this is the perennial issue in national elections about ... if it looks
like the election is sewn up from the east and south ... then what is to
motivate those in the napa valley to leave their vinyards and head for the
polls? i do think there are some data that roughly show that voter turnout
is less out west ... compared to the east ... but, the difference is also
confounded by many other factors
i don't see much of a statistical issue embedded within this problem ...
this is mainly political and legal ... the only way to essentially reduce
that is to stagger the opening/closing times in the different time zones
such that everyone is voting at the same time all over the country ...
but how we gonna due that? what about a national MAIL vote all sent to the
IRS for count ... all due by X day ... and ONLY counted the next day?
there really is nothing we can seriously do about exit polling ... though
some have suggested that exit pollers NOT be able to get any closer than Y
yards to the front door of the polling place ... they would just go Y +5
and still do the stuff
the only practical way to avoid (for the most part) the main problem here
is to hakv the time of voting essentially simultaneous ...
but let's don't hold our breath for that to happen!
At 10:55 PM 1/5/01 +0000, J. Williams wrote:
>On Fri, 05 Jan 2001 16:56:03 -0500, Rich Ulrich <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>wrote:
>
>
>>What is your corollary issue? I don't see that you name one ... I
>
>It is simple. If your state was divided into two time zones and it
>was announced the election for all intents and purposes was "over,"
>would you stand in line to vote? In particular, if you were a first
>time voter? Would you go out in the snow or rain to vote if it was
>announced by CNN the election was decided by, let's say,
>Philadelphia--- before you could cast a vote?
==============================================================
dennis roberts, penn state university
educational psychology, 8148632401
http://roberts.ed.psu.edu/users/droberts/drober~1.htm
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