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Editorials
Monday, November 20, 2000Florida court action
may not be the endThe issue: The Florida Supreme Court was to hear arguments today about whether to allow manual recounts in the presidential election.
NEARLY two weeks after the presidential election, Florida's Supreme Court was to hear arguments today about whether to include manual recounts that were incomplete at the deadline set by Florida's secretary of state. But the process could take even longer. The final result, once it is certified, may be open to further challenge.
Partisan bickering has not been surprising in this rare circumstance. Candidates challenging election results generally target recounts at specific jurisdictions that they believe would favor them. Vice President Al Gore targeted a few specific counties in Florida but finally said he would welcome a statewide manual recount. Texas Gov. George W. Bush wants no recounts at all.
Katherine Harris, the Republican secretary of state and co-chairman of the Bush campaign in the state, not surprisingly applied the discretion allowed to her by law to reject late recounts. A circuit judge last Tuesday upheld her decision, but the state's high court blocked Harris on Friday from certifying the final results of the election.
She had planned the announce the winner after the Friday midnight deadline for receiving overseas absentee ballots and counting them. "The American people want to make sure that every vote counts and every vote is counted fairly and accurate," Gore said after the Supreme Court's order blocking Harris' certification. "The citizens of Florida want the candidate who got the most votes in Florida to be determined the winner in that state."
Manual recounts have gone forward in only four of Florida's 67 counties. Gore has said he would agree to a statewide manual recount. As exhaustive as that would be, it may be the most fair and thorough solution. If the results were certified before such an extensive recount, the loser would be allowed, under Florida law, to demand recounts of specified counties, or all of them.
As weary as the public has become about the uncertainty of the election, the time taken to assure an accurate counting is not causing substantial harm. The winner may have a somewhat abbreviated time to organize a transition to the White House, but that poses no threat to a smooth transition.
If the Florida Supreme Court's ruling after today's hearing does not become the final word, we must just wait a little longer.
The status of women
How appropriate that, during this week of upcoming Thanksgiving festivities, women in Hawaii are reminded of a few more things to be grateful for, according to a recently released report by the Institute for Women's Policy Research. The study titled "Status of Women in Hawaii" shows wahine in the islands are among the healthiest in the nation and rank high in the number who own their own businesses. They also got good grades for reproductive rights and economic autonomy.
However, Hawaii occupies the cellar among the 50 states when it comes to the number of women who actually venture to the polls, and ranks 49th in voter registration. This dubious distinction should motivate isle women, as well as movers and shakers in government, political parties and community groups, to step up their efforts to increase voter turnout and participation among the state's female population.
This is especially compelling in light of the close presidential election and a potentially fractious battle for the governorship in 2002. If Hawaii's women are to improve their standing in the community, they must become more of a voting force.
Does Hawaii want the continued ignominious distinction of ranking in the lower half of states for women in poverty, or its high rate of single mothers with children struggling to survive under the poverty level, points out Leslie Wilkins of Maui, chairwoman of the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women.
The report concludes that women in Hawaii and throughout the United States need better political representation, adequate and affordable policies that affect child care and other matters of economic survival, and stronger enforcement of equal opportunity laws to improve their well-being.
This is why members of next year's Legislature should remember the results of this report if they are truly responsible to their entire constituencies. The fact that most legislators are male, and therefore may have different priorities than women lawmakers, does not excuse them from ignoring the needs of half of Hawaii's population.
In fact, could it be that issues especially vital to women, such as child care, caregiver responsibilities and family support, are often so low a priority in the Legislature that women have become disenchanted with the political system?
The new leaderships in both the state Senate and House can demonstrate how truly supportive they are of the often forgotten gender by paying special attention to the agendas of various women's political caucuses both within and outside the state Capitol. If not, they may feel the backlash of disenfranchised women who might rectify the situation by doing a number of things, including running for office themselves or voting out unsupportive male incumbents.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
