133 reasons not to trust “recounts”

Trent England — of the ever-freedom-loving Evergreen Freedom Foundation — manages to write an entire op-ed warning that the Minnesota recount “recount” [adapted to the WSJ's scare-quotastic standards) might be a "sequel" to a previous electoral disaster without once mentioning the 2000 election in Florida. No, England's bugaboo is Christine Gregoire's 2004 election as governor of Washington -- one engineered in a dastardly conspiracy of ACORN, the "far-left" MoveOn.org, and...the number 133.

By the end [of Washington's 2004 gubernatorial election], 3,539 votes more than the number of voters who voted were tabulated. Four other swing counties provided an additional 4,880 mystery ballots. Ms. Gregoire was the victor by a margin of 133 votes.

That margin — 133 votes — happens to be the same number of ballots that Minneapolis election officials are currently missing. The initial vote tally in one Democrat-leaning precinct counted 133 more ballots than officials have been able to find for the Senate recounts. [emphasis mine]

The solution, England suggests, is to put all the disputed ballots on the interweb and allow partisan mudslinging to erupt full-force over who Lizard People actually voted for. Because, really, it’s all about the Republicans people.

The democratic process is too important to be disregarded until a virtual tie forces us to pay attention. Regardless of which candidates win our elections, the voters — not the vote counters — should win every time.

Just like the voters “won” the 2000 election, and took home eight years of George W. Bush as their prize.

(image of a 2000 Florida “butterfly” ballot from flickr user Rory Finneran under a Creative Commons license)