California Governor Recall
California politics are very interesting right now. Gov. Gray Davis is facing a recall vote and more than a hundred people are running to replace him, but finding their names will be a crap shoot.
Current polls indicate that the citizens of California feel Gov. Davis has been doing a rather poor job and is somewhat at fault for the state's horrible financial situation. So, there will be a vote on the following:
- Should Gov. Davis be removed from office?
- If yes, which of the following candidates do you want to replace him?
Sound simple, right? The problem is, the ballots are not going to list the candidates in alphabetical order. Instead the ballots will list the candidates in a random order — a random order that will also change by local. So, Candidate X could be at the top of the ballot in northern California and the bottom in the south.
Of course, the idea is that all candidates should be listed in a "fair" manner so that the lucky person at the top doesn't get an estimated five percent bonus. Estimated with what? Good intentions?
This has to be the worst idea since the Florida presidential ballots. As a matter of fact: This is a horible ballot. With about two-hundred candidates on the ballot, it is going to take a small miracle for the voters to locate their candidates. I'm willing to bet that many voters will not be able to find the candidate they want to vote for.
How is that fair?
Do you think that a voter is more likely to vote for the person at the top of the list or a name they recognize? Personally, I think that if the names were alphabetical, Schwarzenegger would get the votes, not Mr. Aaron. Random order or not, Schwarzenegger has the advantage — he has the biggest name. Perhaps we should require equal media coverage and shorten Schwarzenegger to Schwarz?
- Recall Ballot Order
- The article that prompted this post.
- California Recall News
- More coverage of the recall than you'll ever need at Google News.