No Sunshine For Miami-Dade

Given the electoral shenanigans that Miami-Dade was known for well before the infamous Presidential election of 2000, it's really not that surprising that Florida Democrats led by Janet Reno (who has a long history herself with shady Miami-Dade electoral procedures) would sue to keep poll observers out of Democrat precincts.

I've worked as a poll observer once in Texas, and I can't imagine the procedures are all that different in Florida. I saw some minor violations of election law in the heavily Democratic precinct in which I worked, but I suspect my very presence kept those violations minor. I didn't have to confer with the precinct judge on any serious irregularities, nor call anyone involved with the campaign I was observing for. But had the rules violations become serious, I would have called attention to them.

I think most serious politicos would agree that Miami-Dade (along with precincts controlled by the Democratic machine in St. Louis) is probably incapable of running an election by the strict letter of the law. Observers will call attention to that fact. Is that what Janet Reno fears?

Speaking of St. Louis, I hope Mr. Talent has plenty of volunteers to observe polls there, because there will be surely be lots of dead people and other "irregular" voters attempting to cast a ballot for Mrs. Carnahan and other Dems on Tuesday, just as there are every election. That's one reason Talent, despite being a superior candidate and person, has a tough fight on his hands.

(Update) Here's an excerpt from a recent George Will column, detailing the problems in St. Louis in 2000. Will, however, only scratches the surface on what is basically a long-time problem of illegal electoral practices there:

In St. Louis in 2000, Gore's post-election campaign began on Election Day, when his Democratic lawyers found a friendly judge to hear this argument: The Democrats who run St. Louis, and particularly the Democrats in charge of elections, are responsible for long lines at polling places in certain heavily Democratic precincts, and hence the Democratic officials are violating the rights of Democrats who want to vote for Democrats. Bowled over by the force of this analysis, the judge ordered polls in certain heavily Democratic precincts to stay open later than the law allowed. The suit was filed in the name of a St. Louis congressman's staffer, whose claim that his right to vote was being denied was weakened by the fact that he had already voted.

The registered voters in St. Louis included Ritzy Meckler, who was only 13. Still, that is old for a springer spaniel, which Ritzy is. Registration rates in St. Louis are wondrous. In most cities, the number of persons registered is about 65 percent of the city's voting-age population. In St. Louis last year the number of registrants was a remarkable 99 percent. Surely most were bipeds.

[Posted at 15:04 CST on 11/01/02] [Link]