Nathan Newman wrote, >It's an odd contradiction, but we need to see why voting rights challenges >are THE FUNDAMENTAL FIGHT in eletoral politics, far more important than any >third party diversions, because expanded franchise is a pure expansion of >worker power. First of all I want to acknowledge the importance of the work that Nathan and the Campaign for a Legal Election are doing and to thank them for it. At this point, strategically, I agree that voting rights are more important than a third party challenge. But that agreement is qualified by the fact that in the U.S. "two party system", third parties are necessary to ensure that the fundamental right to vote is something more than a formalism. In the 2000 election, the third party Nader campaign was largely about the sclerosis of that two-party system -- its fiduciary disconnect -- not about electing a third party's candidate. The aftermath of the election has confirmed that position, not invalidated it. The design of the Palm Beach ballot doesn't appear to have been a deliberate attempt to deny people the right to vote but an extraordinary act of distraction by a presumably well-meaning _Democratic_ election official. The first, second and third principles of good document design are TEST, TEST and TEST. The Palm Beach ballot could not have survived rigourous, realistic testing with a representative sample of the prospective voters. Period. This in an age where every sound bite of each candidate is focus group tested to a slippery patina. The contrast is striking and highlights not a deliberate fraud but a set of political priorities so systematically negligent that fraud and overt denial of the right to vote become superfluous. Having said that, it is important to focus on what is most important NOW, which is not recriminations against third party challengers or registered Democrat election officials. What is important now is the struggle to ensure the legal counting of votes and the protection of voter rights and to oppose the usurpation of those rights by a brokered "concession". Tom Walker Sandwichman and Deconsultant Bowen Island, BC
