Replies

People's Rep and I have had our differences, but I have to swing my support solidly behind him in terms of recall turnout. There is an immense amount of interest in this election, and - more to the point - it has compelling candidates people are enthusiastic about going out and supporting. Whether you're for McClintock or Schwarzenegger or even Ariana Huffington, you know that there is at least one person on the ballot who expresses your views in a way that could make you proud.

It's possible that I'm too much of a geek about this, but the ballot is also going to be less confusing than Congressman BillyBob thinks.

The order is going to look like this: (I'm using a random order of letters here, so don't hold me to that being correct):

Edwards
Evans
Santos
Schwarzenegger
Smith
Stevens
McAfee
McClintock
Munoz
(etc)

In other words, only the first letter is scrambled; the ballot is alphabetical past the first letter. So all you need to do is find your favourite letter and slip down the alphabet to your candidate of choice.

If that's reasonably well explained, I don't think it will be all that difficult.

Schwarzennegger does have a huge advantage in the length of his name, which will stand out like a sore thumb no matter what the order is. (I forget who pointed this out, but it's a perfectly valid observation).

D

Schwarzennegger does have a huge advantage in the length of his name, which will stand out like a sore thumb no matter what the order is.

Fascinating observation!

Gum

Well my whole point is just that I don't want people Out Of State to get the impression that we are getting jaded, or that this is like most elections. Its unlike anything I've ever seen, the mood here is rather intense. (The Demo's talking point of "circus" might give people the impression we are getting disconnected, but as my local friends keep telling me when I was yelling at the TV; I like circuses, they are fun.)

The turn out will be grand, a sight to behold.

So will the use of a vote as a referendum against liberal tax-and-spend politics. May it spread across the land like a wild fire.

My article would have been the same, even if I'd said nothing about total turnout. Laundry-list and difficult ballots have been researched to a fare-thee-well by people with way too much time on their hands (like my coilleagues in the Ph.D. program at American University).

The bottom line is absolutely established from long, hard, clear examples. The more complicated the ballot is, the less voters will be able to cast their votes successfully in accord with their intentions going into the voting booth. In fact, that's a general truth of human nature -- the harder it is to do anything, the fewer people will succeed in doing it.

The only reason we are not going to see months of litigation by lawyers in $1,000 suits with an ax to grind, after this election, on behalf of allegedly "disenfranchised" voters, is this: Gray Davis will be overwhelmingly recalled. Arnold Schwarzenegger will be overwhelmingly elected to replace him. The quarreled "votes" will be insufficient to change the results even if assumed all to go in the preferred direction.

I hope there is a higher turnout, rather than a lower one. The higher the turnout, the less likely it is that the California "public service" unions can swing the election in favor of Davis remaining, or worst case, Bustamante taking his place. (But the unions will have a tough time doing either, because they are going to suffer massive defections among the rank and file -- there will be "Ah-nold Democrats" just as there were "Reagan Democrats," though for slightly different reasons.)

I emphasize -- again -- that I am dealing with what IS based on facts on the ground, rather than what OUGHT TO BE based on pure theory. I have no objection to theoretical analysis and spend a lot of time on it. But that has nearly nothing to do with this unique election in California.

Billybob

In other words, only the first letter is scrambled; the ballot is alphabetical past the first letter. So all you need to do is find your favourite letter and slip down the alphabet to your candidate of choice.

Actually, from what I've read, the scrambled alphabet will be used for all letters in the sort, not just the first.

Thus, Mary [Carey] Cook and Gary Coleman come before Todd Carson since "O" comes before "A".

Schwarzennegger does have a huge advantage in the length of his name, which will stand out like a sore thumb no matter what the order is. (I forget who pointed this out, but it's a perfectly valid observation).

Actually, Arnold's Name isn't really that long compared with the others on the list:

DAVID LAUGHING HORSE ROBINSON
NED ROSCOE
DANIEL J. RAMIREZ
CHRISTOPHER RANKEN
JEFF RAINFORTH
KURT E. RIGHTMYER
DANIEL W. RICHARDS
KEVIN RICHTER
REVA RENEE RENZ
SHARON RUSHFORD
GEORGY RUSSELL
MICHAEL J. WOZNIAK
DANIEL T. WATTS
NATHAN WHITECLOUD WALTON
MAURICE WALKER
CHUCK WALKER
LINGEL H. WINTERS
C.T. WEBER
JIM WEIR
BRYAN QUINN
MICHAEL JACKSON
JOHN "JACK" MORTENSEN
DARRYL L. MOBLEY
JEFFREY L. MOCK
BRUCE MARGOLIN
GINO MARTORANA
PAUL MARIANO
ROBERT C. MANNHEIM
FRANK A. MACALUSO,_JR.
PAUL "CHIP" MAILANDER
DENNIS DUGGAN MCMAHON
MIKE MCNEILLY
MIKE P. MCCARTHY
BOB MCCLAIN
TOM MCCLINTOCK
JONATHAN MILLER
CARL A. MEHR
SCOTT A. MEDNICK
DORENE MUSILLI
VAN VO
PAUL W. VANN
JAMES M. VANDEVENTER,_JR.
BILL VAUGHN
MARC VALDEZ
MOHAMMAD ARIF
ANGELYNE
DOUGLAS ANDERSON
BROOKE ADAMS
IRIS ADAM
ALEX-ST._JAMES
JIM HOFFMANN
KEN HAMIDI
SARA ANN HANLON
IVAN A. HALL
JOHN J. "JACK" HICKEY
RALPH A. HERNANDEZ
C. STEPHEN HENDERSON
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON
ART BROWN
JOEL BRITTON
AUDIE BOCK
VIK S. BAJWA
BADI BADIOZAMANI
VIP BHOLA
JOHN W. BEARD
ED BEYER
JOHN CHRISTOPHER BURTON
CRUZ M. BUSTAMANTE
CHERYL BLY-CHESTER
B.E. SMITH
DAVID RONALD SAMS
JAMIE ROSEMARY SAFFORD
LAWRENCE STEVEN STRAUSS
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER
GEORGE B. SCHWARTZMAN
MIKE SCHMIER
DARRIN H. SCHEIDLE
BILL SIMON
RICHARD J. SIMMONS
CHRISTOPHER SPROUL
RANDALL D. SPRAGUE
TIM SYLVESTER
JACK LOYD GRISHAM
JAMES H. GREEN
GARRETT GRUENER
GEROLD LEE GORMAN
RICHARD ANDREW GOSSE
LEO GALLAGHER
JOE GUZZARDI
JON W. ZELLHOEFER
PAUL NAVE
ROBERT C. NEWMAN_II
BRIAN TRACY
A. LAVAR TAYLOR
WILLIAM TSANGARES
PATRICIA G. TILLEY
DIANE BEALL TEMPLIN
MARY "MARY CAREY" COOK
GARY COLEMAN
TODD CARSON
PETER MIGUEL CAMEJO
WILLIAM "BILL" S. CHAMBERS
MICHAEL CHELI
ROBERT CULLENBINE
D. (LOGAN DARROW) CLEMENTS
S. ISSA
BOB LYNN EDWARDS
ERIC KOREVAAR
STEPHEN L. KNAPP
KELLY P. KIMBALL
D.E. KESSINGER
EDWARD "ED" KENNEDY
TREK THUNDER KELLY
JERRY KUNZMAN
PETER V. UEBERROTH
BILL PRADY
DARIN PRICE
GREGORY J. PAWLIK
LEONARD PADILLA
RONALD JASON PALMIERI
CHARLES "CHUCK" PINEDA,_JR.
HEATHER PETERS
ROBERT "BUTCH" DOLE
SCOTT DAVIS
RONALD J. FRIEDMAN
GENE FORTE
DIANA FOSS
LORRAINE (ABNER ZURD) FONTANES
WARREN FARRELL
DAN FEINSTEIN
LARRY FLYNT
CALVIN Y. LOUIE_CPA
DICK LANE
TODD RICHARD LEWIS
GARY LEONARD

In other words, only the first letter is scrambled; the ballot is alphabetical past the first letter.

There was an explanation from California that this is not so. One of the candidates, whose name began with an "R" and the traditionally lowest second letter, had the same misunderstanding until it was explained by election officials. He will only actually be first in two districts.

but the ballot is also going to be less confusing

How many of you have checked recently on the general public's ability to alphabetize, much less the ability of minority groups (black or brown). Even today's secretary who is supposed to file a document alphabetically has trouble the first few times, and they were supposedly hired because of their language skills.

Go out on the street and ask the next 10 passers by to find a name in the "S's" of the 195 even in a list simply scrambled like post 26 is here. Better yet, check out the list in #36 and show that to people.

In short, this ballot is going to be impossible for a big majority of the population. Thee and me can deal with it, but we are, what, 0.1% of the population. Let's say that there are 10 times that many people who can alphabetize in their sleep. So the net result is that 99% of the population (voters) are likely to have considerable difficulty just finding the name they want.

It would have been better to have people write in their candidates. No list, just a blank space and a pencil. But then that would have been real discrimination because then you'd have to be able to write.

The above should suddenly make all the illegal alien's and entitlement recipients voting a non-issue.