Mad Andrew's Journal

I'm here to tell you about voting...
Spokesperson elections begin today. In a nutshell, we'll be selecting which of the insiders will be at the top of the heap for the next two years, right up next to the all seeing eye. Due to possible scrutiny by web-aware persons, I won't analyze each of the candidates here for you, as I'm still seeking employment and potentially vunerable. I note that at one time or another, I have worked with each of the candidates. As a side note, none of them are Americans. That really won't matter. Around here, what probably matters more is your institutional ties and/or physics/id group pull.

A brief technical note: We use a type of preferential voting, which eliminates ties. So say you have the current situation, with three candidates. If there is no majority, then the lowest ranked person will immediately be eliminated and a 'runoff' done using the other preferences.

I will say that I definitely had a preference going into this mess. However, I will say that pursuant to my civic duty I reviewed each candidate's curriculum vitae, contributions, and answers to the election board's questions before voting. None of this really changed my mind, but I did do the exercise anyway. I believe in doing my homework.

Even though in this 'webvote' format there is no such thing as an exit poll, I will hazard a guess or two about the demographic shake out. One of the candidates CLEARLY is going for (and may get) the European vote (not an insubstantial block). I exclude Russia from Europe here, since a different candidate should clearly get that vote (again, pretty substantial). Also, one might expect that the Fermilab candidate will draw most of that support, a VERY substantial voting block. However, one notes that there is a random element in the mix. I'm not sure what support, or from where, the third candidate will draw votes. Which could mean this election will have a surprise ending.

This may not seem that important to you, but depending on who gets elected, the experiment will go in very different directions. Even though I have opinions, I can't see from here which the correct direction really is. So this is actually a far more interesting political landscape than mere presidential politics.

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