"Reg Jordan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
005e01c04b3e$ebf2fe40$a6a83fd0@ramazzini">news:005e01c04b3e$ebf2fe40$a6a83fd0@ramazzini...
> Wouldn't the "misleading, confusing" nature of the ballot apply equally
> across the voting spectrum?
Not necessarily. It depends on what the "misleading, confusing" elements
were. Here's a pointer to an analysis of the Palm Beach ballot from the
point of view of visual decoding and cognition. In each of three alternative
cognitive paths (alternative to the one intended), the site claims that
there
is asymmetry in the way that a miscast vote might go.
http://fury.com/galleries/palmbeach/index.php
My expertise is not in the area of cognition, so I cannot vouch for
the quality of this analysis. My only point is that asymmetries can
plausibly exist and that we, as statisticians, are perfectly within our
sphere of expertise in estimating the effect. That would be true
whether the vote difference in Florida were 100 votes, 1000 votes,
or 100,000 votes (though it certainly is more interesting when the
race is close).
--Robert Chung
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