mean, will you be needing internatational observers from Bulgaria on your next elections?
> Don’t be shy.
> Chavdar Naidenov,
> Bulgaria
>