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Wednesday, December 17, 2008
On headgear, defective ballots
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two stories, one local and one national, point to the need to have absolute across-the-board standards that apply to all.
The local story concerns a Douglasville woman who was jailed after being declared in contempt of court for refusing to remove the hijab, head covering worn by Muslims. The court has a “no headgear” rule. It’s not clear whether the expletive she uttered after a bailiff denied her entry escalated the episode into the contempt citation, but the simple fact is that her head covering is at odds with court policy.
On now to Minnesota, where a panel that includes the Secretary of State, two state Supreme Court justices and two Minneapolis area judges are poring over thousands of ballots, mismarked or otherwise questionable, one by one. They’re trying to determine intent, for example, when the voter appeared to change his mind while marking the ballot.
It’s the Minnesota version of hanging chads. It may never be over. Somebody will always be convinced that every vote didn’t count and that the ultimate winner is illegitimate, which of course move the dispute into the U.S. Senate for partisans to decide. As of now, incumbent Republican Norm leads comedian Democrat Al Franken by 188 votes.
Both stories demonstrate the need to develop clear absolute standards. If any form of headgear is allowed, all forms should. The integrity of the justice system and public confidence in it requires clear and uniformly applied rules known to all.
The same should be the case for voting. We should get out of the “count every vote” business when voter intent is unclear or when the voter has failed to follow election law. Say “sorry — next time follow the rules” and ash-can the defective ballot.
There’ll still be controversy — there’s always a remedy. If you don’t like the law as written, change it.
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