The only thing this election has proved, so far, is that every vote counts. This should be abundantly clear. Your vote is critical. But here at the Emerald, America’s anguish has become our own. Even the editorial board can’t decide: As a country, have we ever been more divided, or have we ever been more united? And what do we do now?
Nader supporters and independents say we’ve never been more united — united behind the idea that our system is fine and there are just details to be quibbled about. Issues of power go unnoticed, independents cry. America is in love with global corporate capitalism, Nader says. Money equals power and speech; corporations control our government, our environment and our lives; and no one wants to challenge the state of affairs. To this view, every vote is critically important to make a stand against corruption and powerlessness.
Democrats and Republicans say our country is radically divided. We’re split along ideological lines, they say. Critical issues such as abortion, gay rights, education, environmentalism and religion starkly divide the American landscape. Vast differences exist between the parties, they say, and every vote is necessary to support one ideology or the other.
Adding spin to this cycle, many people say Nader voters cost Gore the election. But a recent poll showed that only 25 percent of Nader supporters would have voted for Gore. Well, actually, even 25 percent of the more than 96,000 votes cast for Nader in Florida would make the difference right now. But haven’t Nader voters done the right thing by voting for the candidate they believed in — the man who represented them? Isn’t that democracy? People are undecided.
Now the election process itself is making this continental divide more unified. A few hundred votes in Florida will decide the presidency. The re-count continues and absentees have yet to be counted, so why don’t the media relax and let the process happen without 24-hour reports on every exacting detail?
Unfortunately, the media can’t relax. People invested in the decision have made serious allegations. In St. Louis, voters waiting in line were turned away. The ballot in Florida’s Palm Beach County confused some people, and 19,000 votes were thrown out. Questions are arising about irregularities in Wisconsin and New Mexico. The outcome isn’t even known yet, and people are in an uproar. Is now the time to be raising these issues?
Jesse Jackson rallied in Florida about the irregularities there. Is he only upset because Gore hasn’t won? Pundits are torn about his motives and the motives of Democrats who want votes counted by hand. Bush’s campaign has suggested it might demand re-counts in other close states. Democrats imply that’s just tit for tat.
Floridians are getting picked on (don’t they know how to vote or count correctly?), but is that only because they are under the microscope? Maybe New York or California would show worse irregularities if those states were re-counting.
Whoever wins, though, will obviously have no mandate from the public. America is split down the middle on the Gore-Bush choice. So maybe now we should work together. Maybe now is not the time for Jackson to be fanning the controversy. Perhaps we should learn the results and then find common ground on which to run the country.
Or maybe we should dismiss unity. Doesn’t unity, as many modern philosophers think, just dissolve differences? If we search for the perfect middle to make decisions, don’t we end up with a total lack of flavor? And for the 19,120 impassioned Florida voters, whose votes were dismissed because some ballots had two holes punched instead of one, should they be giving in and finding common ground? Their votes didn’t even count.
Actually, the results in Florida show that those votes really, really counted. Those voters should perhaps have taken the time to get a new ballot from elections workers, instead of punching two holes. Here in Oregon, thanks to the mail-in system, discrepancies like that can be clarified with a phone call to the voter.
But it all comes down to Florida. Why? Oh yes, because of the Electoral College. Actually, that’s another thing this election has proved: People need to unify and discuss the electoral system, because it’s not widely understood and it has America divided. Many people are outraged that the man most Americans voted for may not be the man elected. Others are staunch defenders of the system, saying it gives small states weight in the election, so they aren’t overwhelmed by heavily populated urban areas.
Law experts make the issue murkier. As Neal Katyal, a presidential law expert, explained for CNN today, the sovereignty principles underlying our Constitution demand that the vote of the people be decisive. But the Constitution says the formality of the electoral votes must be followed. And Bush is saying that as well. But the formality of the law, as Katyal points out, says a state must appoint its Electoral College delegates on Election Day. Florida did not do that. As a result, the law says the Florida Legislature has the power to remedy the situation, if necessary.
Maybe the voters who think the Electoral College threatens the will of the people should make their voices heard and get the process changed. Or maybe they should respect the Constitution as written, even if it contradicts its principles. Should Americans fight or unify?
We desperately hope a close election, an ideological split and discontent with the system would encourage people to get involved in the political process. But will it? Maybe not. Perhaps people will forget as soon as the really great Christmas sales begin. And history doesn’t bode well for more involvement. In 1960, President Kennedy won by only 118,574 votes. In 1964, fewer people voted than in 1960. In 1968, the same thing. So maybe nobody cares. We don’t know.
Actually, the Emerald editorial board is divided on all of these issues. We are unified only in our confusion. Apparently, so is the rest of the country. So here’s democracy for you: No newspaper can tell you who’s right and who’s wrong. We all need to decide together what America does next.