Tally Sheet in the Wind

Q: When is a vote not a vote?
A: When it's in a locked box.

Lopez Obrador demanded that electoral officials carry out a manual ballot-by-ballot count, instead of just tallying vote totals as they have been doing.

But Luis Carlos Ugalde, president of the Federal Electoral Institute, said that was not possible.

"Mexican law is very clear on when a ballot box can be opened: only when there are problems with the vote tallies, when the tally sheet has obviously been changed, or when the box has been tampered with," Ugalde said.
. . .

Calling the election "the most democratic and cleanest in the history of Mexico," Calderon asked his rival and all Mexicans to erase the bitter divisions that arose during the lengthy campaign, and focus "not on our differences, but on our similarities." Source: http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2006/07/06/ ap/headlines/d8iml9o00.txt

At least Mexico has a VoteBox that can be touched, felt, caressed and, quite possibly, opened! (Or can it?)

In America, the United States, no one can look inside the box; it's proprietary, private property. And, how votes are counted is of no concern to the public.

Tally me ba-na-na . . .