>OK, here goes.
>
>Paper ballots with one mark, easy to count (quickly) and verify
In the US it used to be easy too, now there are too votes to be easy with a
paper ballot.
>Sometimes a party has a clear majority (previous 4-5 elections), sometimes
>a minority (this election)
No complaint if a minority win? Notice the complaints generated
because the electorial college "picked" a president who had a (very
slight) minority.
>No hanging chads, never very many recounts (rules for that are clear), and
>never any judicial appeals.
Hanging chads had never been noticed as a problem before this year. How
can you trust results without recounts in a very close race? We had two
local elections last time that resulted in only a single vote difference in
one case, and a tie in another. Humans do make mistakes in tallying.
"Looks like a standard vote split there, the Conservative candidate got
the most votes so he won the seat but clearly didn't win in terms of
percentage of votes. "
How does one get the most votes but not the largest percentage of votes? I
can understand getting the most votes but not a majority of votes.
"The Electoral College is intended (by the Constitution) to have a balance
similar to that which is reflected by the two legislative houses."
Thanks, John for a very clear (for a complex subject) description of how
the electoial process works on the US national level. If more individuals
understood the reasons for the system, they would appreciate the fairness
of it. If we didn't have this system, the Washington - Boston megalopolis
and the San Diego - San Fransisco Region would control politics in the US
because of the numbers represented in those areas (over 30% of the US
population currently lives there, I believe)
Gregg
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