Election results are still in doubt in Georgia, Florida, and Arizona. Because, of course.
Look. We’re quite obviously a pretty evenly divided country at the moment. One side or the other isn’t going to be happy with any final results in these races. It’s tough to lose and it’s even tougher to lose when it’s a close race.
But seriously. Have we learned nothing? In none of these races is there a pressing need to rush to any decision. The two Senate races will not change the balance of power in the Senate even if both races eventually go to Democrats. Florida and Georgia can survive without a called Governor’s race for at least a few weeks. Everybody needs to take a deep breath.
Of course, I’d personally like to see the Democrats win every one of the races. I’m an admitted partisan at this point and would thus be a horrible person to put in charge of the recounts. That said, I like to think I’m a fair person. Based only on what I’ve read, I’d guess that the Arizona Senate race is clearly a Democratic win and that the Georgia Governor race is clearly a Republican win. Both the Florida Senate and Governor races are tight and I have no clue. It’s Florida.
In any case, here’s my two cents: If we’d object to similar vote counting practices in a third-world country, why the hell would we accept them in ours? How hard is this? Votes matter. Rules matter. Follow the rules and count all the votes. Every damn vote. Don’t rush it. Do it right. Do it transparently.
This is, unfortunately, not a job for the courts. The Supreme Court lost a lot of credibility with a purely partisan vote in Bush v. Gore. They should have stayed in session until they could have issued a ruling – any ruling – with no less than a 7-2 majority. The 5-4 ruling deciding the American Presidency was an insult to democracy. As a direct result, any decisive court decisions in the current races would be questioned in terms of the makeup of whatever court had jurisdiction. In my humble opinion, the best a court could do is to appoint a neutral third-party, acceptable to both sides, to interpret the rules and evaluate ballots as necessary in each race.
For the love of God, please don’t just call any race for either side just because you can. We deserve better.