If you want something done right, do it yourself, the old adage goes.
But whether that adage can apply to election systems is a major question in the voting rights world and one that Los Angeles County will be trying to answer this election cycle.
The county has 5.4 million registered voters, more than 42 states.
Which explains why 84 senators have an inordinate amount of power.
“”"“may have further opened the new system to criticism”""""".
It’s going to get it no matter how perfect it proves to be. That’s how we do things now. Talk ourselves down.
I noticed the Democrats are now concerned that there might be a brokered convention. 1 caucus and 1 primary in 2 small states have concluded, 48 to go with 99% of America’s population in them and Oh NO.
That’s how we do it now. We get “concerned” and then succumb to GOP’ers and Russians that manipulate that concern.
Did you get the part about LA having more people in it than the majority of American states? But it’s political weight is about that of Wyoming’s.
hand-marked paper ballots should be the standard offer to voters who can vote that way.
Finland, which votes on paper, has pretty much zero voter fraud, near 100% voter registration and total system confidence. E-voting was considered in 2008 and rejected. Despite large early voting and voting in absentia. Election materials, including ballots, are archived and can be studied back to 1906, more than a decade before independence.
“there’s no way for the poll worker to know if the discrepancy is the result of user error or was caused by some malfunction of the machine, including malfunctions caused by a bad actor.”
In other words, the GOP will have fakers go to the polls and claim that their votes were changed from GOP to Dem candidates.
I’m in California and will be using the mail in ballot they sent me. I had texts and emails from the county registrar of voters a couple of weeks ago to alert me that it was on its way and when it was delivered to my house. I will get a text when it’s received by the registrar of voters and when its counted.
Which will look like this:
Bernie & Co.: “Scrap the rules and say I win.”
Everyone else: “No, you agreed to the rules and procedures and we should see it through on that basis.”
Bernie & Co.: “Yes, but something something I’m entitled to win!”
Everyone else: “You are entitled to follow the rules and procedures you agreed to, not to changing them because you’re worried it will mean you won’t win.”
Bernie & Co.: “Rigged!!! RIIIIIIIGGGGED!!! We’re taking our votes and going home. Enjoy Trump’s second term.”
It’s not democracy unless they win. Social contracts, rules, procedures, laws even don’t apply when it comes to Bernie and his supporters getting what they want and believe they are entitled to have. What will THAT look like in the WH?
Oh wait…
Absolutely, and it’s pretty much blue, too, although I think the bluest part of the state is in the Bay Area.
Also, the fact that Los Angeles County is so populous makes the Rs who bragged about how many counties Aged Orange won laughable.
The Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters has been a hot mess since the 1980s, at least! These people would screw up a two car funeral if you spotted them the hearse!
Don’t know if it will be that bad. I’m no Bernie fan. I think Trump can beat all of the Democrats except Biden and perhaps Bloom. If I had my druthers Warren would be the next POTUS but that’s not likely to happen so Ill take the same position as most: I have my fave but I’ll vote any D that ends up in the spot.
Bernie’s fans are a divisive force in the American Left. Self defeating and adored by the GOP’ers for their uncanny ability to knock down a great Democrat and allow a fascistic GOP’er to take office and doing so in the name of Liberalism.
Re: only 4 candidates per screen and the “More” button issue - the issues can be mitigated by:
Alternatively, larger screens and/or a scrolling list would help. Whatever the solution, it should be required that the user sees all candidate names before a selection is allowed. Exception if the ballot allows straight-ticket voting.
You know, Senator Warren said last night that she would support the Dem nominee, regardless of who it is. I hope it’s her. We didn’t think Aged Orange could be elected, but he’s been stinking up the WH and everything else for over three years.
Bernie’s said the same thing. Getting Sanders to vote for the nominee isn’t the problem. Getting his supporters to is.
Paper ballots.
Enough is enough.
Not saying it can’t/shouldn’t be done, but there is a big difference between a population of 5.5 million (same as LA in the article) and 327 million. That is a lot of dead trees and warehouse space.
Its political weight in the Senate maybe. It’s weight in the electoral college and in the House is of course much larger than many states combined. It’s weight in society is maybe even larger.–how many billionaires who are buying democracy are from Wyoming. Not many. California lots and lots.
As long as you can fit the list of candidates all on one page.
And no butterfly designs.
Basically we need the highest possible turnout and I’m not sure that’s going to happen for some middle-of-the-road wishy washy candidate. I like Warren and Bernie for the enthusiasm of their supporters, the rest aren’t really the best motivation-wise.
The median population of US states is 7 million. All states smaller than that, 38 states, I believe get two senators nevertheless. To correct the senate imbalance slightly, it is reasonable to grant additional senators to every state with populations higher than 7 million, and another senator for every 7 million thereafter. Under such an arrangement California should have seven senators and Texas six, with New York and Florida each getting five. There would be 12 states with at least 3 senators.
I can see so very many disastrous holes in this system. Not showing all the candidates on one screen is a terrible choice, and will lead to litigation. What happens to the opportunity to print out the ballot if printers are down? (And what guarantees the the printed version matches the digital one, unless the code is all open source.) The barcoded voting pass seems like a screaming invitation to bad actors.
Now maybe they have answers for all of these questions. Maybe.