InfoD-Cafe: Re: Stupid Voters/InfoD Visibility

[Gunnar Swanson]

On Oct 28, 2004, at 9:18 PM, Loren R. Needles wrote:
> States there are 4,000 plus counties each creating their best guess of 
> a passable ballot design in some back office with scant specialized 
> know how. How much would it take for a few universities and colleges 
> to put together a consortium of professors and grad students to nail 
> down best practices? 

The big desire for most local officials is a simple set of rules. 
People tend to see the questions as simpler than they are.

Two years ago here in California we had an election where the most 
important question was whether Gray Davis would be removed as governor. 
My local assistant registrar followed what he saw as fair procedure and 
ended up with a first page with two propositions and the recall: 
http://www.gunnarswanson.com/BallotA

When I objected that the most important thing on the ballot seems to 
disappear, the assistant registrar told the local newspaper that he 
found the issue surprising and that "You can't please everyone."

Gunnar
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