@SonofaGeorge @ZenHeathen @CStamp @northernlights @pinhman @gemelliz Some countries sort not by name but according to the parties' results at the most recent election, followed by new parties in order of registration. If a newbie gets the signatures from citizens earlier, they rank higher on the #ballot.

Then, parties can (and do) advertise: like "Vote list 7", so electors know to look for the 7th option on the ballot. That really helps the vision impaired or illiterate when they #vote

@SonofaGeorge @ZenHeathen @northernlights @CStamp @pinhman @gemelliz PS: Another reason not to use #ballot #scanners is the massive cost of transporting them to the many fly-in communities we have in Canada. And then bringing them back. As you always need a backup, that means at least two machines per community. Wasteful.
#election2025 #Canada

This is what democracy looks like…

Early voting opened today for the
May 3rd Australian Federal election.

@SonofaGeorge @ZenHeathen @northernlights @CStamp @pinhman @gemelliz
Keep in mind: federal #elections are simple but huge. 1 choice per #ballot. Easy & quick to count. But over 340 parallel elections. Candidate representatives & individual voters can watch the count. An open process.

Municipal elections usually have many choices per ballot. Those are complex, but small elections. Fewer scanners you may rent, fewer staff to train, but lots of choices to count.

#scanners don't scale well.
3/3

@SonofaGeorge @ZenHeathen @northernlights @CStamp @pinhman @gemelliz #Ballot #scanners are expensive. You'd have to buy tens of thousands of them, ship them, train staff how to use, provide redundant electricity, handle the data storage afterwards (or provide and secure data connections), ship them back to warehouses where they would then sit for years, rinse repeat. All the while protecting them against tampering both in the field, during transport, during storage.

An insane undertaking.
2/x

@SonofaGeorge @ZenHeathen @northernlights @CStamp @pinhman @gemelliz Doug, the feds have noticed #ballot scanners. They are not good.

They are s l o w. I've worked an election (CRD, BC) where voters had to go to the machine, ballot in hand. That created the longest lineup in any election I have ever seen. After making their choice, Viet had to wait in line over 90 minutes. There were several scanners, but they are finnicky. Some voters had used their own pens - doesn't work.

1/x on #scanners

@fortune @news-fortune
And they think the #GOP will not simply ignore these #ballot measures? Or simply bend them so far that the “protected abortion” is actually an “abortion ban in disguise”, legally speaking?