If Americans have a president by springtime, they will be lucky
Republicans and Democrats alike want a speedy, clear end result and the actions they're taking to ensure that are actually likely to deliver the opposite: a delayed and unclear end result.
"If we have a president by springtime, we'll be doin' good," was how one polling station official put it to me. She and her colleagues were outnumbered, in the southwest Florida civic building, by lawyers and overseas observers. They were resigned to the former and resentful of the latter. America, the guardian and exemplar of democracy, SENDS observers to keep an eye on elections in Africa and other areas where the process might be a bit dodgy. During this presidential election, however, overseas observers are turning up in the United States to monitor standards in the homeland. The notion that a Peruvian would have some kind of overseer or scrutineer role in ensuring the proper running of an American election drives the volunteers in the polling stations nuts. Or would, if they had the time.
