netmouse | (no subject)

Kucinich calls for recount in NH.

In the last year not a lot of people have been talking about the fact that two years ago lots of watchdog groups were saying we were not ready to have a presidential election we could depend on--many of the electronic ballot-counting systems were actually worse at the time (for accountability) than New Hampshire's, which at least appears to keep a copy of a physical ballot. I'm not sure how far we've gotten since then.

One analysis group reports of the NH primary that comparison of *some* hand-counted ballots with *all* the electronic ballots show eerily switched percentages for Obama and Clinton compared to the total count reported. What's that Scalzi was just saying about how hard Clinton would fight for this election? Seriously, though, numbers do weird things sometimes. It's not always a conspiracy. But I'd like to see a recount like this done at a time when no one can argue the whole national economy is waiting with baited breath for the results and that therefore (this argument never held water for me) we have to stop counting the votes. Please, please, please, let's not have another Florida/Ohio/etc. situation. This is America. We really ought to be able to get this voting thing down. It's not really that complicated.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This would the same UN that has the Sudan setting human rights standards? C'mon, give me a break... the US voting system isn't perfect and never will be perfect, but it's a far cry from what goes on in Third World countries such as Russia.

It's a far cry from what it could be now. There are more than a few groups out there trying to have election reform. The whole caucas/primary thing is horrid, not to mention the final election process is horriblely setup.

As our voting system stands now; if you like more than one person or really dislike one you end up in a very big quandry. If you vote for one of the people you like, you hurt the other while if you don't want someone elected (which is just as valid a choice) then you have to decide if the vote you're casting will go against that candidate or will it actually help them by pulling a vote from another.

A more elegant and fair method would be a rating scale. 1 to 10. Rate every candidate on the ballot from 1 to 10. At the end of the day just add the numbers up. Whomever got the highest score wins.

Simple and elegant. There are some excellent write ups of the different voting processes out there.

These are separate issues; proposed radical changes to how voting works — changes to how voting has worked for thousands of years — does not come under the heading of "problems" with accurate counting in our current system.

You're defining the category arbitrarily -- if the category is "Problems with our election system" (especially as effected through and illustrated by the current two-parties-dominant system) then comments as to how voting ought to be counted in order to enable the populace to elect people the populace wants to elect are very much on topic.

Accurate counting is needed either way, but I would also like to see different ways of tallying votes, e.g. the australian run-off ballot like we use for the Hugo Awards.

The comments started on the topic of accuracy in counting; that's a different conversation that methods of voting. I'm willing to have both conversations.

I happen to like the current system, and I also happen to like the electoral college. Other systems will produce different sociological results and I'd prefer to see them tested on a smaller scale before being introduced at a national level.

Since when is Russia a 3rd world country?

OK, a Third World country with nuclear weapons.

Russia is heartbreaking. If Americans lived there, the country would be extraordinarily wealthy; instead it's a kleptocracy with a declining birth rates and dropping life expectancies.

You have a very high opinion of Americans. I can't say that I share it.

"You have a very high opinion of Americans." Absolutely. The best country and the best people on the planet.

Well, as I said, I don't share that opinion. I'm of the opinion that, as a population, we are in great need of a dose of humility.

Yeah, when the 2000 presidential election was stolen, it was pilfered by old people in black robes with pens and gavels, not leather-booted Cossacks with bayonet- fixed Kalashnikovs.
'cause weez Civilized.

Ah. Well, my theory on that is that you should inform Mr. Gore that if you don't want to have the elections decided by a court, don't file a lawsuit.

We shouldn't fight about that here, however. Let's pick my blog or yours if we're going to duke this out.

Fair. I'd say let it drop: I cannot imagine any conclusion that's going to satisfy anyone on that topic, anyways.
No offense.

No offense offered, and no offense taken.

Appreciated, particularly in the current climate.