1.
The attention focussed on Florida seems to be partly an abberation of the
electoral system and the miscalls in the media. (If we went by popular
vote then there would be no point in trying to call a state.) Florida
is in the spotlight partly because of the close vote there, partly
because of the flip-flops in calling the state, and partly because of
the order in which returns came in. If we went by popular vote, and
voting results were not made public until all the results were in, the
politicians would have much more difficulty figuring out who or where
to sue.
2.
One of my concerns about the various recounts is that we are not
trying to correct ALL errors, but just the ones in the media
spotlight. There may be dozens of other problems in other states that
could swing the popular vote to Bush, but we are not looking at those.
3.
Everyone on this list knows that polls have a margin of error, but
this election reminds us that elections have a margin of error, too.
The Florida election is TOO CLOSE TO CALL. By thinking that there
really IS a right answer to who won, we prolong the process, tempt the
candidates to even more sqabbling, leave the "losing" side embittered
when a necessarily arbitrary decision is finally made, and discredit
the US government in the eys of its citizens and the world. Maybe we
should just agree that if the margin is less than 0.5% on election
night then we honestly say it's too close to call and settle it
right then with the toss of a coin (or a candidate).
_
| | Robert W. Hayden
| | Work: Department of Mathematics
/ | Plymouth State College MSC#29
| | Plymouth, New Hampshire 03264 USA
| * | fax (603) 535-2943
/ | Home: 82 River Street (use this in the summer)
| ) Ashland, NH 03217
L_____/ (603) 968-9914 (use this year-round)
Map of New [EMAIL PROTECTED] (works year-round)
Hampshire http://mathpc04.plymouth.edu (works year-round)
The State of New Hampshire takes no responsibility for what this map
looks like if you are not using a fixed-width font such as Courier.
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in
overalls and looks like work." --Thomas Edison
=================================================================
Instructions for joining and leaving this list and remarks about
the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES are available at
http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/
=================================================================
