lance_sibley (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lance_sibley) wrote2006-11-07 05:06 pm
lance_sibley) wrote2006-11-07 05:06 pm
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For my American friends.
Snagged from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gurudata:
Dear United States of America,
The headlines are full of articles noting that your electronic voting machines have been giving all kinds of problems today, during your "mid-term elections".
Since many of you like to go around proclaiming yourselves as being the "Champions and Defenders of Democracy", one might think that you guys had this whole "voting" thing down pat by now. However, since it appears that you do not, allow me to offer the following suggestion:
Here in Canada, we have this really cool high-tech voting mechanism. It is called a "pencil and paper". Let me explain how it works:
1) Some wise person takes the input media known as "a piece of paper" and prints on it the names of all the people who are running in this election. Next to each, their party affiliation (where applicable) and a circle is printed, making it very clear which party and circle go with which candidate.
2) In turn, every Canadian who gives a sufficient level of "a damn" is handed a some input media (aka "a ballot") and goes to stand behind a shield made of high-tech cardboard, where they find the "pencil" component of the input device. Using this pencil device, the voter places a symbol in the circle next to the name of the person they want to vote for. Elections Canada is even so nice as to provide a list of acceptable symbols in every voting booth.
3) The voter then uses a complex voting concealment method called "folding" to hide their selection as they take their ballot to the high-tech vote collection mechanism known as "a box with a hole in it" and insert their ballot.
Done. No fuss. No muss. Pencils never fail to boot or leave chads a-hanging.
I may be a technogeek, but sometimes, for some applications, I like simple solutions. :)
gurudata:Dear United States of America,
The headlines are full of articles noting that your electronic voting machines have been giving all kinds of problems today, during your "mid-term elections".
Since many of you like to go around proclaiming yourselves as being the "Champions and Defenders of Democracy", one might think that you guys had this whole "voting" thing down pat by now. However, since it appears that you do not, allow me to offer the following suggestion:
Here in Canada, we have this really cool high-tech voting mechanism. It is called a "pencil and paper". Let me explain how it works:
1) Some wise person takes the input media known as "a piece of paper" and prints on it the names of all the people who are running in this election. Next to each, their party affiliation (where applicable) and a circle is printed, making it very clear which party and circle go with which candidate.
2) In turn, every Canadian who gives a sufficient level of "a damn" is handed a some input media (aka "a ballot") and goes to stand behind a shield made of high-tech cardboard, where they find the "pencil" component of the input device. Using this pencil device, the voter places a symbol in the circle next to the name of the person they want to vote for. Elections Canada is even so nice as to provide a list of acceptable symbols in every voting booth.
3) The voter then uses a complex voting concealment method called "folding" to hide their selection as they take their ballot to the high-tech vote collection mechanism known as "a box with a hole in it" and insert their ballot.
Done. No fuss. No muss. Pencils never fail to boot or leave chads a-hanging.
I may be a technogeek, but sometimes, for some applications, I like simple solutions. :)
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Nice advice from someone from another country. *giggle*
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Damn, and I thought waiting until the next morning was bad.
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Ah, the dead horse that is the dreaded voting machines.
Nice advice from someone from another country. *giggle*
And yet, today's problems with those machines are filling OUR news! :)
Well, right after the whole Britney Spears thing, of course. Even Canadians have their priorities. :)
Cu,
Andrew
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Bush isn't my fault. I can sleep well at night knowing that. I can't blame voting machines for his place in the world. I blame the people who used them to elect him. Of course, my Mensa card prevents me from understanding what people see in the man.
The thing is, and I don't want to hijack this thread, if we had a new president this very second, nothing would change. A whole new government won't change anything. It would be a nice start, but the damage he has done will take decades to repair.
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Britney Spears thing? I'm sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about. Trailer trash isn't high on my list of things to give a shit about.
Neither do I, but that doesn't seem to have stopped it from dominating all of the news alerts. Why CNN and my local news radio station felt it newsworthy enough to send an email alert about, I have no idea, but that doesn't change the fact that they did.
The thing is, and I don't want to hijack this thread, if we had a new president this very second, nothing would change.
That's the subject of entirely different humour pieces, methinks. But even if true, it doesn't make today's reported problems with the voting machines any less hilarious.
Cu,
Andrew
no subject
But having a government in place that considers it damage that needs to be repaired would be a huge step in the right direction.
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Whenever someone at TrekBBS says that in response to criticism from a "dirty furriner," I always think, "But it's okay for your President to 'spread democracy' to other countries?" Somehow, though, they never seem to realize the irony of their reaction. ;)
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Just don't lump me in with those people who put Bush in charge. Not my fault.
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I know - I didn't mean to imply that I thought you had. (I'm pretty sure you've been quite clear on that in the past. :) ) I was using "you" and "your" in reference to the people I find myself debating. It wasn't aimed at you personally.
I'll get hell for saying this, but Iraq was better off with Saddam in charge.
I won't say anything. And if you do see a black van outside and hear a knock on the door, I'm sure we'll grant you asylum. ;)
Just don't lump me in with those people who put Bush in charge. Not my fault.
Again... not my intention. :)
no subject
Oh, I know. People seem to think because I'm Texan, that I support Bush. It gets old, lol. It doesn't help me much when I don't flock to one side or the other.
I tend to bitch more at the Dems, and that gets me lumped into the wrong bunch too. It's like loving a sports team, but bitching at the lousy players they present us with, you know? People take my criticism as a hostile thing. I just want good people in all the right places, and I just haven't seen a lot of that on the Dem side.