If I can throw in my two bits, from watching Florida elections since my family moved there in '57. The key to the mess is INCOMPETANCE. No state I've lived in since is so well quallified to be a demonstration of total incompetance in action. I predicted two years ago that the fix would be as bad as the problem.

There are many other states with technical problems like Florida, and some more with serious corruption problems, but they didn't get the headlines then because none of them teetered on the balance point. The exception was New Mexico, which didn't have enough electoral college votes to make a difference, and was ignored.

IMHO, the evil in the florida election was in the eye of the partisan beholders, and the reasons for the mess were incompetance on every side. Both parties were as organized as a litter of puppies with diarrhea, and that goes double for the so-called "Election Supervisors".

One final point, in the problem counties of Florida, and quite likely in your own state, the problems had been know for decades, but the county commissions penny pinched the fixes and assigned them to political cronies. Most elections aren't close enough for the mistakes to make a difference, and the public's memory is short.

Jeff Smith