Virginia Official Pulls Republican’s Name From Bowl to Pick Winner of Tied Race

[Orpheus]

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;53033889]When a panel of conniving GOP conspirators blatantly violated election law to count an spoiled vote that did not clearly indicate either candidate as a vote for [I]their[/I] candidate, is it really such a leap in judgment to say they'd take it one step further and just rig the fuckin' bowl? The first is a much more complex affair than the second.[/QUOTE]
The Virginia secretary of state went on NPR about a week ago to explain the process, saying that after the winning name was drawn the second name would be drawn and shown to the public, to prove that both names were actually in the hat.

[Sgman91]

[QUOTE=Sherow_Xx;53040754]That's fucking terrible. It straight up gives whoever is counting the vote the power to decide who the vote goes to, since they can arbitrarily decide whether a slash means [I]"actually this is my choice"[/I] or [I]"never mind i didn't mean this one"[/I].[/QUOTE]

Not really, if there's a questionable ballot, like the one in question, it is brought before a panel of judges who make the decision.

[Bob The Knob]

[media]https://twitter.com/shelly_simonds/status/951126047306797059[/media]

[Sgman91]

[QUOTE=Bob The Knob;53041343][media]https://twitter.com/shelly_simonds/status/951126047306797059[/media][/QUOTE]

Darn, I really wanted her to do the recount.

[catbarf]

[QUOTE=Sherow_Xx;53040754]That's why the rules must be "mark one and only one or your vote is void", people should be expected to have made up their minds once they put down their mark.[/QUOTE]

'Follow the rules explicitly or your vote doesn't count' is undemocratic and just as easily exploited (as it historically has been). I'd prefer that our polling system makes a good-faith attempt to ascertain the intent of a ballot and ensure that everyone's voice is heard, rather than dismiss any ballot done incorrectly. Having a panel make that call is really the best way to handle it.

[Sgman91]

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;53032975]Despite extreme gerrymandering, a Democrat won Virginia. The GOP then violated all established election laws to count a faulty vote in favor of their own candidate, creating a false pretense for a tie, and then "conveniently" drawing their candidate's name from a fucking [I]bowl[/I] to break said tie. They fabricated a vote, and then faked a random choice, all because of the will of the people threatened their power. Crooks. The lot of them.[/QUOTE]

Can I point out that this is a completely false summation of the facts in this case?

1) They didn't break any election laws.
2) The official Virginia Guide on how to count votes allows for votes with multiple marks to be counted if there are clarifying marks.
3) A panel of judges, not the republicans, decided on whether to allow the questionable ballot.
3) There's absolutely zero evidence that the draw out of the bowl was in any way rigged.