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Web posted Monday,
December 13, 2004
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Hand
counting of votes brings citizens together in
preserving democracy
From the House
By Bill Herbkersman
Special to the Carolina Morning News
Those
of us who were at Town Hall in Bluffton last
Tuesday night for the counting of the votes cast
in the municipal elections were treated to a rare
and vanishing bit of political
Americana.
Judge Cecil Reynolds and crew
did a creditable job of getting everything ready
for the gathering of the folks within minutes of
the closing of the polls. As the election
commission noted their individual counts, other
poll workers marked the individual votes on the
chalkboard.
Judge Reynolds called out the
votes on each ballot and the appropriate marks
were made, with every fifth vote for a candidate
causing the crowd to say, in unison, "tally" as
the diagonal cross was made over the four vertical
marks on the
wall. It was a ritual that may
soon be replaced by the soulless efficiency of the
electronic voting machine.
It is my hope
that we in Bluffton can hold out against this bit
of technology, as hand counting, even with all its
problems and time constraints, is a fundamental
rite of small town democracy. It reinforces the
important notion that we are all participants in a
process that chooses the leadership that will
guide us for the upcoming years.
It also
gives us a direct means of overthrowing the local
government every couple of years.
This
process of continuity with the possibility of
dramatic change (if needed) is essential to the
genius of democracy.
Last Tuesday, at the
end of the evening, after all the congratulations
for the re-elected Mayor Johnston and Councilman
Frazier, we were all still neighbors, all
Blufftonians. Even though there will be a runoff
between my friends Lisa Sulka and Robbie Cahill on
the 21st of this month, the process was served and
what needed doing, got done.
And speaking
of getting it done, the Beaufort County
Legislative Delegation is meeting this morning at
the Bluffton Town Hall at 10 a.m. We don't meet in
Bluffton too often, so I hope you will come out
and see how we conduct your business on the home
front. Part of the agenda will be appointing
commissions and taking care of end-of-the-year
house cleaning, as well as some pre-session
issues. So finish your coffee, put down the paper
and come on over to the Town Hall. We'll save you
a seat.
Still no word from the governor on
the disposition of the tax cap matter.
I
appreciate all of you who have written, called, or
e-mailed, hoping to get some insight into this
complex issue. When I know something, you will
hear the whole story from me. Right now, you know
about as much as we in the House and
Senate.
We are about to start a new session
pretty soon. There are a number of issues that
will have to do directly with us in the Bluffton
area. For example, one thing that is certain to
come up is the refunding of the Conservation Bank.
This bank gives us in District 118 an opportunity
to apply for funding to possibly preserve and
protect some of the natural treasures with which
we have been so amply blessed. As this moves
along, you will hear more details from me in this
space.
Whether it is in Columbia, or at
home in the Lowcountry, I am here for you.
That's why it's called the House of
Representatives.
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