Liberal Forum

Shoe's On The Other Foot NowIn Florida's 18th District, where Allen West [R] was challenged by Patrick Murphy [D], the counting of votes has been a complete debacle.A Circuit Court Judge in St. Lucie County has denied Florida's Republican Rep. Allen West's motion to order a re-tally of all early voting ballots in the county, after a partial re-tally of early votes last Sunday resulted in the disappearance of some 800 votes when the same paper ballots were run through the same machines a second time due to unexplained "issues" with the electronic tabulation systems the first time around. That initial re-tally had resulted in a net gain of some 500 votes by West.Clearly, some of the counting had been botched by the machines.http://www.bradblog.com/?p=9741Democrats have been complaining about these voting machines for years.How can we be sure of election results when the same ballots run through the same machines come up with a count that is different by 800 votes?Since the Circuit Court Judge denied West's motion for a re-tally of all early voting ballots in St. Lucie county, Allen West has now conceded the election.Maybe now, Republicans will take Democrats seriously, when they talk about the unreliability of these electronic voting machines.