ballot confusion?

[Marc Cramer <mc20@proteanspecialties.com>]

At 11:40 AM 11/8/00 -0800, you wrote:
>Dear Visionaries,
>	Attached is a copy of the Palm Beach, FL ballot that caused
>confusion yesterday.  
>
>Stephen Cooke
>
And it causes me confusion.  What format is the attachmnet that I had to
wait to load?

I have placed a graphic of the ballot here:
http://www.uidaho.edu/~cram3813/ballot.gif
or if you want one that will load faster, but with less clarity:
http://www.uidaho.edu/~cram3813/ballot.jpg
(These were shamelessly stolen from USA Today web site.)

Personally, I do not see the big confusion.  Box with name...big arrow
pointing to hole.  If it was consistent confusion, then does that mean
anyone wanting to vote for Nader (fourth one down on left) ended up voting
for McReynolds?  And exactly how many votes did Nader lose to McReynolds?
Probably none.  And since any votes counted for Nader was in the 7th hole,
does that mean he got votes meant for nobody--there are not 7 listings on
the left.

I am sure a few people were confused.  This is bound to happen whenever you
have this many people doing anything.  (I wonder how many bad votes there
were in uncontested races?  Surely that should be a no-brainer.)  But what
ticks me off is the whiners that think their person lost (as of this time I
don't know who won or lost) and then have to go file a law suit.  "It's
someone elses fault that I goofed!"  These people need to get a life or get
on with what little one they have.  

Maybe I am just more cautious than most.  But I considered voting a *VERY*
important thing to do.  When I finished with Idaho's amazingly simple
ballot, I pulled it out of the machine, leafed through the book looking at
the numbers listed next to the choices, and visually checked that the ones
that I punched were not on the card any more.  And that all of the others
still were.  Who's responsibility is it that I voted correctly?  Mine!  Not
the people working the poll areas, not the local government, not my
neighbor's dog.  I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR MY OWN ACTIONS!  I blame nobody else
for my vote.

Marc

(The opinions expressed herein are mine.  I hereby relieve any
lesser-enlightened entities the burden of assuming any responsibilities for
them in any way.)