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Part of the difficulty with this administration is it has acted so egregiously in so many ways that even good ideas take on sinister overtones.
The head of a bipartisan elections commission called on the government to create guidelines for canceling or rescheduling elections in the wake of a major terrorist attack.
Enough to set off your liberal radar? After all, the administration would just love to derail elections if it looked like Bush was going to lose....
Except for one problem. What the commissioner is recommending is a damned good idea. Such a good idea, as a matter of fact, that I am somewhat appalled that this is only just being discussed now and not much sooner.
I don't know about you, but I *do* want guidelines in place. I *do* want it spelled out exactly under what conditions elections can be called off. I *do* want time limits for rescheduling elections written into law. The worst thing I can think of would be for no guidelines to be in place, and the administration being able to ram through a cancellation or significant postponement of elections in the wake of a terrorist incident.
"Look at the possibilities. If the federal government were to cancel an election or suspend an election, it has tremendous political implications. If the federal government chose not to suspend an election it has political implications," said Soaries, a Republican and former secretary of state of New Jersey.
"Who makes the call, under what circumstances is the call made, what are the constitutional implications?" he said. "I think we have to err on the side of transparency to protect the voting rights of the country."
Exactly.
The head of a bipartisan elections commission called on the government to create guidelines for canceling or rescheduling elections in the wake of a major terrorist attack.
Enough to set off your liberal radar? After all, the administration would just love to derail elections if it looked like Bush was going to lose....
Except for one problem. What the commissioner is recommending is a damned good idea. Such a good idea, as a matter of fact, that I am somewhat appalled that this is only just being discussed now and not much sooner.
I don't know about you, but I *do* want guidelines in place. I *do* want it spelled out exactly under what conditions elections can be called off. I *do* want time limits for rescheduling elections written into law. The worst thing I can think of would be for no guidelines to be in place, and the administration being able to ram through a cancellation or significant postponement of elections in the wake of a terrorist incident.
"Look at the possibilities. If the federal government were to cancel an election or suspend an election, it has tremendous political implications. If the federal government chose not to suspend an election it has political implications," said Soaries, a Republican and former secretary of state of New Jersey.
"Who makes the call, under what circumstances is the call made, what are the constitutional implications?" he said. "I think we have to err on the side of transparency to protect the voting rights of the country."
Exactly.
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From:
Re: The trouble is ...
Personally, I think that if the Administration were going to go that route they would anyway whether or not there were guidleines in place. Which is exactly why spelling out in very narrow terms what is allowable and not is a very good idea. I think it is interesting that the Department of Homeland Security has not been on board with this: if anything, it would restrict what they could do. I myself would be very happy if there was a guideline in place stating that, in the event of a terrorist attack occurring (*not* imminent) that the elections would be postponed, say, two weeks. I would much rather that than have the administration in the wake of such an attack saying "We need to suspend elections for a couple of months." After all, in the wake of such an attack, they might just get such a thing through Congress. It's also worth noting that 9/11/2001 was an election day in NYC, and those elections were postponed.
I'm also surprised that there are no election guidelines dealing with natural disasters. November is past hurricane season, but freak blizzards have happened in New England in November, not to mention fires and earthquakes in the Calfornia.