ACK!  

Friday, October 29, 2004
  "Voting Procedures Understood By People of Average Intelligence"

This report in from a contributor to the Volokh Conspiracy:

Your student is right: the ballots are not confusing. Yes, the numbers don't line up, some candidates are deleted, and in my voter booklet, the senate candidate race wasn't even part of the book, but just a loose sheet of paper.

Overall though, the concept is simple: find your candidate, find their number on the ballot; punch the hole. It blows my mind that people smart enough to complain about the ballot being a violation of their rights are too stupid to figure out what amounts to a voting inspired version of Chuck E. Cheese's Whack-A-Mole Game.


The urge to hype the conflict seems to have taken over the bulk of the news organizations. Perhaps the phenomenon is a result of self-selection - people who thrive on the breathless (oh! the horror!) reaction to each and every problem - people to whom all problems are equally problems - those who can make money or a reputation by stirring the pot.

I have seen this phenomenon in personal lives - expressed by manufacturing conflict or argument. I have chalked it up to the need for excitement - a type of adrenaline fix. Those of us who lead more sedate lives find all the hooplah disconcerting or amusing depending on our mood and just how close the "action" approaches our lives.

 
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