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June 01, 2006Stamp-gate continues...So Tony Payton's in as the Democratic nominee for state representative in the 179th District in North Philadelphia, but for how long? I've been following this story since primary election night and will continue to just to see what it can teach us about the electoral process here in Philadelphia. Apparently, the next step in the process, when an election is close, is to go to court. The lawyer for Payton's opponent, Emilio "Stampy" Vazquez pointed out that this one is far from over: A total of 212 Vazquez stamp marks were found in other spaces, but it is clear that the voters' intent was to vote for him for state representative, lawyer Ralph Teti argued. "This is not a case of voters' remorse," Teti said. "Due to a variety of factors - machine malfunctions, wrong instructions - people wound up putting the stamp mark in the wrong place, negating their vote." If the stray stamp marks had been counted, Vazquez would have won "in a walk," Teti said. So it appears my previous question about what grounds Vazquez has for a court battle has been answered. So the question remains, what is more important, the spirit of a person's vote and their intentions or the letter of the vote and their execution of the process? Posted by Dan at June 1, 2006 04:13 PMComments
Ralph it is not easy to say voter's intent when you are not in the booth with them. First lets say i went to vote and 2 to 4 people come running up to me and lets say the person that was there working for Vazquez was the only one that pestered me all the way in the door and i take the stamp just to shut him up. now lets say in public i say i will stamp the thing for Vazquez and when i go in the booth i stamp it for him but i really dont want him as my state rep so i stamp it in the committeepersons box does that now mean its a vote for him as a state rep (nope) now lets say i goto the booth and start out wanting to vote for him and as i hit the button for the write in i think to my self no never mind i wont vote for him so i close the window now does that go down as a vote for him (nope). no lets say he did everything right and got on the ballot and i goto vote and i vote for everyone and hit the green vote button and open the curtain and then say oh damn i forgot to vote for Vazquez and ask the judge can i go back in and vote for him what do you think the judge will say (no you allready voted sorry) i say that because if someone goes into that booth to vote and does not know what they are doing they should ask the election board thats what they are there for if you go into the booth without help and vote and you mess up then tht is their fault they should of asked so they might have put the stamp mark in the wrong box there is nothing that can be done not when it happened or now they messed up the blame is on Vazquez for not telling his people to tell the voters how to do the stamp right.. Ralph you can not change a vote by saying it was the voters intent because you do not know that voter. And to make another point what if i was working for Vazquez right and i also was a voter in that area to and i wanted him to win and i told everyone i knew to do this go into the voting booth and vote for him with the stamp but also in every other spot where you have someone running ( gov, state committee.committeeperson etc.) all they need to do it hit the write in on all the spots and stamp his name tell me Ralph that didnt happen if you were on the other side of this you would be saying thats what happened its over Tony won and Vazquez lost for the second time give it up Vazquez stay at the ppa thats where you belong.Dont become one of those guys that runs all the time thats really lame. Posted by: matt at June 2, 2006 08:10 PMPost a comment
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