(Montana) Recount ends in a tie, legal action

[Tab]

HELENA (AP) - A two-day recount of a Montana legislative race that will determine the balance of power in the state House resulted in a tie Tuesday, prompting an immediate legal challenge and sparking partisan allegations of wrongdoing.
...
Windham, who contends five ballots were illegally counted for Jore, obtained a court order Tuesday that prohibits Secretary of State Bob Brown from certifying results of the recount and bars Gov. Judy Martz from appointing someone to the crucial seat.

The winner will determine the political muscle in the House.
...
District Judge Jeffrey Sherlock of Helena granted Windham's request for a temporary restraining order against Republicans Brown and Martz based on her allegation that the recount board illegally assigned to Jore five ballots that had marks by the names of Jore and Republican candidate Jack Cross.

On four ballots, an “X” over the mark for Cross was interpreted as indicating that vote was canceled in favor of Jore. The fifth ballot had a “squiggly” line next to Cross' name.
http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?ts=1&display=rednews/2004/11/30/build/state/12-house-recount.inc

[forintegrity]

1. Jeezz...how hard can it be

to have ballots where everyone can clearly indicate which candidate they want! This is the 21st century isn't it? Will we ever stop f... around and make it simple, straight-forward, and understandable to all voters how to do this? This is so crazy!!!

[Stinky The Clown]

2. Obfuscation and Confusion Good. Clarity Bad.

[PeteGammons]

3. Why are you blaming the ballots...

...instead of the idiots that didn't use them properly? Have you seen them? What, exactly, was wrong with them?

[ClarkUSA]

4. Are all the Democrats with Fight in Them In the West?

First, Christine Gregoire isn't going down without a fight, now the Dems in
Montana are doing us proud.

Paging Kerry/Edwards ...

[Ediacara]

6. 2004 was a great year for Montana dems

We won the Governorship for the first time in like 20 years, the State Senate, this one race will decide the state House, we won all statewide offices but one (and that was lost by <1%), and I'm convinced had Kerry spent money here, he would have won in Montana.

[trotsky]

5. Attack the voters?

Hmm, I think the government did try to weed out the "ignorant" voters a while back - by using LITERACY TESTS to disenfranchise freed slaves.

Listen up, buddy: you don't have to pass an intelligence test to exercise your right to vote. Ballot design should make it impossible to get confusing votes that end up in dispute. Don't blame voters - that was a very common attack that Repukes made on the butterly ballot voters in 2000.

[Egalitarian]

7. The one i used

in the county to the just north of Lake County (where the dispute is) simply asked me to completely darken the oval next to my choice. In several places signs were posted showing how the oval needed to be completely darkened, not a half assed attempt.

What poor reporting. NO mention of whether or not Montana has a law in place to guide decision making for disputes such as this. And then the writer brings up the X next to the republican candidate as an assumed vote for the libertarian? WTF? Wouldn't an X be someone's lazy attempt at making their selection?

[kurtyboy]

8. I dunno--maybe they grew up fifty years before you did

And employ methods of selection that are related to what they learned years ago.

Or maybe they're from another country where an X through a name meant something different.

Or maybe they just misread the instructions because the schools have done such a shitty job of enhancing students' comprehensive skills.

THEY ARE STILL CITIZENS!!!

Their vote ought to count--whichever party is the beneficiary.

Or maybe only those voters who can follow instructions perfectly ought to be able to have their wishes followed---Jim Crow worked like that.......

[Egalitarian]

9. I'm not suggesting their vote shouldn't count

Good points about why they might have not followed the rules. I think I just called it a lazy attempt. The irony is that the writer of the article implies that an X over the republican candidate would indicate a vote for the libertarian and that a squiggly next to the libertarian would imply a vote for that candidate. I'll buy the second assumption if the voter made all selections thes way, but not if it's inconsistent with the rest of the ballot.