Marcel wrote:
"In at least two states First Grade teachers now have each had their classes
of 6 year olds use the same ballot and vote for candidates. Guess what. Not
one 6 year old first grader got it wrong. Not one. About 60 six year olds.
In
San Francisco we have used the same ballot for over 8 years without one
complaint. This idea that somehow these ballots were difficult or misleading
is just 100% wrong."
In the version I heard, it was second-graders. These whiz kids keep getting
younger and younger! Pre-schoolers, anyone? ;-)
Seriously, though: if this is true, this experiment fails to take into
account one important characteristic that the elderly Florida voters had in
spades, but the elementary-schoolers clearly don't: EXPERIENCE. Some
voters have said, or written, that they *expected*, from their previous
stints as Florida voters, for the two major political parties to be listed
1-2. Since there is no question that the first name and punch hole were for
Bush, it followed, for them, that the second punch hole on the ballot would
be for Gore. And they voted accordingly. There has also been talk of a
Florida *law* that mandates that the names of the candidates appear in the
order of the percentage of votes that their parties garnered in the last
election (not sure I have this completely right, but that's the gist).
Again, the experience of most Florida voters would be that candidates from
the major parties would be the first two on the ballot.
And a couple of thoughts of the use of the "butterfly ballot" elsewhere:
1) In San Francisco and other places, was exactly the same ballot used, or
merely a similar one? What seems to be coming out from discussion is that
ballots in other locales were actually different in significant ways, such
as the location of the punch hole on the final version of the ballot, or
failing to break the ballot up into two completely separate pages, as was
done in West Palm Beach.
2) Was the butterfly ballot used for presidential elections? I don't mean
to imply that other elections are unimportant, but this result is singularly
*im*portant, not only for West Palm Beach and Florida, but for the nation.
According to Susan, the butterfly ballot was used in the Chicago area, but
for local judicial races, not the presidential contest.
Mary P.
