What's the Bell Curve?

The Board of Health recount was last night.  Well apparently part of it anyway.

Truth be told, I was going to stay away last night.  At about 7:45 P.M. I received a chain of text, and like the cat, curiosity did get the better of me. Off to Town Hall I went.

I have no first hand knowledge of what transpired before I arrived.  From what I understand, I missed the best part of the show, because from what I saw during the second half, the first had to be.

Before I go any further and perhaps spin out of control on the rant running through my vacant head, I think everyone might want to take a look at the standard that should be applied, and will be by courts when such matters get to the courts (and there is no doubt in my mind this one will, out of pure stubbornness if do no other reason).

All parties to a recount should keep in mind in their examination of the ballots that the will of the voters, if it can be determined with reasonable certainty, must be given effect. If the marks on the ballot fairly indicate the voter's intent, the vote should be counted in accordance with that intent, as long as the voter has essentially complied with the election law. The voter is not to be disenfranchised because of minor irregularities. Where, however, the ballot is marked in a way that leaves the intent of the voter unclear, the vote should not be counted (see Examples of Contested Ballot Marks). Kane v. Registrars of Voters, 328 Mass. 511, 518, 105 N.E. 2d 212, 216 (1952); Munn v. Dabrowski, 335 Mass. 41, 138 N.E. 2d 570, 573 (1956).  See How to Request a Recount, Sec. of Comm. Website

The key word is intent.  

If you are ambitious, I suggest you read the two cases sited in the above and go to the weblinks.  From what I saw last night apparently no one there did.

At this point, here is what we have.

Last night the ballots were counted.  DeTerra out polled Wethington by 1 vote. I haven't examined the recall petitions, but from what I heard there are something like 14 matters being challenged.  Because of less than complete satisfaction in the addressing of the 14 counts of the recount petition, the matter was recessed at about 10:10 P.M. or so.  Sound another round is being added to the fight staring at 6:00 P.M.

Skipping over about 4 or 5 pages of potential dissertation, the law is pretty clear as to what has to be done during a recount.  The law is also clear as to what the duties and obligations of the Board of Registers is.  

Bottom line, at some point a decision has to be made, and there best not be any punting.  I don't see anything in the rules allowing a punt. 

Here is the unfortunate part for some, the law seems pretty clear that it requires a decision.  So some people are actually going to have to make one, well in fact 14.  The law requires a determination.  Make the ones needed, and let the next step be taken.

Every player in last night's first half should have been well versed in their respective roles.  You didn't need to be more than just a casual observe to figure out that wasn't the case.  To use the always over used sport analogy, it looked more like spring training than game seven of the World Series.

It has been said that calamity is the test of integrity.  Well in this particular calamity, the test scores are all going to be pretty low.

Enough for today.  Be safe.