Thursday, November 15, 2018

Counting all the votes in Florida

Florida is counting and recounting votes for senator and governor. We hear over and over “We just need to count all the votes.” From the Democrats on behalf the of candidates who are behind. I oppose what they want to do. Because they don’t tell you something very important: when they say that they mean to count illegal ballots and invalid ballots.

Illegal ballots. Only registered voters can vote. Noncitizens cannot vote. 
- You can vote only once; a second vote in the same election is illegal. 
- Felons: In Florida it is very difficult for a person convicted of a felony to regain the right to vote, so it is illegal for most to vote. (This provision is about to change.)

Invalid ballots. There is a deadline for mail-in ballots to arrive; a late ballot is invalid; cannot be counted. 
- Signature: The signature when voting is checked against the one collected when registering; non matching signature makes the ballot invalid. (Washington has a process to allow the voter to correct an error on this.)
- There surely are other actions that make a ballot invalid.

So when Honorable Chuck Schumer of New Your says “Just count all the votes,” he is demanding the county officials of Florida to violate the law they work under and count illegal and invalid ballots.

So what?? Every illegal or invalid balot cancels out the vote of one legally registered citizen. They cancel out your vote and my vote.  I say count all legal and valid ballots/votes and none of the others.