| Pardon? There is little to expand upon. If the line was not voted, it was either deliberate, or an error. If it were deliberate, we have no right to impute intent, since the voter meant "none of the above". If it were an error, he has forfeited his vote on whatever line was not properly marked, just as he would if he had come to the polling place an hour after closing. Since there is a certain amount of spoiling, there is always provision to get a fresh ballot before final submission. If one does not avail oneself of that, it is perfectly possible that an error of intent will be misconstrued as an intent to vote a given line a certain way. Thus, any attempt to count undervotes is inherently conjectural. It also invites abuse, conscious or unconscious. Therefore, only in extreme circumstances, such as machine malfunction, should such expedients even be considered........ |
