Imagine if this happened to your vote...
THE US presidential election provided some very strange images which people in this country found difficult to comprehend. First of all there were the long queues for polling stations with people having to wait up to three hours to cast their ballots. If that happened in Ireland, there would be riots across the nation.
Then there were the instances where polling stations ran short of ballot papers and solved the problem by use of a photocopier. The photocopied papers were then brought to the count centres where staff copied the voters' choice onto original papers for counting. Such a carry on here, and there would not be enough solicitors in all of County Wexford to handle the cases before the courts.
But I think most amusing, or shocking, of all were the scenes in a couple of Ohio polling stations when people voted for Obama and it turned into a vote for Romney. Can you just imagine the outrage here if someone went in to vote for Padge Reck and it turned into a number one for George Lawlor; a number one for Michael D'Arcy became a vote for Malcolm Byrne or Liam Twomey's voters looking on in horror as their support for the doctor became votes for taxdodger Mick Wallace?
In the US voters just accepted officials 'fixing' the machines and putting them back into service. I think a similar situation here would result in polling stations being stormed, ballot boxes smashed open and the papers inside set on fire. I certainly can't imagine Padge or Liam just shrugging their shoulders and saying 'Ah sure it was only a couple of votes'