Arthur said:
You forgot that Canada is going to the polls this coming Tuesday, right
after our Thanksgiving holiday (hey, things get colder sooner up here!)...
Our election was called (it wasn't supposed to occur until a year from
now) at the beginning of September, and 40 or so days later we're
voting. The opposition parties hardly had the time to select
candidates, and several had to drop out as scandals have unfolded about
them. A strategic voting system has been designed on the web by some
people, and is getting traction, and another website is offering vote
matching so people who are "forced" to vote a certain way in their
riding to make sure the Conservatives don't get back into power, can
trade their vote with someone who promises to vote in their riding for
the candidate. This is necessary this election because while there is
basically on viable Right Wing party, there are 4 or more on the other
side, and the fear is the Right Wing will walk up the center and win.
The way things stand about 30% of the vote can win a position as a
result of the many parties.
As to my error... maybe I was just a bit distracted as about 40% of my
net worth slide away between the stock market and the fact that the Can
currency went from about 92-94 US cents per CAN $, to 83 US cents per
Can $, meaning our imports will be up about 15% or more, and we now have
half the money to spend!
I'm voting for Jimmy Carter, myself ;-)
Art
Don't get me started on elections. I'm a voting inspector in my county,
one of the folks that check to see if voters are properly registered
before allowing them to vote, and we operate the voting machines, too.
NY dragged it's collective feet in complying with HAVA (Help America
Vote Act. Sigh. Why do they need these cutsey names?), and this election
is the first where the new "Accessible" voting machines will be used by
those with "Special Needs." (I believe that is the currently politically
correct term, anyway.) The ballot marker device will be used, but since
the optical scanner part hasn't been "verified" yet, most people will be
using the old lever machines.
Thank God for small favors. The new machine is a disaster to set up. The
swivel joints of the screen are so tight that only the stronger half of
the general population will be able to move it from storage/transport
into operating position. They tell us they will get better with use, but
why couldn't they have put tension adjusting hand wheels on those
joints? This is a single-purpose machine, yet it takes nearly five
minutes to boot up. My Linux computer takes just a shade over two
minutes, and it has a lot more to do than this device. Anybody can use
the device if they so choose, but it will take around 25 minutes to
vote, and there's no way to speed it up for those with fewer special
needs than others. Whoever programmed that software should be fired.
I don't automatically resist change, but I don't want to change unless
it's for the better, and these machines are not for the better. We've
used one version or another of the lever machines for 100 years. People
trust them, and they have been reliable. I seriously doubt these
machines will be used for more than 15 or 20 years, if that.
TJ