Of course, what we are talking about here is those that fit into the population of people easily capable of understanding a linear ballot, but unable to comprehend candidates on the right with an arrow going to a middle hole. People that are confused by all ballots are not really part of the questioning here. Perhaps they should be, but whatever...
It would seem that most people capable of following arrows to the middle from the left, would be able to follow arrows from the right. An arrow is an arrow. It starts someplace, and it ends someplace. Having said that, one must admit that the Buchannan votes are beyond expectation, at least IMO. Is the explanation that some people did not follow the arrow to where it ended, but just punched a hole nearby? Maybe. I know if I voted without reading glasses, I would have one heck of a time seeing where the end of the arrow was. But then, I would have had the same problem following the left to right arrow, as the right to left arrow. Some people, perhaps, wouldn't. One can presume (I think), that because Gore's name had the left to right arrow, which conforms to the normal reading direction, that people not able to follow that arrow to its end (for the most part), may have had similar difficulties with only a left to right arrow configuration in a linear ballet. Those capable of following a left to right arrow, may well have been capable of inferring, that the right to left arrow from another name to another place...may have correlated to an intention of voting for that other particular person. Who knows, however. People are complex, and are subject to many different influences; And voting can be quite stressful.
As I said, IMO, the Buchannan vote is somewhat surprising. As to why???
The fact that all parties believed in good faith that they had designed a fair ballet, however, seems to make the question one for consideration of future prophylactic measures, rather than the impossible task of attempting redress for assumptions. Voter confusion should be kept to a minimum, and officials should be cognizant of an aging population. |
