I don't believe the media was particularly biased. They showed a picture of what the ballot should look like. I saw the picture of the ballot on NBC news which is generally pro-Republican, which is one reason, I rarely watch NBC news nowadays. (Not only is it pro-Republican but it is pro-Microsoft).
The problem , according to voters in the Palm Beach area, was that they said that the ballot was difficult to read because of the alignment. These people are angry. They believe that they have been denied their right to vote. If you feel up to it, you might go down there and tell them that they were not confused. I'd be prepared for a fight though. You might end up with pie all over your face because they are furious.
I don't blame them. When I think back at the complicated ballots that I've had to look at over the years, I'm sure many people in other states have had problems.
In the past, when I voted an absentee ballot, I've had to poke holes in a ballot with a small pin that I had to remove from an envelope without first, sticking it into my finger. If that happened, I had to make sure my blood didn't end up on the ballot. Then, the next time around, they sent us a small stub pencil.
Finally, this year, the State of Washington produced a clear and clean ballot. You had only to fill in the blank next to the candidates name. What was interesting was that there was only the candidates name! As I recall the party affiliation of the candidate was not included. Also, the ballot had more than one page.
Since the public is focused on ballots, I think this is a good time to take aim at the people who compose the referendums or initiatives on the ballot.
In WA state we had to vote for or against major initiatives, such as mass transit. We were also asked to vote whether we would approve an initiative that would have required that 90% of spending on transportation would have to be used for road construction.
I could tell which initiative was about mass transit, but the other initiatives were so poorly written that I had to use a hand-out from the Governor's office to figure out what each initiative was about. I think that's terrible.
An initiative on a ballot should be written in clear and simple English.
A ballot should be prepared in a way so that a voter is not confused about which candidate he/she votes for.
JMOP
Mephisto |
