In the article, McCartan says, "When the November 7 vote total in Florida turned out to be close enough to require an automatic machine recount, the Gore camp began looking for a way to steal the election from Bush." McCartan explained that recounts were asked for in three heavily Democratic counties rather than the entire state.

Using the formulation "steal the election" makes the Republicans look like victims here.

I would say that both the Democrats and Republicans are responsible for "stealing" the election from the U.S. electorate. Working-class candidates were denied access to the ballot and the media across the country. In Florida 30 percent of all Black men are permanently barred from voting because of felony convictions, and in the nation as a whole some 4.2 million citizens fall into this category. The obstacles, abuse, and other voting rights violations faced by Blacks, Haitian-Americans, and Latinos in Florida has been challenged by the NAACP.

Both parties are responsible for the above examples of denying people the democratic right to know what all the choices were and to be able to vote on their convictions. We will never know what the outcome of the election would have been had a truly fair election occurred. The Republicans accused the Democrats of trying to change the "legitimate" outcome of the Florida vote. Using the term "steal the election" lets the Republicans off the hook.

Edwin Fruit
Des Moines, Iowa

The letters column is an open forum for all viewpoints on subjects of interest to working people.

Please keep your letters brief. Where necessary they will be abridged. Please indicate if you prefer that your initials be used rather than your full name.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home