Bush Impedes Democracy

Texas Gov. George W. Bush's injunction to prevent the hand count in Palm Beach County, Fla. is undemocratic and unwise. By legally pursuing an end to the hand counting, Bush endorses the unfair moral pressure on Vice President Al Gore '69 to concede the election.

As of now, there is no pressing reason to decide the presidency, and it would be wrong to come to a conclusion on a matter of such great importance for reasons of expediency. Instead, Bush should agree to allow the judicial system to exercise its proper control over the election process in Florida. In this manner, the election can be decided in a fair, legal way that hopefully will most closely represent the will of the people.

Hand counting is generally a good means of ensuring a proper tally of votes, as humans should have the ultimate say over an election. Despite gradual trends toward mechanization, in the case of a very close election, a hand count returns the power of the election to a human authority. The punch-ballots used in Florida are particularly prone to computer error as ballots cannot be counted unless the paper covering a hole is completely removed. It is possible that the computers did not count ballots clearly demarcated for a particular candidate that did not have fully punched holes. A hand count would catch ballots that were not counted for this reason.

Bush's injunction against the hand count is particularly difficult to understand, as he signed into Texas law a measure that retains recourse to a hand count over a machine recount during close elections. Bush should recognize the fairness of a hand count, and he should stand firmly behind this aspect of the democratic process, which he himself had previously recognized.