51�Թ�

Democrats say the recurring scenario of leaning on them for must-pass bills is proof that even though Republicans are the majority party on the tally sheet, they don’t have a working majority because of their diminished forces and constant internal squabbling.

Now he’s scrambling to concoct labyrinthine hand-counting procedures: “For the races with a mismatch in vote totals, the Vote Tallier completes the header for the Recount tally sheet and records the vote for each race on the Batch Tally Sheet using hash marks in batches of five,” goes a typical line from his draft procedures.

After counting the votes, local officials take a photo of the final tally sheet and send the image to both the constituency and national tallying centres.

Shortly before the special meeting was announced, a González staffer texted her a photo of a printed tally sheet marked “Vote Counts” that listed the council members with boxes titled, “Approve,” “Decline” and “Other.”

I was stunned to see spinning conveyor wheels, whizzing hundreds of ballots past “counters,” who struggled to mark, on a tally sheet, each voter’s selection for the presidential and Senate races.