NYCPHP Meetup

[tedd]

At 6:12 AM -0400 8/27/08, Peter Sawczynec wrote:
>What is it? How come we can financially, socially and medically network
>the entire world including gadgets and games and calendars that
>instantly recall and matrix all your comments and whatever, everything
>you and all your dispersed friends care to catalog. But we cannot, just
>cannot for some reason create a single working accurate voting
>tabulation system. Just what (What?) is that issue?
>
>Warmest regards,
>
>Peter Sawczynec

Peter:

There are all sorts of problems with this and some you would not 
believe -- for example it is against the law to claim that a voting 
scheme did not work (past tense). I had an associate who ran for a 
public office, lost, but was not allowed to publicly claim that the 
process was flawed, or how it was flawed. The law has something about 
undermining the election process. The public can't lose faith in te 
system.

Another problem is that half the people are below average 
intelligence. So whatever scheme you develop, it has to be idiot 
proof -- and as we all know, we are developing a better idiot every 
day -- just look at Congress.

Another problem is one of suspicion -- neither party wants the 
possibility that the other part may have somehow out smarted them and 
rigged the election. And more importantly, neither party wants the 
possibility that a third party may actually prevail. So it's best to 
keep the graft obvious to both sides so that they can maintain 
control collectively.

Remember, by presenting us with two choices gives the illusion that 
we have a choice. You can have any flavor you want provided it's 
chocolate or vanilla (no implication re the current presidential 
race).

Another problem is that there are companies who have all governments 
(local, state and federal) in their pocket via lobbying and the 
"good-old-boy" clubs -- they do not want to lose the business, 
regardless of IF they can fix the problem or not. Unfortunately, most 
of these companies are better at lobbying and landing contracts than 
actually getting things to work.

Another problem is that the people in charge (I've seen this locally) 
actually believe that they are knowledgeable re the details of the 
problem. And in using their divine insight they have full control and 
understanding over all the buzzwords provided to them via lobbyist. 
The people in charge are simply talking heads operated by the 
invested interest behind the curtains.

So all in all, the voting problem is not hard to solve -- it's easy! 
It's the system behind the scenes that's really the problem.

Now, do I sound cynical, or do I just understand the problem more than most?

Cheers,

tedd
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