Court Upholds Gubernatorial Election in State of Washington

When Winston Churchill said that democracy is the worst system of government except for all the others mankind has tried, he was merely pointing out that any system is flawed and that democracy’s flaws, while real, are relatively benign. In recent American elections, the flaws are becoming more malignant. In the State of Washington, the election of a Democrat as governor was upheld on Monday by a judge who refused to make new laws – and the GOP complained while the Democrats essentially crowed over a broken system.

The problem with democracy is largely twofold. First, in most cases, the electorate is made up of average people. And the problem with the average person is contained in the adjective – average. When seeking professional assistance, one doesn’t go to an average doctor, lawyer or accountant – a person in need wants a good one. Second, the officials who run elections are also human and quite capable of making errors. A combination of average wisdom and imperfect operations will result in less-than-optimum results.

What has happened in the State of Washington, and across America with greater frequency over the last 10 years, is a rejection of close election results. Both parties are to blame. The Republicans routinely engage in efforts to hold down the number of voters in various areas, and with great deliberateness, they make electoral registration difficult. On the other side, the Democrats can’t produce their easy majorities anymore and believe (all evidence to the contrary) that there is a huge pool of voters who don’t turn up on election day because it is too onerous, time-consuming and boring. Part of their “solution” is “motor-voter” laws, making it possible to register to vote when one gets a driver’s license. Bearing in mind this is the same party that backs driver’s licenses for illegal aliens, this is a silly idea.

In Washington, the GOP carried the day back in November by 261 votes and a machine recount by 42. A hand recount resulted in the Democrat winning by 129, and the legislature ratified that. The GOP sued. Now, the issue seems dead, but there are some positives coming out of it. Dale Foreman, who was the Republican Party’s lawyer, said in his opening statement, "This is the biggest mess I've ever seen. The system is broken and it must be fixed."

And indeed, it is – all over America. When John Bolton (soon to be America’s UN Ambassador) arrived in Florida in the aftermath of the 2000 election, he announced, “I am John Bolton and I’m here to stop the count.” Quite an ad for America dmeocracy, halting a vote-count. In Washington, the Democrats’ lawyer, Jenny Durkin said, "It's not enough to show a mistake, it's not enough to show a bad mistake, and it's not enough to show a really bad mistake. In order to prove their case, they still have to show that Governor Gregoire did not receive the highest number of legal votes." Well, if the mistake is counting illegal votes . . . . The solution does not lie in more voting reform. Americans have become a nation of sore losers. Richard Nixon, for all his flaws, didn’t demand a recount in 1960 because he thought it would damage the nation and his own future. In the last 10 years, the number of electoral challenges in the US has doubled. Things have come to a pretty pass when Mr. Nixon is starting to look selfless.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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