Dan, OT: Election, protest votes, dimpled chads...
RE: "The number of people who bothered to vote, pressed hard enough on one candidates chad to indent it, but meant to not vote has got to be limited to about 3 people in the whole state."
There are some people who are certain they KNOW what others intended, and some that can't imagine any way to know for CERTAIN what voters intended if the required mark doesn't exist as expected and required (whether it's an X, punchout, blackened circle, whatever).
You are saying the protest vote HAS to be limited. Just because it's "clear" to you?
Conclusions with no data are always scary. dmf
BTW I understand Barry's thoughts on the questionable dimpled chads. With a nod to Senator Kerry, if the voter is incapable of punching out the chad, as evidenced by the complete absence of any punchouts on his/her card, perhaps a dimple does indicate a vote.
Still, we wouldn't KNOW and I wouldn't count it. I would counsel voters to ask for help before or during voting so they could make their choice KNOWN rather than discerned.
One of my close family members needed someone to go in the voting booth with him to make certain he voted correctly. Not sure how they did it, but information was requested in advance and it was arranged so the voter could vote with confidence.
For Mary and the baseball fans, we're talking about "designated punchers" here <g>. Gotta keep laughing through all this...
After this election, those of us who worry that the rules are just in place to let us think that we have a say have more reasons to worry. The paranoid survive...I hope. |
