TheBanyanTree: A mouldy banana and hanging chad

[NancyIee at aol.com]

I have the TV buzzing away in the kitchen, covering the California recall 
election thingummybob, whatever it's called. A strange process this, about 
as obscure to me as American football and the US presidential elections. 
I'm told that it's a good thing, the voice of the people being made 
manifest, evidence of democracy in action.

And now we're all going to have to learn to spell Schawr... Schwarzn... 
Whatever.

Well, we might better hold off learning to spell "whatever". The new news is 
our old election blues ; "Hanging Chad."

In an effort to make voting easier, eliminating the trouble of making "x" on 
ballots, sometimes being hard to read, I guess, someone came up with a new and 
improved voting machine. It punches holes in boxes near the names of the 
candidates you want  (unfortunately, they have no box for "none of the above")

Anyhoo, NOW it seems, the punch doesn't punch all the holes cleanly, leaving 
the little paper tag, cutely called a "hanging Chad". The powers that be 
question: Does a hanging chad constitute a vote, since the little paper isn't 
punched out? How much a tag means it's not punched out at all, but only dented?

The last Prez election had Florida voters all askew with millions of hanging 
chads and an election being appealed and recounted. Some folks counted all the 
hanging chads, some counted none, therefor the counts were off every time. 
Some think because of the hanging chads, the wrong guy is in the white house, 
since one recount had the other guy winning.

Now it's the California recall election. Are they going to recount? How about 
them hanging chads?  Hundreds of candidates, all leaning on the power of the 
hanging chad.

Ahhh, Democracy.

VOTE FOR HANGING CHAD!!


NancyLee