NYTimes Features Upcoming FairVote Report

by Adam Fogel // Published July 21, 2008
The front page of today's New York Times features an article titled "Influx of Voters Expected to Test New Technology," which includes some original research conducted by staff here at FairVote. Our researchers are in the process of contacting local election officials to see if they have plans for the expected increase in voter participation this November. Results thus far have been mixed--most officials don't have written plans, but many large counties are taking past voter turnout and the increase in voter registration into account, which is a good thing. However, as I note in the article, many of these officials look at registration numbers several weeks before the voter registration deadline, which could cause long lines on Election Day.

The focus of the article is on the types of voting equipment states use, but the main issue our report will cover is how those machines are allocated in a fair way. I don't want one part of my quote to be misinterpreted. There are differences in voting equipment that matter greatly for counting ballots securely and transparently. What my comment is focused on is that whatever type of equipment is used this fall, we should make sure there are sufficient voting machines and poling places available to avoid people losing their vote due to long lines. You can see FairVote's position on voting equipment posted here.

Comment on NYTimes Features Upcoming FairVote Report

Current Discussion

  • it helped. As long as you don't screw this up by making it electronic and giving it to Diebold, you should be fine. And yes, it was posted to the wrong blog article. thanks anyway.

    Posted by Zazha Plonkenburg, 11/15/2008 (1 year ago)

  • @Zazha Plonkenburg: What does DISTRIBUTE eliminated candidate ballots mean? I think this question got posted to the wrong blog article, but it should be answered anyway. In an instant runoff election, when no candidate has a majority (50% + 1 vote), a candidate is eliminated from the race before the votes are counted again. That candidate's votes are redistributed (sometimes this is called "transferred") to each voter's next choice. If a voter's next choice has already been eliminated, then the vote moves to the voter's next choice after that. This process of elimination from the bottom up continues until one candidate has a majority. There's absolutely no trickery here. Every step of the way, every voter's vote is counted equally -- for the voter's highest ranked candidate who still has a chance of winning. I'm pretty sure your suggestion of multiple-part forms would make counting more complicated rather than less. Counting with ordinary one-part ballots is actually simple. You just need one pile per candidate. When a candidate is eliminated, separate the ballots in that pile according to the next-ranked candidate on each. If a ballot can't be transferred because the voter didn't rank all the candidates and the ones she did rank have all been eliminated, that ballot goes in the "exhausted pile" and no longer counts toward determining how many votes is a majority. Hope this helps.

    Posted by Bob Richard, 11/08/2008 (1 year ago)

  • What does DISTRIBUTE eliminated candidate ballots mean? This part seems like trickery to me. And please don't point me to to website. As for the processing, wouldn't it be simpler to have TWO ballots, attached to each other, but tearable by the counting election official, who checks for identical votes, but then puts the second choice ballot in a separate ballot box? In this way it's easier to process the votes. The 2nd ballot box only needs to be opened only if there's no majority. Think of the ballot paper as two Kleenex tissues still attached to each other via a perforated tear line. The first choice part has a different color than the second, lets say white and light yellow. 1. Voter hands in a double ballot, election official (EO) checks to see if the ballot is intact and still in two parts 2. On counting, the EO opens the ballotbox, checks if the names are distinct tears the ballot in two, and puts the ballots in their respective boxes. 3. If the counting of the first choice ballots don't produce a majority, then the 2nd choice ballot boxes are opened and counted. 4. if there's equal # of votes, a recount is started.

    Posted by Zazha Plonkenburg, 11/08/2008 (1 year ago)