"You guys still trying to figure out who won? Heck, we Canadians will vote on Monday and know who the next PM is before you guys are done! Actually we pretty much already know, but you never know."
Yep, when we Australians vote we know who won within 24 hours & that's with every single vote in the country counted by hand (with each counter having a both a labour & conservative scrutineer looking over his/her shoulders). & Yet here we have Florida counties that can't count all their votes in 5 days. Plus it was a simple pick your only choice vote, here in Oz its a preferential vote where one has a choice of ticking their favorite candidate's box or numbering all candidates in order of preference.
You'd think if Dade County could work out that it would take 2 weeks to count its votes, then it could just treble or quadruple its count employees to get the vote in by the court deadline.
You'd think the bureaucrats who designed the butterfly ballots (commonsense dictats there should be only one box next to each candidates name) are the same as the ones in charge of the re-counts - havent they heard of temp staff - they should have at least quadrupled their count staff the day the re-count was ordered & hired the local indoor basketball stadium.
Also As far as the election is concerned. It does seem a bit strange that every state & also many different counties have different ballot systems, even though its a Federal election, with the same candidates name on every ballot nationwaide.
Common sense dictates there should be just the one ballot paper for the whole nation, with all 9 candidates in one columne & then a columne off to the right, with a single box next to each name. This whole thing where depending where you are, there are punch cards, or 'fill the bubble' ballots, or on-screen computer ballots, or keypads, or levers & even old fashioned (Oz style) 'X marks the vote' ballots, & then there are some places where all votes are of the mail-in variety; is bloody ridiculous for a federal poll.
Also no way should they have local, state or federal politicians, involved in the decision making process - look at the way the local Democratic officals in Palm Beach OKed a hand count, which was cancelled by a Republican SoS who was Bush's co-campaign manager. They both should have stepped aside because of perceived conflict of interest.
Even better the US should have the same system as we have in Oz, where a Federal Election Commission (that politicians have no say in) control all federal elections & run them & the buck stops at a panel of judges. Each state also has a State Electoral Commission for administring the State & local elections. No politicians are involved anywhere, the only way anyone can get a re-count or stop a re-count is to apply to the court. Unless of course the electoral Commission decides on a recount for some reason - But this is unlikely as we have very simple ballots (just a list of names, with just one box next to each name & all one has to do is either just tick their choice of candidate or number them in order of preference, then all votes are counted by hand & each counter has a conservative & Labour scrutineer looking over his/her shoulders. Useally we know who's won on the night).
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