Thursday, November 8, 2012

Voting in Florida - America's Third World Country


                                             November 8 2012

Editor,
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Sarasota Florida


Dear Editor

Nearly 48 hours after the polls closed in Florida and still we do not have a final count of the ballots for President.  Forty nine other states and the trust territories have figured out how to count ballots and submit their results but not Florida.  Its bad enough that through legislative fiat we were subjected to voter suppression when it came to early voting, now we are subjected to vote suppression by a system that seems to work only some of the time.

This year for the second Presidential election in a row, the United Nations felt compelled to send poll watchers to the United States to ensure that our election was legitimate.  That is usually something that President Jimmy Carter does every other year when he travels to Somalia or somewhere else to ensure that fledgling democracies are voting properly.  Florida's election system is apparently on par with those third world countries where it takes days upon days determine final results.

Changing the embarrassing way in which Florida conducts its elections will require the concerted efforts of the legislature and the Secretary of State.  However they are they same individuals who are probably taking great joy in watching the pandemonium that continues.  Florida takes great pride in marketing itself as a world leader in tourism.  Yet every four years it seems Florida reverts back to being America's domestic third world country.


 Craig Faanes

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