The Context of Counting

First Quarter 2001

Editor's Watch

by James W. Skillen

Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that if some of the circumstances in Florida had been reversed on November 8, Gore might have acted as Bush did and Bush might have acted as Gore did. Each wanted, or would have wanted, the counting to stop when it gave him the advantage and to continue when it showed him with a potential to come from behind and gain the lead.

Now let's step above the fray and examine a phrase that was repeated again and again during the protest and contest: "Count every vote," or "Every vote should count."

The purpose of the November 7 election was to allow citizens to elect representatives to govern. In other words, the election was a representative act not an act of direct, democratic self-government. The voting was restricted further by two other federal factors: one is the Electoral College, which was established to guard the presidency from being hijacked by a popular mass movement. The second is the provision that requires each state legislature to determine the manner of electing its electors to the Electoral College. Since elected representatives, not the people, make law, the primary question about an election in any state has to be "What are the election laws, already passed by the legislature, that hold for this election?" Those laws represent the voice of the people and may not be ignored by voters when they vote.

If all of this is not restrictive enough, there are additional factors that limited voting on November 7:

(1) Only those above a certain age were allowed to vote.

(2) Only those not convicted of certain crimes were allowed to vote.

(3) Only those who showed up on the right day, at the right time, and in the right place were allowed to vote, unless they followed another set of restrictive procedures for using absentee ballots.

And (4) only those who properly used the voting method or mechanism in their precinct could expect their vote to be counted.

The point of mentioning all these conditions that set the limits for "counting every vote" is that almost any of them can be changed. It is possible, for example, to do away with the Electoral College and/or to lift the restriction that only state legislatures may determine how to choose electors. States can change voting methods and mechanisms. The amount of time allowed for protesting or contesting an election can be shortened or extended. Dozens, even hundreds of changes are possible.

But what will it take to change any of these rules or conditions for voting and vote counting? The answer is simple and clear: new legislation must be enacted by representatives elected to state legislatures and to Congress, and/or a massive national effort must be mobilized to amend the Constitution. If we do not like the laws that governed the November 7 election, we must appeal to legislators to change them.

American democracy is representative democracy, which depends on elected lawmakers and the laws they make. It is not about "the people," after having voted, getting whatever they want whenever they want it, regardless of what the law says.

—The Editor