Monday, October 25, 2004
Election idiocy
You've GOT to be kidding me.
Below, you'll see an actual absentee ballot being used in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Let's say you wanted to vote for George Bush (god forbid!). Which box would you check? Probably the one highlighted here in green, yes?
Wrong. To vote for George Bush, you'd need to check the box highlighted in RED. (box 4, like the arrow says). The John Kerry box is in blue.
Have we, as a nation, lost our fucking minds? How did the world's greatest democracy forget the recipe for holding an election? Does anybody remember the clusterfuck in Florida 4 years ago? We're not just quibbling here about nuances of design taste; we're talking about the legitimacy of a presidential election!
Here's a picture of the recent Afghani presidential ballot:
Notice how it's designed so that even people who can't read can still be confident that they're voting for the person they want? It lists the candidate's name, a photo of that candidate, the name of the political party they represent, and the symbol of that political party. And there, perfectly aligned with all that information, is an oversized white box into which one can put a big fact "X." Those white boxes aren't all jumbled up at the bottom of the page like some brain-teaser on the back of a cereal box. They aren't on some separate piece of paper somewhere else.
And these people have never held an election before! Ever! Not even once! They were run by the Taliban, and before that, the Soviets, and before that, they had a fucking KING!
Designing a ballot doesn't require the assistance of Edward Tufte, it just requires one rational person to design it, and a small group comprised of other rational people should be able to critique it and sign off on the design. The procedure is essentially the same one employed when the folks down in Human Resources write a memo amending the office dress code. Isn't that an attainable goal? Isn't that bar low enough even for the stupidest of election officials?
Alright, alright. I know. I'm blowing my top. I'll be quiet now. Just one more thing. Different topic: The election's about a week away. Keep your eyes peeled for Republican Dirty Tricks. As election day approaches and Rove starts to panic...
Thanks to H8ful favorite electoral-vote.com for the assist on this one.
Below, you'll see an actual absentee ballot being used in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Let's say you wanted to vote for George Bush (god forbid!). Which box would you check? Probably the one highlighted here in green, yes?
Wrong. To vote for George Bush, you'd need to check the box highlighted in RED. (box 4, like the arrow says). The John Kerry box is in blue.
Have we, as a nation, lost our fucking minds? How did the world's greatest democracy forget the recipe for holding an election? Does anybody remember the clusterfuck in Florida 4 years ago? We're not just quibbling here about nuances of design taste; we're talking about the legitimacy of a presidential election!
Here's a picture of the recent Afghani presidential ballot:
Notice how it's designed so that even people who can't read can still be confident that they're voting for the person they want? It lists the candidate's name, a photo of that candidate, the name of the political party they represent, and the symbol of that political party. And there, perfectly aligned with all that information, is an oversized white box into which one can put a big fact "X." Those white boxes aren't all jumbled up at the bottom of the page like some brain-teaser on the back of a cereal box. They aren't on some separate piece of paper somewhere else.
And these people have never held an election before! Ever! Not even once! They were run by the Taliban, and before that, the Soviets, and before that, they had a fucking KING!
Designing a ballot doesn't require the assistance of Edward Tufte, it just requires one rational person to design it, and a small group comprised of other rational people should be able to critique it and sign off on the design. The procedure is essentially the same one employed when the folks down in Human Resources write a memo amending the office dress code. Isn't that an attainable goal? Isn't that bar low enough even for the stupidest of election officials?
Alright, alright. I know. I'm blowing my top. I'll be quiet now. Just one more thing. Different topic: The election's about a week away. Keep your eyes peeled for Republican Dirty Tricks. As election day approaches and Rove starts to panic...
Thanks to H8ful favorite electoral-vote.com for the assist on this one.
