[16] in UA Discuss
Re: Detailed Election Results
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steve Kelch)
Tue Oct 6 14:47:48 2009
X-Barracuda-Envelope-From: phire14@gmail.com
In-Reply-To: <alpine.DEB.1.10.0910061425520.4218@dr-wily.mit.edu>
From: Steve Kelch <phire14@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 2009 14:47:15 -0400
To: Quentin Smith <quentin@mit.edu>
Cc: ua-elect@mit.edu, ua-discuss@mit.edu
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I can't second the complaint, not being a student anymore, but if I could I
would. What's private about an election? Are you worried someone is going to
have their feelings hurt by only receiving a few votes? Tough, maybe they
should have campaigned harder. This isn't a popularity contest. It's
explicitly the Election Commission's job to be neutral and unfeeling. It is
an egregious breech of transparency in *any* large scale election to not
reveal the vote count.
How else would people be able to:
1) Judge whether the vote tally approximately matches reasonable
expectations
2) Ask for a recount in the event of a very close race
3) Explicitly learn to which degree certain platforms did and did not
receive a popular reception, to better help those who did win the election
to tailor their efforts
Steve
On Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 2:29 PM, Quentin Smith <quentin@mit.edu> wrote:
> Hi-
>
> I want to formally complain about the Election Commission's decision to not
> released the detailed election results, as has been done in almost every
> prior election. (As of the last time the Election Commission website was
> updated, which is sadly back in 2007, all the results from 2000-2007 were
> released to the public; I believe newer results are/were stored on the
> vote.mit.edu server, so I can not tell if they were ever available.)
>
> It really hurts the UA's transparency and causes people to believe that the
> Election Commission has something to hide from the voters and candidates. Is
> there any reasoning for not releasing the results? The explanation that Sun
> gave to The Tech that he wanted to "preserve the privacy of all candidates"
> is specious; I would expect the losing candidates to be among the most vocal
> in support of releasing results.
>
> --Quentin
> UA CIT
>
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I can't second the complaint, not being a student anymore, but if I cou=
ld I would. What's private about an election? Are you worried someone i=
s going to have their feelings hurt by only receiving a few votes? Tough, m=
aybe they should have campaigned harder. This isn't a popularity contes=
t. It's explicitly the Election Commission's job to be neutral and =
unfeeling. It is an egregious breech of transparency in *any* large scale e=
lection to not reveal the vote count. <br>
<br>How else would people be able to:<br><br>1) Judge whether the vote tall=
y approximately matches reasonable expectations<br>2) Ask for a recount in =
the event of a very close race<br>3) Explicitly learn to which degree certa=
in platforms did and did not receive a popular reception, to better help th=
ose who did win the election to tailor their efforts<br>
<br>Steve<br><br><br><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote">On Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at =
2:29 PM, Quentin Smith <span dir=3D"ltr"><<a href=3D"mailto:quentin@mit.=
edu">quentin@mit.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class=3D"gmail_qu=
ote" style=3D"border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0p=
t 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Hi-<br>
<br>
I want to formally complain about the Election Commission's decision to=
not released the detailed election results, as has been done in almost eve=
ry prior election. (As of the last time the Election Commission website was=
updated, which is sadly back in 2007, all the results from 2000-2007 were =
released to the public; I believe newer results are/were stored on the <a h=
ref=3D"http://vote.mit.edu" target=3D"_blank">vote.mit.edu</a> server, so I=
can not tell if they were ever available.)<br>
<br>
It really hurts the UA's transparency and causes people to believe that=
the Election Commission has something to hide from the voters and candidat=
es. Is there any reasoning for not releasing the results? The explanation t=
hat Sun gave to The Tech that he wanted to "preserve the privacy of al=
l candidates" is specious; I would expect the losing candidates to be =
among the most vocal in support of releasing results.<br>
<br>
--Quentin<br>
UA CIT<br>
</blockquote></div><br>
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