To The Editor:
The bizarre audit of votes now going on in Arizona brought two remembrances to mind. First, when I was briefly incarcerated after an anti-war sit-in back in the 1960s, the guard would periodically count us to see that none of us had escaped (after we had all volunteered to be there in the first place). There were 50 guys in our barracks and if the guards did not get that number the first time, they would count again and keep doing so until they got the correct number once, and then they would go away. This was crazy and statistically unsound, but apparently it worked for them. The same philosophy seems to be being applied in Arizona – keep counting until you get the number you want.
Second, I recall my all-time favorite bumper sticker, which read: “Caution! I brake for hallucinations.” How long will we allow our elections and some of our politicians to carry on like this? It’s often difficult to see how this will end well or end at all.
Paul Hanke
Warren, VT
