Stealing votes

[teach1st]

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/07/21/Opinion/Stealing_votes.shtml

St. Petersburg Times Editorial, 7/21

Those who live in the tidy neighborhoods surrounding Crest Lake Park in Clearwater may think Florida lawmakers have done wonderfully managing schools and development growth and overburdened roads. Or they may think lawmakers are a bunch of fools. This much is for sure, though: They won't get to vote their convictions.

Their state senator is Dennis Jones, a Seminole chiropractor who's had the job two years. Their state representative is Kim Berfield, a Clearwater marketing consultant who has served for four. Both were re-elected automatically at noon Friday, once election qualifying ended and neither had an opponent.

Crest Lake is hardly alone in this growing political phenomenon. When it comes to electing senators and representatives in Florida, most voters never have a chance. This year's "elections," to use the term loosely, are little more than affirmations. Of the 121 House and Senate seats with an incumbent seeking re-election this fall, 61 were re-elected automatically and 15 will face only write-in or third-party candidates. Nearly two of every three incumbents will get the job again without so much as an interview.

The power of incumbency is only part of the equation. In fact, in the 21 House and Senate races without an incumbent this fall, seven are contested by candidates of only one party and four have no primaries at all. Remarkably, two candidates, Pinellas Sheriff Everett Rice for the House and Eustis state Rep.Carey Baker for the Senate, were elected without opposition to seats they have never held.

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[nodictators]

1. Texas has also "re-redistricted" Dems out of office

Anyone seen TV coverage of the Tom DeLay connection to packing the Texas legislature with Repubs by using allegedly illegal campaign money (from corporations)?

In Florida 2002, approximately 6 US House members were "elected" unopposed. Most were Repubs.

The redistricting trick is simple. Pile the Dems into heavily Dem districts, and spread the Repubs across carefully designed 55%-Repub, 45%-Dem districts.

[teach1st]

2. It's Democracy, version 2.0

The buggy version