Feb 05 2008
Why can’t all voting be as organized as SaiGAR?
Not that I’ve been keeping up with SaiGar (which has turned into SaiAnimeCharacterILike) but since today is Super Tuesday and I’m in one of the Super States, it really got me thinking. Why the hell can’t voting systems be as good as that? Everyone gets a code tied to their name/SSN and using that code they vote online for their candidate in less than 2 minutes.
BUT NO.
We have to have this retarded system. Where I come in, some guy tells me I’m in the wrong precinct, even though the other girl told JP (who lives in the same apartment as me) to get into the “line over there”. It was not until some old man came up to me going “What’s going on?” and I said “This guy is telling me I can’t vote!” So the old man then gets the girl (who looked up JP) to also look me up (durrrr) and tell me to get into the same line as him.
It gets better.
I get into this line (which thankfully was short as it appears the only people with last names M-Z were us at the moment). This guy who is taking names and making sure people sign off - HE IS LIKE ILLITERATE. HOW the FUCK can you get some illiterate guy to be in charge of signing off voters?! What the FUCK. It took him 5 minutes staring at my Driver’s License to realize that the freaking book was sorted by LAST NAME and that my LAST NAME isn’t MARIA. Heezus fucking sheist. He could barely even WRITE my freaking 7 letter last name. After writing 4 letters he sat there contemplating how to write the last 3.
This is why our voting system is so fucked up. I mean at this rate I wonder if my vote even got counted?! These idiots probably mixed up everyone’s votes for all I know.
So next time you vote in SaiGar and you are like “blah I gotta wait 1 hour for a code to generate mendokusai” - think of the REAL voting system. Better yet, think of me and my misery. (Don’t even get me started on how we had to walk around in circles trying to find this freaking place.)
Tags: politics, rant, wtf
25 Responses to “Why can’t all voting be as organized as SaiGAR?”
Loading ...
If voting were Saigar, would Kamina be Obama? Obama runs on hope and change, while Kamina’s deal is “BELIEVE IN THE ME THAT BELIEVES IN YOU”.
Oh who am I kidding. He’s obviously Ron Paul. You know, the one that all the internet nerds love.
Is it worth it just for Magical Political Shoujo Creamy Hilly-Chan?
How hard can it be to spell まりあ ひなの?
I’d say SaiGAR was always SaiAnimeCharacterILike. The nominations process is, I feel, the most interesting part. Commiserations on your unpleasant voting experience, in any case.
@ jpmeyer: I fail to see much GAR in any of the contenders for candidacy - but I’m not American, so I probably don’t have a very good grasp of the situation. And is a GAR president necessarily a good thing?
I’m in one of the super states too, but I don’t get to vote in the primaries since stupid birthday is still a few months away ;_; I get to vote in the general elections, at least.
Mmmmm there is a solution, use absentee ballots =) I’m registered in California although I live here in New York because I’m a student, but you don’t need to live outside your state to use absentee balloting. I did it when I lived at home in California. They send you a ballot a month before the election, you fill it out and stick it in the mail, bam. No lines, no ID checks, no hassle. So I suggest registering for that to alleviate your headache.
And the reason why they can’t do it online is because include these plus more:
1) The amount of people who can properly use the internet is much lower than the amount of people voting (think the elderly), and without someone there to instruct people they are worried about people screwing up.
2) Computer security is nowhere near advanced enough to make that type of voting reliable. We can’t even get reliable electronic voting machines at polling places, the security holes are too big. Imagine trying to do that online? What a massacre, it would expose the American voting system to attack from every bored hacker and rogue nation in the world.
Calawain> That’s true but you’d think that after all these years it would at least be “in the works” ya know?
Also if you’re in NY why haven’t we met up at some convention yet?
Computerized voting? Okay, imagine the election officials you just met sitting in front of computers trying to set this up. Scared yet? Or worse, imagine someone who actually DOES know what they’re doing, who can hack the system, and no one will know. The current voting process is hard to rig because it’s all out in the open, and nearly every part of the process is observed by multiple people.
Heck, just look at the Kino vote:
http://saigar08.michaeldodd.net/graph/battle_52.png
Tell me that wasn’t rigged…
I hope you voted for Obama. :V
bird> haha I guess having too much knowledge can be a downfall. Yea the Kino thing was so bizarre I’m like why a trap?
John McCain was quite gar in his youth but did not decide to become a hobo later in life.
hmm…today was the first time I’ve ever voted. Also from New York, but went pretty well for me. Had 14 minutes to get to the train station. 10 minute drive. So used the extra minutes to drive to the polling station and cast my vote for Obama. Not bad.
Dango for president baby!
Silly American voting system…
Over here everyone who is eligible to vote gets a card in the mail with your name and stuff on it a few weeks before the election, then on the day of the election you just take that card, go to the closest voting station(or some random other one if you feel like it and tell the people attending there, since we don’t have a dumb system with delegates and the like, most votes wins), give the staff your card, they throw it away immediately after they’ve received it, you may have to stand in line for a few minutes, then you press 2 buttons on the machine and then you can leave again and not have to worry about it for a few more years.
The big problem with absentee and early voting is having your candidate drop out between sending in your ballot out and your official primary date. If the candidate has dropped, your vote is thrown out and you don’t get another. This bit a lot of Edwards, Giuliani, and Thompson voters.
@Totali:
:) 
Ditto!
Hinano>That’s true but you’d think that after all these years it would at least be “in the works” ya know?
Well what’s in the works now is trying to get electronic voting setup at physical poll sites. That itself is causing lots of problems. I’ve worked in government in a couple of different capacities, and they are always a few years behind technology in adapting stuff. I mean look at the DMCA and copyright for instance, the laws on the books are way behind current technology. These days with the technological explosion governments just can’t catch up, it’s inherent in today’s bureaucratic design. I’m sure it will get done eventually, but until then I recommend absentee ballots.
Hinano> Also if you’re in NY why haven’t we met up at some convention yet?
Well seeing as how I’m a law student I’m broke as hell, I couldn’t afford the only convention that’s been close since I moved here (that one in December) because it was right around Christmas and all that gift buying =/
Will>The big problem with absentee and early voting is having your candidate drop out between sending in your ballot out and your official primary date. If the candidate has dropped, your vote is thrown out and you don’t get another. This bit a lot of Edwards, Giuliani, and Thompson voters.
Well the solution there is to either drop your ballot off at a polling place the day of, or mail it like 2-3 days before the election. One would hope that your mail service takes less than 2-3 days to mail something that close. And one would hope nobody drops out 2-3 days before the election.
LOL My mom used to work at the polls and she understands your pain. The problem lies mostly in the government, because usually government employees are sent to be polling officers, and because government business is what we call “public enterprise” the whole system of actually FIRING people is lot harder than saying “GO TO HELL.” No, you have to fill out fifty paperwork, and after that another set of fifty, and wait ten years before Human Resources comes back. It drives my mom crazy, since there’s alot of incompetent people at the workplace, and guess what? They all go work at the polls. Hey, a free day of relaxation, why not?
And they’re also too afraid to use electronic voting system for something this important because there are too many haxxors online lol.
Saigar is suspect to revenge votings
it’s not perfect
I hope that when I hopefully go to vote next week, I won’t have to deal with the hassle that you did. Hopefully the national elections aren’t as bad. :/
Korean Best Moe voting system is even better than Saigar. You download a little program that generates your voting code based on the date and your IP number. There is no waiting an hour, you can vote immediately.
It’s just as messy as the real elections.
Son> Ooh that sounds handy!
@Son Gohan
Unless you use a Macintosh, or a version of Linux without pygtk installed, or are on a public computer, or just don’t feel like downloading and running any random app that someone throws at you.
The things that make the internet worth using are the reasons why it shouldn’t be trusted for voting. Main thing is you can be anonymous, or you can be secure. Elections require both.
Incidentally, MT Forums started their AGP tournament last week. You can follow the action here http://www.sd40.btinternet.co.uk/mt/agp-bracket.htm or at my site (click the name). Or, of course, http://forums.megatokyo.com/index.php?showforum=32
@Son Gohan
Not everyone can or wants to run any random app someone throws at them. Like everyone with a Macintosh. Or if you’re using a public or work computer.
The things that make the internet worth using are the reasons why it shouldn’t be trusted for voting. Mainly, you can have anonymity or security but not both, which elections require.
Incidentally, MT Forums started their AGP tournament last week.
(spam filter didn’t like me pasting links here, so just click on my name for info)
Bah! SaiGAY is skewed. Don’t bother to even take note anymore. Revy should have won last year’s. Nanoha isn’t even GAR anymore. More like usedby christmas cake since SuckS.
Anyway, why your election/voting system sucks is basically down to the political system because there are so many different groups that have their own interests etc2. Too bloody convoluted to explain in detail without dragging out a huge headache.
Now excuse me while I enjoy my nezumis torturing nekos for a new year. :3