12 July 2004

Election day worries? I'll say...

Last week I got a little nervous when the Bush administration began talking up the possibility of terrorists disruption the election. Now I read this.

Here's a quote:

DeForest B. Soaries Jr., chairman of the newly created U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Soaries noted that, while a primary election in New York on September 11, 2001, was quickly suspended by that state's Board of Elections after the attacks that morning, "the federal government has no agency that has the statutory authority to cancel and reschedule a federal election." Soaries, a Bush appointee who two years ago was an unsuccessful GOP candidate for Congress, wants Ridge to seek emergency legislation from Congress empowering his agency to make such a call.


Should any arm of government be given the power to postpone an election that could unseat it?!

Addendum:
Note that want to "determine what steps need to be taken to secure the election." Consider the following from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

secure \Se*cure"\, v. t.
1. To make safe; to relieve from apprehensions of, or exposure to, danger; to guard; to protect.
2. To put beyond hazard of losing or of not receiving; to make certain; to assure; to insure;

Which definition do you think they mean?

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