NYCPHP Meetup

[David Krings]

csnyder wrote:
> And by the way, the voting machines we use here in NYC are rumored to
> be corruptible... something about inserting a toothpick between the
> teeth of the gears of candidates that shouldn't win? We really have no
> idea what's happening when we pull that big lever.

What amazes me as traditional paper and pen voter is that each street corner 
in the US does elections their way. There are one armed bandits (apparently to 
make voting easier for those that go to casinos often), chads, the levers, the 
optical only scan, the touch screen, touch screen with paper receipt (to make 
voting easier for those who work in retail), and the pen and paper ballots. I 
am sure I missed a few more, somewhere in the fly over states is probably coin 
tossing, stick drawing, and bull riding the offical form of voting. And in 
presidential elections all that to elect 100 people that nobody ever knows 
about and who are not bound by the will of the people.
And then in some states voting is only done by absentee ballot. Sure, there is 
a paper ballot involved, but that is held for weeks and months in some 
'secure' space. That gives plenty of time to falsify those votes or just add a 
few thousand extra. Absentee ballots are for those that are absent on election 
day, not for everyone. But then again, which moron came up with the idea to 
have elections on a work day in November? No wonder why the turnout is always 
dismal. Other democracies cringe when less than 70% show up for elections, 
here in the US that would be considered record turnout.

And then there are states where dogs, cats, and dead people supposedly cast 
their votes. Or where mindless judges stop the counting. And then there are 
only two parties and maybe a few independent candidates. OK, there is the 
write in vote, but I wonder how one writes someone in using a lever machine.

I don't say other places are better, although I am very much in favour of 
voting only by pen and paper on a Sunday when the weather is likely to be good 
(means early or late summer). Other democracies also let legal residents vote 
in local and regional elections (several municipalities in Germany have 
turkish mayors), others have at least five or six major parties, and in 
general the way of casting a vote is the same across the nation. The way it is 
done here really makes me scratch my head and be surprised that people even 
get upset that stuff goes wrong. Of course it will go wrong, because most 
voting systems are designed to fail, such as the 80 year old lever machines 
that didn't get maintained for the past 40 years. Or the electronic voting 
that constantly is shown to be easy to fudge or even unreliable just on its own.

But why bother even with this, the rules aren't made in the parliaments, but 
they are made by the courts. US laws are often that broad and vague that it 
all comes down to how a particular judge interprets the law. And once done, 
precedence cases are often used more as a guidance than the law itself. I'm 
not saying other places are handling things better, it is just so different 
and without any rhyme or reason.

In that sense: Spongebob Squarepants for President!!!! Krabby Patties for 
everyone!!!!

David