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US Election ComplexityUS Election ComplexityPosted Nov 22, 2005 23:19 UTC (Tue) by kbob (guest, #1770)In reply to: EFF: Diebold Attempts to Evade Election Transparency Laws by Richard_J_Neill Parent article: EFF: Diebold Attempts to Evade Election Transparency Laws
I only have experience with the US system, but it is my understanding that we have more elections than most places. In any given election, each voter will vote on candidates, measures and referenda at the Federal, state, county, city, township, and other levels. A typical ballot might have 50-100 items to vote on. Some of the items might have five or six candidates running for one office.
I usually allocate two hours to study the voter information pamphlets, and about 15-20 minutes to actually fill out the ballot. I live in Oregon, which has paper ballots, so I spend 15-20 minutes coloring in boxes to indicate my choices. I don't consider myself overprepared at two hours' preparation.
In the US, elections are held at many different levels, and the different levels have different, overlapping boundaries. For example, I live in a state, a county, a school district, a US congressional district, a state senator's district, a state representative's district. (I don't live in a city.) The school district boundaries don't correspond with any of the other boundaries. Nor do the state senator's, state representative's or US congressional districts. So the election commission has to create a vast number of different ballots, one for every possible subset of overlapping districts, and ensure that each voter gets the right ballot.
I am not defending this system. I'm just trying to describe what it is.
kbob
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