It's soo fun to fill out surveys though😂 voting isn't that fun cause you feel like you're deciding the fate of the whole world while at the same time having next to no power at all. In surveys you're usually asked about youself your opinions or your behaviours... that's way easier. Still both are worth doing
People have gotten genuinely mad at me (a poll worker) because their guy wasn't at the top of the ballot. I think it was the primary, too? I'm like "it's random, bro. chill"
Missoula County voter here. I was wondering why RFK Jr was the top Presidential candidate on my ballot, and couldn't make heads or tails on the candidate order. thank you Hank, I never knew this!
The point about conspiracy theories being based on a lack of *trust* rather than a lack of information is a pretty significant point to make. I suppose the question is how to regain trust in the systems worth trusting
@@streglof that makes it a lot more difficult for people that work long shifts, disabled people who may only be able to vote by mail, or people without transportation to get to the polls. Everyone should have the right to vote.
@@JustineEPhotography but let's agree with them with the paper ballot part - I could imagine that generally there is more trust in a paper ballot that one marks by their own hand vs. a computer system that could be manipulated digitally. But hand counting... no. That's absurd. Computers can count, people can verify.
I don't usually click on titles like this b/c they feel like click-bait, and generally turn out to be exactly what you said you 'could' have done : just be inflammatory about something b/c you didn't trust people enough to find out the truth. But you have a brand.. that brand is trustworthy, reliable and measured. So I trusted you, and was not disappointed.
I live in Montana too. When you started the video saying Kamala was at the bottom, I thought: Wait, no, she's not. She was second on my ballot! And then you explained why. Thanks.
Feel like we should list "no opinion" first. Because people do not read the part of the ballot that says "if you don't know just leave it empty" and instead just mark the first choice
Really? Do people just mark a candidate instead of skipping the section when they don't have a preference? It would be interesting to see if having "no opinion" listed first would negate the advantage of candidate order, though.
My sister told me this year she was just gonna mark random for the local non partisan races and I was like “please god no, you know you can just leave that part blank right?”
This in Canada one of the things that bothers me is that it's so difficult to spoil a ballet without it being detected as an "accidental" issue which they flag. There should always be, "No opinion" and finally a "I disagree with all parties listed" as a separate vote and it should be tabulated and released in the final number. If40% of the voters think neither party is good but still vote for their least hated one it should be known.
Okay but like, can we stop and talk about how crazy it is that a name being 1st has that big of an affect on the results?! It's scary how many people have no idea what is going on and just vote for whatever is on top.
I think it's less that people are blindly thinking, and more that some people are undecided and a candidates name placement could tip the scales, consciously or unconsciously
My hypothesis is that, assuming this study was done during the old system, people had a natural inclination to vote for the first choice because that was who was currently in power and they didn't mind things as they were / didn't want change.
If only 90% of voters would choose policy over emotion, we wouldn’t have the most spectacular crap foisted on us every four years. Also, Citizens United is problematic.
Here in Texas you're only allowed a mail-in ballot if you're disabled, a senior citizen, or will be out of the county. Everyone else has to go vote in person. I always, always, always vote early to avoid the long lines. This year I'm voting Monday, the first day that early voting opens.
@@aina3387 I live in a smaller town (6000 population) so the lines aren't ever bad during early voting. Heck, election day might not be too bad here either, but I don't want to chance it. I also don't want to chance something happening to keep me from voting, so better to get it out of the way as soon as possible.
@@ksbrook1430 Agreed! Don't just get your information from legacy media, which is full of propaganda. Do your own research and utilize common sense. TRUMP/VANCE 2024!
I’m super excited for you! My first time voting was in a non-presidential year but I was still thrilled to have a say and vote locally. You’re doing important work ❤
I feel a little overwhelmed and depressed after the results of the election. I'm not necessarily sure what I should be doing but everywhere I see online is so defeated. It's like they all lost their fight overnight. I don't know where to go from here.
even though I don't agree I still see it. people voted for Trump because under Biden inflation is horrible (I'm in California, $9 for a gallon of milk) and even though it's mostly not his fault people think blue = inflation bc of him I think Trump isn't a good person but I think he's better than kamala, regardless of what I think, it's only 4 years. sorry for rambling, long story short I hope you feel better man thoughts and prayers
@LisaAxford I thought CO was lot drawing. Turns out primaries are lot and generals are a LOT more convoluted. President is alphabetical by last name and the rest of the open positions are put into 3 tiers with each tier undergoing a lottery system... there is definitely a better way to do this.
It is incredibly hard for some people to know who to trust. Frankly, I am so tired of having to fact check every word that people say. It makes holiday gatherings a nightmare.
There is also a way of just chatting of what we think, and fact checking only if it's actually critical piece of info. There will be mistakes, but there's freedom and tranquility in not having to be right all the time. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, and we are not supposed to put anyone in a high pedestal, to believe them over everyone else, anyway. Family gatherings should be a place of warmth and trust. If something said keeps bothering us after, we can always fact check in our own time xD
Hank, I appreciate so much the curiosity you attempt to instill in people. Instead of saying, “huh, there’s a thing and now it’s just a thing I attach my biases and assumptions to,” you actually indulge the curiosity and ask why it’s a thing. Thank you. It is hard to try and get people to think like this but you and John do such a wonderful job of trying to teach it and I’m grateful.
Thank you Hank! As a former elections manager in Michigan I have weekly head slap moments over the rhetoric consuming our election conversation. Thank you for being fair and fun!
It sure is great being lectured on how to run elections by people who have no understanding of election law and have never worked in elections, isn’t it?
Being that my initials are D.A., I was always first on any list. First on the rolls in school. I got badge number 001 when I was hired at a newly constructed business. I'm always first. Should I run for office? Wait. I missed the point of the video.
This made me look back at my mail in ballot and I also noticed that republicans are all listed first (even right leaning candidates in non partisan races were listed first). I decided to google Florida’s policies and actually the policy is to list the party of the governor first which seems a little unfair. For the non partisan races the policy is to list them alphabetically and in an astonishing coincidence all of the right leaning non partisan candidates in my district happen to just be first alphabetically
I just came here to comment on this. I recently read an article about bias in elections and learned that people on the top of the ballot have a 1 to 2 percentage point advantage (yeah, there are people who, all things being equal, will vote for who is listed first). This was long suspected, but actual evidence now supports it. So, When George W. Bush won the extremely close election for the presidency back in 2000, with all the drama caused by the 'hanging chads' and the Supreme Court getting involved, in FLORIDA, which held the key to who won that year, and where the party who's governor is in power determines whose name goes first on the ballot? Who was governor of Florida at the time? JEB Bush. So, because of the undeniable unfairness that was a deliberate part of the system, so much is different from what it would have been otherwise. I realize that that's a true statement much of the time, bit it's not usually so specific. Talk about granular.
Texas does this, too, ordering parties by their rank in the previous gubernatorial election (so it applies to more than just first place). This gives us Republicans first, then Democrats, then Libertarians, then Greens. This is also how we report our official election results, so if you look at results from the 1994 election or before, Democrats will be listed first.
Damn this is a very eye opening video, which was something I wasn't expecting. It's easy to complain about something when you don't understand it and don't trust it. But it isn't right if you don't actually research it. And it's even worse if you ignore conflicting research and continue believing what you did. This is a huge issue we're facing with so many Americans questioning our election integrity because they've been told not to trust the process and don't know everything about how it works.
In NC we decide ballot order through a bingo ball and a coin flip! Bingo ball that says which letter to start with and coin flip to decide alphabetical or reverse alphabetical order from there.
@@leadpaintchips9461 there is gerrymandering because most states have redistricting done by legislatures. Maryland and North Carolina are the most extreme examples. The state election board monitors the conduct of elections not redistricting. This election Wisconsin voters have a neutral state map for the first time in 30 years. Ohio has an initiative to establish a nonpartisan commission.
You legit made my day! I pulled a sample ballot (in Ohio, so yeah - red) and Kamala was on the bottom. I was a bit snarky about it when I saw it but after watching this video I did the quick google search and what do you know, our candidates shift by one in each precinct too! Thank you for making this NOT a conspiracy.
It's also a pretty good example of how perception bias can make thing look more conspiratorial. In this case, seeing your preferred candidate at or near the bottom is a lot more likely to set off alarm bells than if you see your preferred candidate at or near the top. The second group is unlikely to think much about or even notice the listed order. Which means the online conversation about the topic is going to be composed almost entirely of people who are predisposed to thinking there was something "weird" about the way the names are listed. With a severe lack of opposing voices on the issue, it then becomes much much easier for people to jump to conspiracies, especially if they are also already distrustful of the system.
This was my first time voting or rather my first time I was able to vote. Today I found out that regardless of my vote Trump became president. Surprisingly it has not made me mad or salty but I'm more determined than ever to do my part in making America better. More than anything we need to stick together and show that regardless of what happens, win or lose, there is no reason not to fight for what you believe it.
In Australia, we have compulsory voting, so randomising the order of the candidates is even more important, since when disengaged people are forced to vote, they will often do what we call a "donkey vote" and fill in the ballot 1234 etc. 😅
Why should people be forced to vote? It's supposed to be the responsibility of the politicians and political parties to earn the votes. If nobody earns the vote, then the voter shouldn't have to vote at all. The reason why so few people vote in the US, isn't because it's hard, or inconvenient, you see low voter turnout even in states like mine where the ballot literally shows up in the mailbox along with relevant guides to help understand the various items on the ballot. And, you can then either just slip it in the mail with no stamp required or drop it off at one of the many locations. And we still have low turnouts because the parties and the candidates aren't promising the things that the voters want, and when they do, they aren't following through on it. Forcing the people who aren't voting to vote, just makes the system even less reliable.
@@cameronmurieIt's a relatively small fine if you can't come up with an excuse that the electoral commission will waive it for. Generally the system means that there has to be an ease of voting to make fining people fair
I got my ballot yesterday, and in Utah there's a person on the ballot for President whose name is "Justin Case." I had to Google it to make sure it was real. 😅
I actually got curious about how my state orders their candidates after this - apparently we do it by the party of the sitting governor! That was weird and wacky to find out lol.
Or 90% of American nerdfighters who answer surveys vote, which could be very different. Naturally, the kind of person who has filled the survey likes ticking boxes on a piece of paper more than someone who ignored it.
I can’t imagine anyone who is for reducing the cost of tuberculosis testing, is fascinated by science, is passionate about donating money to all kinds of charitable causes and is against book bans as being a supporter of anyone but Kamala Harris in this race. And if you don’t like that kind of content, I honestly don’t know what you’re doing watching this channel!
I live in a red state that borders Montana and when I opened my mail-in ballot 2 days ago, I was SHOCKED to see Harris's name listed first. I can't recall that ever happening before. This - or something a lot like it - must be the reason why. What made it even more shocking is that there are no less than NINE candidates for Pres on my ballot. I've only heard of 5 of them.
I have 8 on my ballot, also shocked me, and I was also frustrated to see one of them is obviously not a real person and didn’t even have a VP listed. Makes it harder to be confident in these kind of things when shenanigans like that make it through.
On my ballot in Michigan I have 8, including 2 tickets with no party affiliation. We also still have RFK Jr. even though he doesn't want to run any more because instead of going as an independant the Natural Law Party nomined him and it is illegal for candidates nominated via party conventions to withdraw in Michigan.
@Random3716 RFK's still on mine as well. I'm just not sure of the particulars in my state regarding candidates when it comes to inclusion vs omission vs removal. There are FIVE Independent candidates, one Dem, one Rep, one Libertarian, one Constitution, and a blank for Write-In.
@@RaeCarson Many states will still have RFK, Jr. still on their ballots for a simply reason: he withdrew AFTER the ballots were printed. That may not seem like a big deal at first, after all just reprint the ballots... until you realize just how much extra cost gets added if you have to reprint all of the ballots. Also, that money isn't coming from a political campaign but government tax dollars. I can think of a lot of things I'd rather tax dollars go to than reprinting a bunch of ballots because one guy backed out of an election.
Mochary v. Caputo (1985) tackled the issue. Nicholas Caputo was Essex County Clerk in New Jersey, responsible for drawing "random lots" that would determine which party got the preferred placement for their slate of candidates that managed to selected his own party 40 out of 41 times. Local Republicans filed a law suit alleging that Caputo was fixing the drawing based on the sheer mathematical improbability (1 in 53 billion), but failed to catch how he was doing it; ultimately the NJ Superior Court found that a pattern being extremely unlikely is not evidence of wrongdoing, which has been an important precedent.
@@N3rdfightermom _Someone_ needs to keep my atria and ventricles contracting in the proper sequence. I've got way too much to do to keep that going all by myself! Thanks Hank! 💚
As a foreigner who was always curious about the form of US ballots, you have completely made my day. I wish you could show more types, and the different types of elections in any givem Estate. Thank you VERY, VERY much! ❤
There are a lot of options and it's one of the reasons why the Secretary of State is often such an important office, they're usually the ones that are involved with running the elections and making the statewide decisions. Around here we get a scantron style ballot where you fill in the bubbles to indicate your vote. You can then X that out if you made a mistake and mark a different one. They generally pre-process the ballots to the point where they can turn the machines on the moment the clock hits 8pm and the voting closes. Although, that mostly means that you're no longer allowed to put ballots into the collection bins and you needed to have a postmark by then as virtually nobody votes in person any more unless they need assistance.
Thats an important distinction you made about conspiracys. When falsehoods clog up the drain then are removed their essence lingers. Brains are funny like that sometimes. Even after learning the truth the falsehood can be difficult to delete from your experience.
@@verdant_warlock the provincial, federal, and municipal elections are all separate on different days entirely. They're administered by Elections Canada, a federal non partisan agency that isn't part of the executive branch. The ballots are very standardized, and are designed with hand counting in mind although municipal and maybe now provincial elections do have electronic readers for counting as it goes into the physical ballot box (but it's still designed for an additional hand count if the results are close or contested)
@@joshuahillerup4290 Small correction: the provinces and smaller jurisdictions have their own election authorities as well for their local elections. Elections Canada just handles federal elections.
(AAA Towing) and (A1 tax services) knew being first in the phone book would give you a huge bump in business... The meta doesn't change, just the forum that it is held in.
Multiple studies have shown, those are interested in voting are those are activity engaged in politics, whether they are left wing or right wing. And those who are engaged in politics are often those who have more radical or stronger views. Meaning most people don’t vote especially if they hold less extreme views, even when the outcome will still affect them. Simple fix to this - force everyone in your country to vote. We have that system in Australia, where if you don’t vote you get a fine. It works well, I don’t understand why America doesn’t have that
I personally dont think we should. Im center left and hate both Democrats and Republicans so i dont vote. Forcing me to is just gonna tick me off and probably make me form some anarchist militia because I hate this 2 party bs that much. Alot of citizens hold similar views to mine where both parties are just terrible and unfortunately because of the electoral college you cant vote for a better small party because it would only go to democrat or Republican. Itd be more likely to start a civil war than actually fix anything.
coming from someone who has a conspiracy theorist dad, i have made this comment on its connection to a lack of trust in anything. really great to see hank's perspective on this 💙
I really appreciate you calling out the impact of lack of trust. It's got me rethinking my own behaviors and attitudes towards institutions I'm a part of, especially looking at moments where I've felt really betrayed and isolated but where once I told people about the problem they were really willing and eager to help fix it. I think the times when change hasn't happened have made me pessimistic and distrusting, but I don't need to be that way. I don't gotta bring that energy. If I'm bringing distrust to an interaction, that can become self-fulfilling, can't it? It's more compassionate to myself and others to trust and respect people enough to educate them about problems, believing that they will want to help fix them. And if they don't want to help, that's on them, not on me for writing them off without even trying.
I'm always telling people, it doesn't hurt to ask... So many times people assume the worst about others' actions when the other people don't even realize they created a problem for you and are willing to resolve it. Pessimistic thinking prevents a lot of people from achieving their full potential. Not saying that bad people and things don't exist, just that you can't assume everything is bad. 🤷🏽♀️
"do you or do you not want to propose the idea of possibly prohibiting an amendment to prohibit the prohibition of retail marijuana in which stores could prohibit the non prohibited substance to those who deem prohibition prohibited" i swear to god thats how the ballet was worded in colorado springs i wanted to cry, and every one i talked to was just as confused. a lady at the polls i talked to said she straight up googled it while filling out the ballot on election day.
this is fun but depending on your state you might not wanna be admitting to this in writing. i know for example where i am in michigan, you sign that you did not do this exact sort of thing on your mail in ballot
After watching this video, I had to look at how my state sorts names on the ballot. Apparently in Utah each letter of the alphabet is assigned a random number between 1 and 26 by a computer program. These numbers become the new alphabetical order. So if Z is assigned the number 3, it will be third in the alphabet. That way the order on the ballot is totally random and gets rid of some of that bias. This was super interesting. I would have never know this is your video didn't spike my curiosity. Thanks Hank!
Your state randomizes the order per-voter, right? Because if it's the same order for every voter, it's not eliminating the top-of-the-ballot advantage, it's just giving that advantage to one random candidate.
Greater/bigger problem is the two party system at large allowing taxation without representation, super delegates sidestepping votes and electoral colleges omitting third party and non partisan candidates and obscuring their capacity for being made to be in the awareness of the masses of the country. I am one who pushes for all candidates in all elections on all ballots so that everyone can look at all their options in all cases. As a non partisan i feel absolutely unrepresented in Senate and House of representatives because no third party presence is really there and Democrat and Republicans set fees for debates and everything else and they have corporate donors(which should also be illegal btw) to allow their entry fees to lock out other party candidates. In 2016 we had 7 people running for president in November but we only heard from 2 as per usual and that feels like an illusion of choice not actual choice.
I appreciate this Hank. I have been feeling really nihilistic & pessimistic. Not like conspiracy theory level but just feels like there’s so much bad everywhere I look and it’s all hopeless regarding positive change. A little bit of faith in humanity restored.
Also maybe I’m just stressed from all my math exams recently lol. Getting my math degree December though so if I see this again I’ll say if things really did get better 😂
@@Veroniquekky Wow! Yeah, getting a math degree and being near the end of it can be super stressful. I hope the rest of your degree goes as smoothly as it can and that we do get to participate in making some good things happen soon!
Technically I think that they are not federal elections, rather they are state elections of people to represent the voter at the federal gatherings: congress and the electoral college.
They aren't operating a federal election though! They're operating a state election and then letting the federal government know how it went.The people do not elect the president, the states do!
It's a weird relic of the fact that each state is told, "Okay, you get 2 senators, x number of House representatives, and x+2 Electoral College votes. You decide how you pick 'em, and just let us know who you picked!" It would be a really good idea to standardize it a little more than that.
@@NocturnalNick you forgot the "of America" part, just like the 2nd amendment people for get the "well-regulated militia" part. The states are united under the regulations of the federal government. Just like guns are regulated under militias.
My ballot also made me angry! But mine is for a whole different reason... I live in Ohio, and we are very gerrymandered. We already passed a law to ban it, but the law had no consequences, so the state decided to just ignore the law. This is when we put another ballot measure on that takes the power of map drawing away from the state... HOWEVER, the state got to determine how the amendment appeared on the ballot. They used this to write it as confusing as possible and long so no one could fully understand it or want to read it all. Issue 1 To create an appointed redistricting commission not elected by or subject to removal by the voters of the state Proposed Constitutional Amendment Proposed by Initiative Petition To repeal Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of Article XI, Repeal sections 1, 2 and 3 of Article XIX, And enact Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 of Article XX of the Constitution of the State of Ohio A majority yes vote is necessary for the amendment to pass. The proposed amendment would: 1. Repeal constitutional protections against gerrymandering approved by nearly three-quarters of Ohio electors participating in the statewide elections of 2015 and 2018, and eliminate the longstanding ability of Ohio citizens to hold their representatives accountable for establishing fair state legislative and congressional districts. 2. Establish a new taxpayer-funded commission of appointees required to gerrymander the boundaries of state legislative and congressional districts to favor either of the two largest political parties in the state of Ohio, according to a formula based on partisan outcomes as the dominant factor, so that: A. Each district shall contain single-member districts that are geographically contiguous, but state legislative and congressional districts will no longer be required to be compact; and B. Counties, townships and cities throughout Ohio can be split and divided across multiple districts, and preserving communities of interest will be secondary to the formula that is based on partisan political outcomes. 3. Require that a majority of the partisan commission members belong to the state's two largest political parties. 4. Prevent a commission member from being removed, except by a vote of their fellow commission members, even for incapacity, willful neglect of duty or gross misconduct. 5. Prohibit any citizen from filing a lawsuit challenging a redistricting plan in any court, except if the lawsuit challenges the proportionality standard applied by the commission, requirements pertaining to an incumbent elected official's residence, or the expiration of certain senators' terms, and then only before the Ohio Supreme Court. 6. Create the following process for appointing commission members: Four partisan appointees on the Ohio Ballot Board will choose a panel of 4 partisan retired judges (2 affiliated with the first major political party and 2 affiliated with the second major political party). Provide that the 4 legislative appointees of the Ohio Ballot Board would be responsible for appointing the panel members as follows: the Ballot Board legislative appointees affiliated with the same major political party would select 8 applicants and present those to the Ballot Board legislative appointees affiliated with the other major political party, who would then select 2 persons from the 8 for appointment to the panel, resulting in 4 panel appointees. The panel would then hire a private professional search firm to help them choose 6 of the 15 individuals on the commission. The panel will choose those 6 individuals by initially creating a pool of 90 individuals (30 from the first major political party, 30 from the second major political party, and 30 from neither the first nor second major political parties). The panel of 4 partisan retired judges will create a portal for public comment on the applicants and will conduct and publicly broadcast interviews with each applicant in the pool. The panel will then narrow the pool of 90 individuals down to 45 (15 from the first major political party; 15 from the second major political party; and 15 from neither the first nor second major political parties). Randomly, by draw, the 4 partisan retired judges will then blindly select 6 names out of the pool of 45 to be members of the commission (2 from the first major political party; 2 from the second major political party; and 2 from neither the first nor second major political parties). The 6 randomly drawn individuals will then review the applications of the remaining 39 individuals not randomly drawn and select the final 9 individuals to serve with them on the commission, the majority of which shall be from the first and the second major political parties (3 from the first major political party, 3 from the second major political party, and 3 from neither the first nor second major political parties). 7. Require the affirmative votes of 9 of 15 members of the appointed commission to create legislative and congressional districts. If the commission is not able to determine a plan by September 19, 2025, or July 15 of every year ending in one, the following impasse procedure will be used: for any plan at an impasse, each commissioner shall have 3 days to submit no more than one proposed redistricting plan to be subject to a commission vote through a ranked-choice selection process, with the goal of having a majority of the commission members rank one of those plans first. If a majority cannot be obtained, the plan with the highest number of points in the ranked-choice process is eliminated, and the process is repeated until a plan receives a majority of first-place rankings. If the ranked-choice process ends in a tie for the highest point total, the tie shall be broken through a random process. 8. Limit the right of Ohio citizens to freely express their opinions to members of the commission or to commission staff regarding the redistricting process or proposed redistricting plans, other than through designated meetings, hearings and an online public portal, and would forbid communication with the commission members and staff outside of those contexts. 9. Require the commission to immediately create new legislative and congressional districts in 2025 to replace the most recent districts adopted by the citizens of Ohio through their elected representatives. 10. Impose new taxpayer-funded costs on the State of Ohio to pay the commission members, the commission staff and appointed special masters, professionals, and private consultants that the commission is required to hire; and an unlimited amount for legal expenses incurred by the commission in any related litigation. If approved, the amendment will be effective 30 days after the election.
As soon as I saw that the very first line on the ballot said "removes protections" I knew it was set up to fail. It's one of the most dishonest things I've ever read.
earlier today i had to watch a crash course episode about atoms and answer questions about it. afterwords i had a very nice conversation with my science teacher about how nice hanks videos are and about how my science teacher and his wife (who is also a science teacher for a different school) very very happy when his cancer was treatable. i talked about how important vlogbrothers was for my sister is covid and i learned something new about my favorite teacher. the point is, thank you for making these videos and for bringing everyone closer together ❤️❤️
Also got my NY ballot this week. First time voting. It has a table of parties and elections and some squares have a name. So, both Trump and Harris are there twice, in some other races the candidate is in 3-4 squares. I am still shocked by this design choice. Hank, make a rabbit hole video about ballot designs!
See, _this_ is something I could get behind for a video. A confusing vote ballot format can absolutely be a well-deserved source of umbrage. Complaining about who gets top spot in a list that isn't hierarchical is as petty as it is pointless, because not only is it taking issue with a non-issue, it's creating an issue that ipso facto _no one_ is ever going to be happy with. Move the Democrats to the top, and the Republicans will be just as justified in being angry for being knocked down as the Democrats are now, which inevitably is going to devolve into endless arguments of: "If it's not a big deal, why did you change it?" "Why are you upset at us for what you claimed was an irrelevant change?" And frankly, we have plenty enough of that nonsense in politics and debate already.
This is a very unique NY thing! It's called fusion voting - where more than 1 party can nominate the same person, used to be much more common but now only hangs on in NY (and, incidentally, is probably why WFP is the only 3rd party that ever wins elections)
@@PeterDivine What? Have you... watched the video? You say it's a "non-issue", but Hank demonstrated that it indeed is an issue and affects voting behavior. You also imply there's no good solution for it, but Hank explained exactly what the solution to the issue was. Like that's literally the video. There was an issue, people identified the issue and came up with a solution, and then they worked to implement that solution. I'm honestly not sure what the point of your comment even is.
I find it funny that Hank talk about not wanting to say what district identical to know where he lived exactly but the district I live in is literally a quarter of my state
I think he's referring to an intersection of several partially overlapping districts election various offices Congressional districts, 100 state houde districts, 5 public service commission districts, perhaps several more local districts, it adds up.
I don't often brag, but I have not missed a single election, national, state, or local, since 1994, and I am rather proud of that fact. Voting may be the least effective form of civic service, but it is still our duty as Americans to participate in our wonderful multicultural experiment in democracy.
You should talk about how it’s voter oppression that today (Election Day) isn’t a federal holiday meaning many can’t vote 🥰 (I know we have mail in for some states and early voting but still)
I really appreciate that you had an assumption and then investigated. Thank you for being scientific. I think that that is what we’re having problems with in this world.
This actually reminded me to double-check where and when I'm going to vote. I'm just northwest of you in the province of British Columbia, and our provincial election is tomorrow. This was well timed.
@@al.kenzie Hopefully the seats stay where they are as the final counts are done. I like the idea of the Green party as the tie-breakers, to push the NDP in a more progressive direction.
My ballot also made me mad, but for different reasons. I'm tired of my ballots having me vote for my reproductive rights. When will women stop being treated like breeding chattel?? How many times can the polls show an overwhelming majority of the population wants the ability for a woman to make her own medical decisions, before we no longer ask the same damn question 20 different ways?!
Even for bipartisan choices, a vote of no confidence would save us from constantly moving the Overton window by picking the lesser evil. I want to be able to say 'neither options is acceptable. try again'
That would be great. The voting machine I used asked 3 times if I was sure I didn't want to cast a vote for some positions I left blank because there was only a conservative running for the position.
That's what not voting in spite of being eligible means. But, in practice, neither major party seems to recognize it as such and neither party is interested in going after those potential votes.
That’s pretty cool, this is my second year voting and thought it was weird that it was independents at the top of my ballot when last year it was the dem and rep nominee but this is cool information to know
That's so interesting! Kamala Harris was listed first on mine, and it did make me wonder why that was. I didn't think all the ballots were like mine, but didn't realize people did science about it. Love it.
As someone who was born and raised in small town Montana, it’s always cool to see my home state talked about… especially when it’s positive about something cool they do!
I work as an election judge in Minnesota and I have a lot more trust in the voting system than before: Early Voting the person who checks you in is NOT the person that gives you your ballot Special machines for visually impaired or people with motor skill issues (think how hard it would be to correctly fill in an op scan with Parkinson's). These laptops in a box print directly onto a standard ballot so they get counted just like anyone else's. Ballots are paper but are counted by op scan machines - a physical record still exists for recounts etc. Number of printed ballots sent to polling place = Ballots cast + spolied ballots + ballots left over. Spoiled ballots are typically people using Xs instead of filling in circles or double votes for the same race.
Neat! What concern is being addressed by having the check in and ballot person be different? It's that way in my area, but i thought it was just a traffic flow issue.
I live in republican Idaho, and while I’m independent, my political ideologies are much more right leaning than left. We currently are voting for or against a ranked voting system. It’s my opinion that having that system would actually weaken conservative condidates chances at the polls, but honestly, IDK. I rather have a voting system that more accurately shows what the public actually wants. Voting it may weakened the conservative votes in Idaho, but it would greatly strengthen it in liberal states and thus balance out for everyone. It would actually give 3rd parties much more ability to actually win too. We need that to help break up the 2-party system that runs the country.
@@a-liberal-patriot I’m definately not left leaning. Their policies and beliefs are destroying our country and society. I will never vote somebody that happily wants policy to kill the unborn, raise taxes which are already way too high so our government can get lazier and fatter, support sexual ideologies that degrade the nuclear family and personal identity, or support policy that reinforces peoples mental illness as a net good, etc. I am not left leaning. I just want people votes to be determined by the people, not corrupt political parties.
Fascinating! I ALSO think ranked choice is good because it'll give us a better understanding of what the public wants, but I would expect it to end up benefitting the left (where I am), which is greatly weakened in the current system by infighting. I suppose if we can both come up with reasons it'd benefit us it's more likely to be supported across the board :)
ok but isn't it dumb that there's an effect that benefits the top person at all? I can't fathom being like, "This first guy, he gets my vote. I can be bothered to vote but I can't be bothered to read the other names on the ballot." If they even read the first name at all.
The effect isn't as strong at the top of the ballot. There are tons of voters who show up knowing 1 or 2 top races and find there are 14 more state, local, judicial, and amendment/initiative questions on the ballot. A fair number just leave them blank, but based on what I've seen in dozens of elections in several states, lots more go down ballot checking off by party, or by name order, or perhaps name recognition, and name order ends up being a significant effect.
It might be that being higher up is an advantage over being lower down, rather than an advantage to only being at the top. If there are a lot of candidates and a lot of things to vote on, I can imagine some people reading the list until they get to a name that's similar to the candidate they want, not reading the whole list, and accidentally voting for the wrong person.
Don't forget some people show up to the polls still conflicted or undecided. If you've been unable to choose between candidates for months and show up, whoever shows up first on the piece of paper may be a swaying factor. I'm sure that's a lot less people than the other responses you've gotten so far, but I'm also sure it happens.
It wouldn't anyway; only rich people can afford campaigns. Average person has no time or money for that, so surprise the entire government is old rich people.
In North Carolina, one of the kids of a state election official pulls a letter out of a bingo cage then flips a coin determining the letter that starts the alphabet and what order the alphabet goes. This year the alphabet starts with D and goes forward (D, E, F, ....).
I work as an election judge in Minnesota. If you have doubts about the integrity of our elections, I *strongly* encourage you to volunteer as an election judge. When you learn about all of the checks and balances that are in the process to ensure that our elections are free and fair, your confidence in the process will grow.
Thanks for explaining this. I just voted by mail a few days ago and I was very confused as to why a candidate I'd never heard of from a party I'd never heard of was at the top of the ticket 😅
"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard." You've got this, my American friends. Stand up, speak out, be counted. There is more good in the world than there is evil, it's something the Star Wars prequels got right, evil is small in number but strong in power, good is great in number, but weak in power. I have enough American friends to know that "the man who would be king" does not represent your nation, or it's gloriously diverse, multicultural, peoples. Stand up, speak out, be counted. You have *got* this
@@mgancarzjr OP supposes nothing. OP is merely aware that Trump has never won the popular vote thus far, and that was *before* he: attempted a self-coup; was adjudged to have assaulted, and repeatedly defamed, E Jean Carrol; his company was adjudged to have committed multiple acts of fraud against the people of New York; was tried and convicted of 34 felonies; was discovered to have willfully retained some of the nation's most sensitive national defence documents, and left them laying around in a bathroom, and even intentionally showing them to unauthorised people; repeatedly bragged about being responsible for overturning Row; repeatedly said he would be "a dictator on day one"; repeatedly maligned, and disrespected, the entirety of the US military, and their families; and at this point, I'm too tired to continue. Could Trump take the White House? Of course it's possible, the aggressive attempts to interfere with vote counting, inserting poll "watchers", and all manner of other schemes, could see the unthinkable happen. But defeatism, and negativity, about things like elections tends to dissuade people from action, and when it is literally a matter of life and death for some of the most vulnerable in society, each and every voice matters. So no, OP supposes nothing, OP believes that there is more kindness, than there is cruelty, in this world, because OP is desperate for a reason to continue drawing breath. What OP will feel if Trump wins, OP doesn't know, because OP cannot observe their future self. However, after a year of pain, misery, and deep overwhelming grief, OP makes a calculated guess that OP will have become too emotionally distraught to feel much of anything anymore. OP hopes that this response answers your query to your satisfaction, because OP won't be engaging with this particular comment thread any further.
@@lunafoxfire I'm British, moreover I am English, as such I stand in something far too greenhouse-like to be hurling chunks of geology at any other nation.
I think part of the issue is that too many things are hard anymore when they should be simple and easy. It's impossible to get away from and I think it's got everyone exhausted by now. But yes please vote, I have already done so.
I highly recommend voting by mail! The best part of voting by mail is that unexpected circumstances don't prevent you from voting. Four years ago, I was horribly sick with COVID. My husband had to call the board of elections the day before elections, take the required documents to obtain a form for me to sign to request a ballot, take the form back so they could give him my ballot, bring the ballot for me to fill out and then take my ballot back. This year, my MIL is in the hospital and not anticipated to be discharged by election day. Thankfully, she had requested a mail in ballot so we were able to get her ballot from her house, take it to the hospital, and popped it in the mail today!
My dad has a medical procedure out of town on election day. Thankfully the appointment was scheduled enough in advance that I could help him sign up for an absentee ballot.
I wonder, would you support the U.S. adopting a French-style election system? Where there is a national holiday, all paper ballots, and results hand-counted by the end of the night?
@@bakerboat4572 At first blush, no. First point of order: the vast, vast majority of US voters vote on paper. There are only a handful of exceptions. I do not understand this obsession with moving towards paper ballots - we use paper ballots. To the election day, in person only aspect, I am not a policy maker, but I am skeptical a one-size-fits-all option ever truly fits all. Across the US there is vast diversity in population density and infrastructure that require tailored approaches to voting. For example, a county in Arizona has a polling place location at the bottom of the Grand Canyon (really). This of course leaves out the matter of varied election calendars across state and local municipalities - it is only once every other year the entire US casts a ballot for Federal races on the same day. Early and mail voting, are safe, convenient, and increase access for voters. It is complicated, and smart people are working to make it better all the time. Scrapping it for a solution that does not solve the present problems is no solution.
@@bakerboat4572 I don't think many people would have an issue with that as most of the complaints stem from not being able to get to the polls on time due to either work or other obligations. One thing you have to account for is that, the system we currently have isn't anything new as its been used for many election cycles and is secure. A concern one would have with dismantling our current system is the increased logistical effort needed to remove every option but paper ballot voting for a population of 300,000,000+ in comparison to Frances 60,000,000+ population.
I am still astonished to see, how complicated the voting in America is. Here in Czechia, every adult citizen is also automatically an elligible voter. No registration, no voter suppression. Ballots get delivered to every citizen by mail, or you can just ask for replacement ones in the voting room after you show your ID.
I wish this was how it worked here, though I don't know if such a system could work at scale, as the Czech Republic is about the size of just one state in the US. Perhaps if every state handled it individually? I hate the closed primary system we use too, because the registration thing is more of a process of choosing which party you want to vote for in the primaries, to determine who the party will run as their nominee.
"Here in Czechia, every adult citizen is also automatically an elligible voter." Easy peasy, once you've decided on your borders and what to call the nation. ;-)
See, as a voter in PA, when I got my ballot and saw Democrats were all on the tops of the lists, my first thought was “oh boy, I’m sure this will be a talking point…”
I have almost no faith or trust in my local election board or the US Post office in my district. The polls ran out of paper last year so the votes couldn't be printed (nor counted). 2 years ago my ballot was apparently lost and when I went to vote I had to fill out a provisional ballot and they weren't counted because of some clerical or representative absences until after the deadline. This year the election manager had to be sued because she thought it would be too "insecure'' to put the drop boxes out. There were only 4 in this very large NE PA county, but as of now there are (as far as I know) only 2 in place... a long drive for many who would use the mail in ballots. I did get my ballot this year and I started getting reminders on my phone to send it in even before I got the ballot. But honestly I'm flummoxed about what to do. We only have one day for in-person voting here in PA and I'd like to mail it but I want to make sure it's counted. Unless I show up at the poll on election day, there seems not way to do that.
@@SomeoneBeginingWithI I think when you hand in your ballot they either take the ballot or they give you a provisional ballot. I didn't get a receipt. My problem is that my polling place is 5 miles away and in early November the weather is as iffy in this area as my transportation. I will check into that though. If I have to drive into the city center - that's 15 miles.
@@nellies-taekook-journalsin my SE PA county, they take your paper ballot on election day. provisional would be if you'd requested paper but never received it.
Wow, that's actually a good way to do it. My state has a list of "here's the order of the letters of the alphabet that all candidates will be sorted by for all races this election" and they randomize that order every election. But it does mean that for a given election, whatever order that randomization creates causes *every* ballot that election statewide to be in that order. Maybe this time it has "Candidate A" first - for everyone.
It is hard to put such faith in politicians when you hear about gerrymandering and voter suppression. I live next to the Georgia line. Hear about their wait time and how it is illegal to distribute water is scary. It has never taken me more than an hour to vote. Still vote, trust me.
For an example of people organizing about ballot order this year, look at New Jersey's "county line" system for primaries. A relic of the political machine days, whomever an obscure group of county party officials decided to endorse in each race would be listed first, and all in one column as if they were all running on one ticket. So if the incumbent president was running for reelection, then all of the county party's favored candidates would be listed under the president, and all of their disfavored candidates would be listed under the president's challenger. Obviously super unfair and enough people finally tuned in and were fed up about it that it was abolished just a few months ago.
I also live in your town and wondered about the order, which seemed somewhat random (Tester was first but Harris was in the middle). Thanks for the explainer! i already verified that our mailed ballots were received!
Thanks for this! See it actually made me curious about how my state chose the order of candidates, I have discovered it’s basically chosen via a bingo machine and coin flip
100% sure that this video originated with Hank getting SO excited about a potential hit tweet, then stopping himself and fact-checking first. Good job, buddy.
On uk ballot papers all the candidates have a picture of their party logo next to them, and the name of their party, so it's easy to find the one you want. Candidates are always in alphabetical order. You're right that is a type of bias, but it also maximises ease to find your candidate, and it's easy for everyone to know the order hasn't been interfered with.
In the Netherlands we elect parties proportionally, and the party lists are ordered based on performance in the previous election of the same type, and any parties that didn't participate yet get assigned a place at the end through a lottery system. Within each party list, the candidates are listed in an order determined by the party itself. You vote for a specific person, but when counting, your vote is initially considered as a vote for the party, which is used to assign seats to the parties, and then secondarily, the votes for each individual get counted, and all candidates who make it above a certain threshold of these preferential votes get priority in getting one of their party's seats (in order of number of votes), and then any remaining party seats are given to the remaining candidates of the party in list order. If we ranked parties alphabetically, it would just result in there being an advantage in calling your party AAAAAAAA or something like that. The system you described would work better (there could technically be a slight edge if the total number of ballots isn't divisible by the number of parties, but it would be minimal, our record for parties participating is 37, meaning you could at most get 36 extra ballots if you're listed first compared to those listed last, on a total number of ballots of over 13 million), but I still don't see it working here. People are used to seeing the ballot listed based in the order from last elections, parties often also advertise their list number to help their voters easily find them, which would become more difficult with a system like that. And many actually consider it quite fair that popularity in previous elections allows being listed first, whereas new and obscure parties get listed at the end. People also get send an example of the list to help them select in advance who they wish to vote for, but as you wouldn't know who will receive which version of the ballot (unless you're compromising voter anonymity, which is a vital part of the election integrity), you'd make it much more difficult for people to find their preferred candidate. And listing the individuals within a party list alphabetically makes even less sense with the system we have, as the whole point is that parties can list their most favoured candidates higher on their own list. And mixing all candidates from all parties and then alphabetically would just be utter chaos.
To be fair, people who fill out surveys are self-evidently fond of voting
An excellent point...
Yes
It's soo fun to fill out surveys though😂 voting isn't that fun cause you feel like you're deciding the fate of the whole world while at the same time having next to no power at all. In surveys you're usually asked about youself your opinions or your behaviours... that's way easier. Still both are worth doing
Triple confirmation bias
The only way we will know for sure is if we send out a survey of people who already filled out the last survey
I love how Hank protects himself from people knowing where he lives but sells that poor guy named Sample Ballot down the river
Except in Montana there is barely over a million people and not alot of population centers.
It's cool; there's a ton of people named Sample Ballot in America. No way to tell which one of them this is.
Hahahaha!
For privacy's sake let's call him, Sample B. No, that's too obvious, let's say S. Ballot.
😊@@ryanwalsh5019
People have gotten genuinely mad at me (a poll worker) because their guy wasn't at the top of the ballot. I think it was the primary, too? I'm like "it's random, bro. chill"
Thank you for being a poll worker!
God Bless your soul.
That’s a logical reaction. Bold. I guess you could randomize every ballot.
Also you wouldn’t control it, lol
Missoula County voter here. I was wondering why RFK Jr was the top Presidential candidate on my ballot, and couldn't make heads or tails on the candidate order. thank you Hank, I never knew this!
😂😂 that is a weird one
To infinity and beyond, the number increasing rapidly the further one gets from Missoula, Montana.
Oregon ballot is the same.
It's tripy, even in Cali RFK Jr still didn't have time to get off the ballet. It litterly led to a law suit between RFK Jr's Campaign and some states.
Hasn't he dropped out?
The point about conspiracy theories being based on a lack of *trust* rather than a lack of information is a pretty significant point to make. I suppose the question is how to regain trust in the systems worth trusting
I also think some people refuse to trust the people and systems working on information
@@jesterca159 True. Which, as a library professional, makes trying to get the right information to such people very difficult.
Paper ballots only, counted by hand. One day voting. No mail-in ballots. Not that hard.
@@streglof that makes it a lot more difficult for people that work long shifts, disabled people who may only be able to vote by mail, or people without transportation to get to the polls. Everyone should have the right to vote.
@@JustineEPhotography but let's agree with them with the paper ballot part - I could imagine that generally there is more trust in a paper ballot that one marks by their own hand vs. a computer system that could be manipulated digitally. But hand counting... no. That's absurd. Computers can count, people can verify.
I don't usually click on titles like this b/c they feel like click-bait, and generally turn out to be exactly what you said you 'could' have done : just be inflammatory about something b/c you didn't trust people enough to find out the truth.
But you have a brand.. that brand is trustworthy, reliable and measured. So I trusted you, and was not disappointed.
I live in Montana too. When you started the video saying Kamala was at the bottom, I thought: Wait, no, she's not. She was second on my ballot! And then you explained why. Thanks.
i had the same exact thought process 😂
HELG97 confirmed
I’m in Nevada and she was at the bottom of mine too! (I 100% noticed and did a quick 👀) but didn’t think about it further. This is so interesting!
Feel like we should list "no opinion" first. Because people do not read the part of the ballot that says "if you don't know just leave it empty" and instead just mark the first choice
Really? Do people just mark a candidate instead of skipping the section when they don't have a preference?
It would be interesting to see if having "no opinion" listed first would negate the advantage of candidate order, though.
Isn't spoiling your ballot a thing in the US?
My sister told me this year she was just gonna mark random for the local non partisan races and I was like “please god no, you know you can just leave that part blank right?”
This in Canada one of the things that bothers me is that it's so difficult to spoil a ballet without it being detected as an "accidental" issue which they flag. There should always be, "No opinion" and finally a "I disagree with all parties listed" as a separate vote and it should be tabulated and released in the final number. If40% of the voters think neither party is good but still vote for their least hated one it should be known.
@@myladycasagrande863 It's honestly more surprising to me that someone would assume this isn't happening all the time.
Okay but like, can we stop and talk about how crazy it is that a name being 1st has that big of an affect on the results?! It's scary how many people have no idea what is going on and just vote for whatever is on top.
exactly my thought
I think it's less that people are blindly thinking, and more that some people are undecided and a candidates name placement could tip the scales, consciously or unconsciously
My sibling in Christ you have to register to vote you don’t just stumble into a booth and they throw a paper at you
I convinced a friend to vote, then after asked who they picked, and they said "oh I just picked randomly"
My hypothesis is that, assuming this study was done during the old system, people had a natural inclination to vote for the first choice because that was who was currently in power and they didn't mind things as they were / didn't want change.
If only 90% of the election content people saw was this balanced
I know...I was really hoping for a title and thumbnail that would make this one take off but alas, it's normal!!
If only 90% of voters would choose policy over emotion, we wouldn’t have the most spectacular crap foisted on us every four years. Also, Citizens United is problematic.
@@danf1862 thats never been anything but a dumb take.
@@wesleywyndam-pryce5305 bot detected.
@@wesleywyndam-pryce5305what makes it a dumb take?
It seems pretty reasonable to me. Aside from maybe being idealistic¿
Here in Texas you're only allowed a mail-in ballot if you're disabled, a senior citizen, or will be out of the county. Everyone else has to go vote in person. I always, always, always vote early to avoid the long lines. This year I'm voting Monday, the first day that early voting opens.
OMG I am also in Texas, you've inspired me to be your twin and try to vote on Monday! I'm getting my voting plan in order
@@theyxaj Yay, we're voting twins!!
I vote early, but not the first day of early voting because lines are long then too. Texas voter here as well.
@@aina3387 I live in a smaller town (6000 population) so the lines aren't ever bad during early voting. Heck, election day might not be too bad here either, but I don't want to chance it. I also don't want to chance something happening to keep me from voting, so better to get it out of the way as soon as possible.
@@HappilyCarnivore Plus, it's such a relief that nothing can persuade your vote after it's cast!
My first year voting! Voted by mail! Loved it!!!
Only wish they could have sent me an "I voted sticker!"
Also had all of my Dems were also at the bottom! Joked with my roommate about it being a trap!😂
You didn't have one in your ballot envelope? I got one when I did an absentee ballot.
You can print one for yourself. You deserve it!
They didn’t give you one? Mine always includes a sticker!
It's clearly a conspiracy that you didn't get one when everyone else obviously do ‼
Kudos to Hank for prudentially protecting his location but at the same time... doesn't Hank occupy like 5% of the MT population??😅
In a small state it is indeed the case that districts are very small!!
Hank's vote counts more than the average American. Usually unfortunate but in this case, I trust Hank to represent us.
(small state) - The American West is very weird.
@@vlogbrothers i am sensing a winking emoji is due. How many northeastern states would fit in your congressional "district"?
@@Amberpawn Small state by population, not landmass.
im voting for the first time tomorrow!! im not in a swing state, so i did a whole lot of research on my local candidates. im so excited!
Good for you! Informed voting is so important.
@@ksbrook1430 Agreed! Don't just get your information from legacy media, which is full of propaganda. Do your own research and utilize common sense. TRUMP/VANCE 2024!
I’m super excited for you! My first time voting was in a non-presidential year but I was still thrilled to have a say and vote locally. You’re doing important work ❤
@@daniellebelisle2446 thats still so important if not more important! love it
Yay!💙
I feel a little overwhelmed and depressed after the results of the election. I'm not necessarily sure what I should be doing but everywhere I see online is so defeated. It's like they all lost their fight overnight. I don't know where to go from here.
even though I don't agree I still see it. people voted for Trump because under Biden inflation is horrible (I'm in California, $9 for a gallon of milk) and even though it's mostly not his fault people think blue = inflation bc of him
I think Trump isn't a good person but I think he's better than kamala, regardless of what I think, it's only 4 years.
sorry for rambling, long story short I hope you feel better man
thoughts and prayers
Organize and fight for what you think is right, politics are about more than just voting every four years
The will of the people >>>trumped
@@Vegetable-Jesuswhere tf is milk $9 a gallon??
@NaNAule nice pun
Just googled it - in Virginia, it’s whichever candidate completes filing first.
That's how it is in Colorado. But I haven't checked in awhile.
@@LisaAxford interesting, as a resident of colorado
Maybe THIS should be covered
In NC its literally bingo. I shit you not.
@LisaAxford I thought CO was lot drawing. Turns out primaries are lot and generals are a LOT more convoluted. President is alphabetical by last name and the rest of the open positions are put into 3 tiers with each tier undergoing a lottery system... there is definitely a better way to do this.
It is incredibly hard for some people to know who to trust. Frankly, I am so tired of having to fact check every word that people say. It makes holiday gatherings a nightmare.
This is why, in our house, we make alcohol an integral part of every family gathering. 😎
@@bjkarana Brilliant. 😂
Epistemic Overload...
@vlogbrothers can you explain this? I'm having a hard time finding a good definition.
There is also a way of just chatting of what we think, and fact checking only if it's actually critical piece of info. There will be mistakes, but there's freedom and tranquility in not having to be right all the time. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, and we are not supposed to put anyone in a high pedestal, to believe them over everyone else, anyway.
Family gatherings should be a place of warmth and trust. If something said keeps bothering us after, we can always fact check in our own time xD
You know what makes me irrationally angry? When there's only one candidate on the ballot for a given position.
Hank, I appreciate so much the curiosity you attempt to instill in people. Instead of saying, “huh, there’s a thing and now it’s just a thing I attach my biases and assumptions to,” you actually indulge the curiosity and ask why it’s a thing. Thank you. It is hard to try and get people to think like this but you and John do such a wonderful job of trying to teach it and I’m grateful.
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Thank you Hank! As a former elections manager in Michigan I have weekly head slap moments over the rhetoric consuming our election conversation. Thank you for being fair and fun!
It sure is great being lectured on how to run elections by people who have no understanding of election law and have never worked in elections, isn’t it?
Hope you know your state's AG cannot change the VA and SBA offices to places of voter registration, as she is doing and being sued right now over.
@@superduck6456 Wd know corruption when we see it. The SE of Michigan is corrupt. Always has been.
@@bakerboat4572do you need a whaaaambulance, pumpkin?
@@superduck6456 crazy how you don't seem to trust nor like the citizens of the country these "elections managers" serve.
I turned 18 in October, I’m very excited to be voting this year!
Huzzah!
Being that my initials are D.A., I was always first on any list. First on the rolls in school. I got badge number 001 when I was hired at a newly constructed business. I'm always first. Should I run for office? Wait. I missed the point of the video.
ZW here and I always had the opposite experience lol, always at the back of the classroom
@@Kazzzackand the crappiest school books!
David Archuleta? I loved you on American Idol. You should run for office!
Gotta go with something like Aaron Aaronson to maximise the alphabetical advantage.
@@OneEyeShadow it is an Ad last name...
This made me look back at my mail in ballot and I also noticed that republicans are all listed first (even right leaning candidates in non partisan races were listed first). I decided to google Florida’s policies and actually the policy is to list the party of the governor first which seems a little unfair. For the non partisan races the policy is to list them alphabetically and in an astonishing coincidence all of the right leaning non partisan candidates in my district happen to just be first alphabetically
Oh Florida 😞
I just came here to comment on this. I recently read an article about bias in elections and learned that people on the top of the ballot have a 1 to 2 percentage point advantage (yeah, there are people who, all things being equal, will vote for who is listed first). This was long suspected, but actual evidence now supports it. So, When George W. Bush won the extremely close election for the presidency back in 2000, with all the drama caused by the 'hanging chads' and the Supreme Court getting involved, in FLORIDA, which held the key to who won that year, and where the party who's governor is in power determines whose name goes first on the ballot? Who was governor of Florida at the time? JEB Bush.
So, because of the undeniable unfairness that was a deliberate part of the system, so much is different from what it would have been otherwise. I realize that that's a true statement much of the time, bit it's not usually so specific. Talk about granular.
Wow Florida.... That's shameful. Thanks for looking. That's very interesting
Texas does this, too, ordering parties by their rank in the previous gubernatorial election (so it applies to more than just first place). This gives us Republicans first, then Democrats, then Libertarians, then Greens. This is also how we report our official election results, so if you look at results from the 1994 election or before, Democrats will be listed first.
I tried to look up ours (Wisconsin) but can't seem to settle on the correct search terms.
Damn this is a very eye opening video, which was something I wasn't expecting.
It's easy to complain about something when you don't understand it and don't trust it. But it isn't right if you don't actually research it. And it's even worse if you ignore conflicting research and continue believing what you did.
This is a huge issue we're facing with so many Americans questioning our election integrity because they've been told not to trust the process and don't know everything about how it works.
In NC we decide ballot order through a bingo ball and a coin flip! Bingo ball that says which letter to start with and coin flip to decide alphabetical or reverse alphabetical order from there.
that seems like such a jaunty way to do it! I love the things people come up with
Wild...our way is better!!!
Don't y'all have a nonpartisan state election board? Easiest way to deflect criticism
@@youtubewatcher2 In the US, having a political position be actually nonpartisan is a pipe dream. It's the reason why there's gerrymandering.
@@leadpaintchips9461 there is gerrymandering because most states have redistricting done by legislatures. Maryland and North Carolina are the most extreme examples. The state election board monitors the conduct of elections not redistricting.
This election Wisconsin voters have a neutral state map for the first time in 30 years. Ohio has an initiative to establish a nonpartisan commission.
You legit made my day! I pulled a sample ballot (in Ohio, so yeah - red) and Kamala was on the bottom. I was a bit snarky about it when I saw it but after watching this video I did the quick google search and what do you know, our candidates shift by one in each precinct too! Thank you for making this NOT a conspiracy.
I'm in Arkansas (a red state) and all Democrats were first in all categories
Wait until you read Ohio issue 1 where the ballot language does not match the actual text on the bill. And yet somehow a judge approved it.
Interesting; I early voted in Mahoning County on Thursday, and Trump was at the bottom of my electronic ballot. Never realized the names shifted.
I've seen a bunch of these for Trump too. Imo when both sides are mad that means we have a system that works.
It's also a pretty good example of how perception bias can make thing look more conspiratorial. In this case, seeing your preferred candidate at or near the bottom is a lot more likely to set off alarm bells than if you see your preferred candidate at or near the top. The second group is unlikely to think much about or even notice the listed order. Which means the online conversation about the topic is going to be composed almost entirely of people who are predisposed to thinking there was something "weird" about the way the names are listed. With a severe lack of opposing voices on the issue, it then becomes much much easier for people to jump to conspiracies, especially if they are also already distrustful of the system.
This was my first time voting or rather my first time I was able to vote. Today I found out that regardless of my vote Trump became president. Surprisingly it has not made me mad or salty but I'm more determined than ever to do my part in making America better. More than anything we need to stick together and show that regardless of what happens, win or lose, there is no reason not to fight for what you believe it.
In Australia, we have compulsory voting, so randomising the order of the candidates is even more important, since when disengaged people are forced to vote, they will often do what we call a "donkey vote" and fill in the ballot 1234 etc. 😅
Why should people be forced to vote? It's supposed to be the responsibility of the politicians and political parties to earn the votes. If nobody earns the vote, then the voter shouldn't have to vote at all.
The reason why so few people vote in the US, isn't because it's hard, or inconvenient, you see low voter turnout even in states like mine where the ballot literally shows up in the mailbox along with relevant guides to help understand the various items on the ballot. And, you can then either just slip it in the mail with no stamp required or drop it off at one of the many locations. And we still have low turnouts because the parties and the candidates aren't promising the things that the voters want, and when they do, they aren't following through on it. Forcing the people who aren't voting to vote, just makes the system even less reliable.
@@SmallSpoonBrigadeyou can always spoil a ballot. You have to turn up to vote in Australia, you don’t have to give back a validly filled out ballot.
its an interesting setup - there in Aus. What penalties are applied if people just don't bother? Do cops show up or what.
Ordering in 1234 isn't actually a donkey vote, donkey votes are invalid. 1234 is a valid vote
@@cameronmurieIt's a relatively small fine if you can't come up with an excuse that the electoral commission will waive it for. Generally the system means that there has to be an ease of voting to make fining people fair
I got my ballot yesterday, and in Utah there's a person on the ballot for President whose name is "Justin Case." I had to Google it to make sure it was real. 😅
Ha! Who's his running mate? Janeva Knowes! HA!
😄
Running for the Carmen Sandiego Party, I assume.
I live that you referred to Lucifer "Justin Case" Everylove as the part of his name in quotes.
I actually got curious about how my state orders their candidates after this - apparently we do it by the party of the sitting governor! That was weird and wacky to find out lol.
Great to hear that >90% of American Nerdfighters vote. We're counting on you
Or 90% of American nerdfighters who answer surveys vote, which could be very different. Naturally, the kind of person who has filled the survey likes ticking boxes on a piece of paper more than someone who ignored it.
@@Fiasko- Ha, good point
@@Fiasko-so many people neglect survivorship bias
You're assuming that all Nerdfighters vote the same way?
I can’t imagine anyone who is for reducing the cost of tuberculosis testing, is fascinated by science, is passionate about donating money to all kinds of charitable causes and is against book bans as being a supporter of anyone but Kamala Harris in this race. And if you don’t like that kind of content, I honestly don’t know what you’re doing watching this channel!
I live in a red state that borders Montana and when I opened my mail-in ballot 2 days ago, I was SHOCKED to see Harris's name listed first. I can't recall that ever happening before. This - or something a lot like it - must be the reason why.
What made it even more shocking is that there are no less than NINE candidates for Pres on my ballot. I've only heard of 5 of them.
I have 8 on my ballot, also shocked me, and I was also frustrated to see one of them is obviously not a real person and didn’t even have a VP listed. Makes it harder to be confident in these kind of things when shenanigans like that make it through.
On my ballot in Michigan I have 8, including 2 tickets with no party affiliation. We also still have RFK Jr. even though he doesn't want to run any more because instead of going as an independant the Natural Law Party nomined him and it is illegal for candidates nominated via party conventions to withdraw in Michigan.
@Random3716 RFK's still on mine as well. I'm just not sure of the particulars in my state regarding candidates when it comes to inclusion vs omission vs removal. There are FIVE Independent candidates, one Dem, one Rep, one Libertarian, one Constitution, and a blank for Write-In.
@@RaeCarson Many states will still have RFK, Jr. still on their ballots for a simply reason: he withdrew AFTER the ballots were printed.
That may not seem like a big deal at first, after all just reprint the ballots... until you realize just how much extra cost gets added if you have to reprint all of the ballots. Also, that money isn't coming from a political campaign but government tax dollars. I can think of a lot of things I'd rather tax dollars go to than reprinting a bunch of ballots because one guy backed out of an election.
Mine has 6 (plus a 7th spot for “Write-In”) and I know about all but 1 of them, but then I follow 3rd party politics more than most people do.
Mochary v. Caputo (1985) tackled the issue. Nicholas Caputo was Essex County Clerk in New Jersey, responsible for drawing "random lots" that would determine which party got the preferred placement for their slate of candidates that managed to selected his own party 40 out of 41 times. Local Republicans filed a law suit alleging that Caputo was fixing the drawing based on the sheer mathematical improbability (1 in 53 billion), but failed to catch how he was doing it; ultimately the NJ Superior Court found that a pattern being extremely unlikely is not evidence of wrongdoing, which has been an important precedent.
lol, he thinks we don't know where he lives.
in our hearts silly!
+
Hopefully not the LITERAL heart
@@N3rdfightermom _Someone_ needs to keep my atria and ventricles contracting in the proper sequence. I've got way too much to do to keep that going all by myself!
Thanks Hank! 💚
+
@@falleithani5411so he is a content creator AND a pacemaker?? What a hustler
As a foreigner who was always curious about the form of US ballots, you have completely made my day. I wish you could show more types, and the different types of elections in any givem Estate. Thank you VERY, VERY much! ❤
There are a lot of options and it's one of the reasons why the Secretary of State is often such an important office, they're usually the ones that are involved with running the elections and making the statewide decisions.
Around here we get a scantron style ballot where you fill in the bubbles to indicate your vote. You can then X that out if you made a mistake and mark a different one. They generally pre-process the ballots to the point where they can turn the machines on the moment the clock hits 8pm and the voting closes. Although, that mostly means that you're no longer allowed to put ballots into the collection bins and you needed to have a postmark by then as virtually nobody votes in person any more unless they need assistance.
Thats an important distinction you made about conspiracys. When falsehoods clog up the drain then are removed their essence lingers. Brains are funny like that sometimes. Even after learning the truth the falsehood can be difficult to delete from your experience.
As a Canadian, the way American elections are run is probably the most different seeming thing between our two countries
How do Canadian elections work?
@@verdant_warlock the provincial, federal, and municipal elections are all separate on different days entirely. They're administered by Elections Canada, a federal non partisan agency that isn't part of the executive branch. The ballots are very standardized, and are designed with hand counting in mind although municipal and maybe now provincial elections do have electronic readers for counting as it goes into the physical ballot box (but it's still designed for an additional hand count if the results are close or contested)
Seeing massive lineups even for early voting in the US when I've never even seen a line of more than 4 people at a day-of polling station... yikes.
@@toin9898 I've had to line up at a maximum of 30 minutes to vote on election day, but that's been not common at all, usually there's no lineup
@@joshuahillerup4290 Small correction: the provinces and smaller jurisdictions have their own election authorities as well for their local elections.
Elections Canada just handles federal elections.
(AAA Towing) and (A1 tax services) knew being first in the phone book would give you a huge bump in business... The meta doesn't change, just the forum that it is held in.
Multiple studies have shown, those are interested in voting are those are activity engaged in politics, whether they are left wing or right wing. And those who are engaged in politics are often those who have more radical or stronger views. Meaning most people don’t vote especially if they hold less extreme views, even when the outcome will still affect them.
Simple fix to this - force everyone in your country to vote. We have that system in Australia, where if you don’t vote you get a fine. It works well, I don’t understand why America doesn’t have that
Australia is going downhill fast though, so I don't think the US should take the example of a Chinese colony
I personally dont think we should. Im center left and hate both Democrats and Republicans so i dont vote. Forcing me to is just gonna tick me off and probably make me form some anarchist militia because I hate this 2 party bs that much. Alot of citizens hold similar views to mine where both parties are just terrible and unfortunately because of the electoral college you cant vote for a better small party because it would only go to democrat or Republican. Itd be more likely to start a civil war than actually fix anything.
coming from someone who has a conspiracy theorist dad, i have made this comment on its connection to a lack of trust in anything. really great to see hank's perspective on this 💙
My dad goes down this road sometimes and Hank's comment makes a ton of sense. Your mind can find "evidence" for just about anything if you let it.
@@thedemotivationalspeaker3090 I'm not denying your argument but if you trust everything it's easy for them to fool you.
@@MrBurnsExcellent Of course, but evidence for any claim needs to be reasonable.
I really appreciate you calling out the impact of lack of trust. It's got me rethinking my own behaviors and attitudes towards institutions I'm a part of, especially looking at moments where I've felt really betrayed and isolated but where once I told people about the problem they were really willing and eager to help fix it. I think the times when change hasn't happened have made me pessimistic and distrusting, but I don't need to be that way. I don't gotta bring that energy. If I'm bringing distrust to an interaction, that can become self-fulfilling, can't it? It's more compassionate to myself and others to trust and respect people enough to educate them about problems, believing that they will want to help fix them. And if they don't want to help, that's on them, not on me for writing them off without even trying.
I'm always telling people, it doesn't hurt to ask... So many times people assume the worst about others' actions when the other people don't even realize they created a problem for you and are willing to resolve it. Pessimistic thinking prevents a lot of people from achieving their full potential.
Not saying that bad people and things don't exist, just that you can't assume everything is bad. 🤷🏽♀️
"do you or do you not want to propose the idea of possibly prohibiting an amendment to prohibit the prohibition of retail marijuana in which stores could prohibit the non prohibited substance to those who deem prohibition prohibited" i swear to god thats how the ballet was worded in colorado springs i wanted to cry, and every one i talked to was just as confused. a lady at the polls i talked to said she straight up googled it while filling out the ballot on election day.
My two roommates and I called a friend and had a ballot filling out party last night! Happy voting y’all!
I love this for all of you! Happy voting! I am having my ballot filling out party this weekend, I think!
Oh that’s a GREAT IDEA! Ballot Filling Out Party🎉~!
this is fun but depending on your state you might not wanna be admitting to this in writing. i know for example where i am in michigan, you sign that you did not do this exact sort of thing on your mail in ballot
After watching this video, I had to look at how my state sorts names on the ballot. Apparently in Utah each letter of the alphabet is assigned a random number between 1 and 26 by a computer program. These numbers become the new alphabetical order. So if Z is assigned the number 3, it will be third in the alphabet. That way the order on the ballot is totally random and gets rid of some of that bias.
This was super interesting. I would have never know this is your video didn't spike my curiosity. Thanks Hank!
That's fascinating! Thanks for sharing!
huh, that seems like a good way to do it, good job Utah!
Oregon does it basically this way too. Special randomized alphabetical order for every election.
Your state randomizes the order per-voter, right? Because if it's the same order for every voter, it's not eliminating the top-of-the-ballot advantage, it's just giving that advantage to one random candidate.
@@takatamiyagawa5688 probably per district
Greater/bigger problem is the two party system at large allowing taxation without representation, super delegates sidestepping votes and electoral colleges omitting third party and non partisan candidates and obscuring their capacity for being made to be in the awareness of the masses of the country. I am one who pushes for all candidates in all elections on all ballots so that everyone can look at all their options in all cases. As a non partisan i feel absolutely unrepresented in Senate and House of representatives because no third party presence is really there and Democrat and Republicans set fees for debates and everything else and they have corporate donors(which should also be illegal btw) to allow their entry fees to lock out other party candidates. In 2016 we had 7 people running for president in November but we only heard from 2 as per usual and that feels like an illusion of choice not actual choice.
I appreciate this Hank. I have been feeling really nihilistic & pessimistic. Not like conspiracy theory level but just feels like there’s so much bad everywhere I look and it’s all hopeless regarding positive change.
A little bit of faith in humanity restored.
Also maybe I’m just stressed from all my math exams recently lol. Getting my math degree December though so if I see this again I’ll say if things really did get better 😂
@@Veroniquekky Wow! Yeah, getting a math degree and being near the end of it can be super stressful. I hope the rest of your degree goes as smoothly as it can and that we do get to participate in making some good things happen soon!
@@Veroniquekkyyou're almost there! You got this!
For me it had the opposite effect, knowing that just being listed first on the ballot gives you a 5% advantage is disheartening
So weird to think that each state can choose how they want to operate a federal election.
Technically I think that they are not federal elections, rather they are state elections of people to represent the voter at the federal gatherings: congress and the electoral college.
They aren't operating a federal election though! They're operating a state election and then letting the federal government know how it went.The people do not elect the president, the states do!
It's a weird relic of the fact that each state is told, "Okay, you get 2 senators, x number of House representatives, and x+2 Electoral College votes. You decide how you pick 'em, and just let us know who you picked!" It would be a really good idea to standardize it a little more than that.
@@trickvro I mean, it's in the name of the country, I don't know that it's a weird relic
@@NocturnalNick you forgot the "of America" part, just like the 2nd amendment people for get the "well-regulated militia" part. The states are united under the regulations of the federal government. Just like guns are regulated under militias.
My ballot also made me angry!
But mine is for a whole different reason... I live in Ohio, and we are very gerrymandered. We already passed a law to ban it, but the law had no consequences, so the state decided to just ignore the law. This is when we put another ballot measure on that takes the power of map drawing away from the state... HOWEVER, the state got to determine how the amendment appeared on the ballot. They used this to write it as confusing as possible and long so no one could fully understand it or want to read it all.
Issue 1
To create an appointed redistricting
commission not elected by or subject to
removal by the voters of the state
Proposed Constitutional Amendment
Proposed by Initiative Petition
To repeal Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and
10 of Article XI,
Repeal sections 1, 2 and 3 of Article XIX,
And enact Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
11 and 12 of Article XX of the Constitution of
the State of Ohio
A majority yes vote is necessary for the
amendment to pass.
The proposed amendment would:
1. Repeal constitutional protections against
gerrymandering approved by nearly
three-quarters of Ohio electors participating in
the statewide elections of 2015 and 2018, and
eliminate the longstanding ability of Ohio citizens
to hold their representatives accountable for
establishing fair state legislative and
congressional districts.
2. Establish a new taxpayer-funded commission
of appointees required to gerrymander the
boundaries of state legislative and congressional
districts to favor either of the two largest political
parties in the state of Ohio, according to a
formula based on partisan outcomes as the
dominant factor, so that:
A. Each district shall contain single-member
districts that are geographically contiguous, but
state legislative and congressional districts will
no longer be required to be compact; and
B. Counties, townships and cities throughout
Ohio can be split and divided across multiple
districts, and preserving communities of interest
will be secondary to the formula that is based on
partisan political outcomes.
3. Require that a majority of the partisan
commission members belong to the state's two
largest political parties.
4. Prevent a commission member from being
removed, except by a vote of their fellow
commission members, even for incapacity, willful
neglect of duty or gross misconduct.
5. Prohibit any citizen from filing a lawsuit
challenging a redistricting plan in any court,
except if the lawsuit challenges the
proportionality standard applied by the
commission, requirements pertaining to an
incumbent elected official's residence, or the
expiration of certain senators' terms, and then
only before the Ohio Supreme Court.
6. Create the following process for appointing
commission members: Four partisan appointees
on the Ohio Ballot Board will choose a panel of 4
partisan retired judges (2 affiliated with the first
major political party and 2 affiliated with the
second major political party). Provide that the 4
legislative appointees of the Ohio Ballot Board
would be responsible for appointing the panel
members as follows: the Ballot Board legislative
appointees affiliated with the same major political
party would select 8 applicants and present
those to the Ballot Board legislative appointees
affiliated with the other major political party, who
would then select 2 persons from the 8 for
appointment to the panel, resulting in 4 panel
appointees. The panel would then hire a private
professional search firm to help them choose 6
of the 15 individuals on the commission. The
panel will choose those 6 individuals by initially
creating a pool of 90 individuals (30 from the first
major political party, 30 from the second major
political party, and 30 from neither the first nor
second major political parties). The panel of 4
partisan retired judges will create a portal
for public comment on the applicants and will
conduct and publicly broadcast interviews with
each applicant in the pool. The panel will then
narrow the pool of 90 individuals down to 45 (15
from the first major political party; 15 from the
second major political party; and 15 from neither
the first nor second major political parties).
Randomly, by draw, the 4 partisan retired judges
will then blindly select 6 names out of the pool of
45 to be members of the commission (2 from the
first major political party; 2 from the second
major political party; and 2 from neither the first
nor second major political parties). The 6
randomly drawn individuals will then review the
applications of the remaining 39 individuals not
randomly drawn and select the final 9 individuals
to serve with them on the commission, the
majority of which shall be from the first and the
second major political parties (3 from the first
major political party, 3 from the second major
political party, and 3 from neither the first nor
second major political parties).
7. Require the affirmative votes of 9 of 15
members of the appointed commission to create
legislative and congressional districts. If the
commission is not able to determine a plan by
September 19, 2025, or July 15 of every year
ending in one, the following impasse procedure
will be used: for any plan at an impasse, each
commissioner shall have 3 days to submit no
more than one proposed redistricting plan to be
subject to a commission vote through a
ranked-choice selection process, with the goal of
having a majority of the commission members
rank one of those plans first. If a majority cannot
be obtained, the plan with the highest number of
points in the ranked-choice process is
eliminated, and the process is repeated until a
plan receives a majority of first-place rankings. If
the ranked-choice process ends in a tie for the
highest point total, the tie shall be broken
through a random process.
8. Limit the right of Ohio citizens to freely
express their opinions to members of the
commission or to commission staff regarding the
redistricting process or proposed redistricting
plans, other than through designated meetings,
hearings and an online public portal, and would
forbid communication with the commission
members and staff outside of those contexts.
9. Require the commission to immediately create
new legislative and congressional districts in
2025 to replace the most recent districts adopted
by the citizens of Ohio through their elected
representatives.
10. Impose new taxpayer-funded costs on the
State of Ohio to pay the commission members,
the commission staff and appointed special
masters, professionals, and private consultants
that the commission is required to hire; and an
unlimited amount for legal expenses incurred by
the commission in any related litigation.
If approved, the amendment will be effective 30
days after the election.
This makes it see like
“Oh you don’t want gerrymandering?”
“It’ll cost you!!”
As soon as I saw that the very first line on the ballot said "removes protections" I knew it was set up to fail. It's one of the most dishonest things I've ever read.
earlier today i had to watch a crash course episode about atoms and answer questions about it. afterwords i had a very nice conversation with my science teacher about how nice hanks videos are and about how my science teacher and his wife (who is also a science teacher for a different school) very very happy when his cancer was treatable. i talked about how important vlogbrothers was for my sister is covid and i learned something new about my favorite teacher. the point is, thank you for making these videos and for bringing everyone closer together ❤️❤️
Also got my NY ballot this week. First time voting. It has a table of parties and elections and some squares have a name. So, both Trump and Harris are there twice, in some other races the candidate is in 3-4 squares. I am still shocked by this design choice. Hank, make a rabbit hole video about ballot designs!
See, _this_ is something I could get behind for a video. A confusing vote ballot format can absolutely be a well-deserved source of umbrage.
Complaining about who gets top spot in a list that isn't hierarchical is as petty as it is pointless, because not only is it taking issue with a non-issue, it's creating an issue that ipso facto _no one_ is ever going to be happy with. Move the Democrats to the top, and the Republicans will be just as justified in being angry for being knocked down as the Democrats are now, which inevitably is going to devolve into endless arguments of:
"If it's not a big deal, why did you change it?"
"Why are you upset at us for what you claimed was an irrelevant change?"
And frankly, we have plenty enough of that nonsense in politics and debate already.
Have you seen the West Wing episode where Donna accidentally votes for the republican? So relatable
Vote Working Familes. Keep "third parties" on the ballot
This is a very unique NY thing! It's called fusion voting - where more than 1 party can nominate the same person, used to be much more common but now only hangs on in NY (and, incidentally, is probably why WFP is the only 3rd party that ever wins elections)
@@PeterDivine What? Have you... watched the video?
You say it's a "non-issue", but Hank demonstrated that it indeed is an issue and affects voting behavior. You also imply there's no good solution for it, but Hank explained exactly what the solution to the issue was. Like that's literally the video.
There was an issue, people identified the issue and came up with a solution, and then they worked to implement that solution. I'm honestly not sure what the point of your comment even is.
I find it funny that Hank talk about not wanting to say what district identical to know where he lived exactly but the district I live in is literally a quarter of my state
I think he's referring to an intersection of several partially overlapping districts election various offices Congressional districts, 100 state houde districts, 5 public service commission districts, perhaps several more local districts, it adds up.
Thank you for articulating that point about conspiracy theories, I think it helped me find a new way to reality check my OCD symptoms.
I don't often brag, but I have not missed a single election, national, state, or local, since 1994, and I am rather proud of that fact. Voting may be the least effective form of civic service, but it is still our duty as Americans to participate in our wonderful multicultural experiment in democracy.
Ooo that's wonderful! Way to go!
You have been voting exactly my entire life. Thank you 💙
You should talk about how it’s voter oppression that today (Election Day) isn’t a federal holiday meaning many can’t vote 🥰 (I know we have mail in for some states and early voting but still)
I really appreciate that you had an assumption and then investigated. Thank you for being scientific. I think that that is what we’re having problems with in this world.
This actually reminded me to double-check where and when I'm going to vote. I'm just northwest of you in the province of British Columbia, and our provincial election is tomorrow. This was well timed.
And we still don't have a result...
@@al.kenzie Hopefully the seats stay where they are as the final counts are done. I like the idea of the Green party as the tie-breakers, to push the NDP in a more progressive direction.
My ballot also made me mad, but for different reasons. I'm tired of my ballots having me vote for my reproductive rights. When will women stop being treated like breeding chattel?? How many times can the polls show an overwhelming majority of the population wants the ability for a woman to make her own medical decisions, before we no longer ask the same damn question 20 different ways?!
I really want a “no confidence” choice especially when there is only one option.
Agreed. It's not enough just to leave it blank.
Even for bipartisan choices, a vote of no confidence would save us from constantly moving the Overton window by picking the lesser evil. I want to be able to say 'neither options is acceptable. try again'
That would be great. The voting machine I used asked 3 times if I was sure I didn't want to cast a vote for some positions I left blank because there was only a conservative running for the position.
That's what not voting in spite of being eligible means. But, in practice, neither major party seems to recognize it as such and neither party is interested in going after those potential votes.
@@Scarfgirl exactly my thoughts lol
I voted in the first day of early voting in NC yesterday!
way to go!!
That’s pretty cool, this is my second year voting and thought it was weird that it was independents at the top of my ballot when last year it was the dem and rep nominee but this is cool information to know
That's so interesting! Kamala Harris was listed first on mine, and it did make me wonder why that was. I didn't think all the ballots were like mine, but didn't realize people did science about it. Love it.
Thank you Hank and John for all you do
Now the fight to have voters who are not swayed by the order on the ballot.
As someone who was born and raised in small town Montana, it’s always cool to see my home state talked about… especially when it’s positive about something cool they do!
I’m not even American I can’t even vote but this was very entertaining for some reason
Everyone likes a good circus 😬
As a fellow Montanan, this also restored some of my faith in the voting system! Thanks!
I work as an election judge in Minnesota and I have a lot more trust in the voting system than before:
Early Voting
the person who checks you in is NOT the person that gives you your ballot
Special machines for visually impaired or people with motor skill issues (think how hard it would be to correctly fill in an op scan with Parkinson's). These laptops in a box print directly onto a standard ballot so they get counted just like anyone else's.
Ballots are paper but are counted by op scan machines - a physical record still exists for recounts etc.
Number of printed ballots sent to polling place = Ballots cast + spolied ballots + ballots left over. Spoiled ballots are typically people using Xs instead of filling in circles or double votes for the same race.
As a former auditor I appreciate the controls.
Neat! What concern is being addressed by having the check in and ballot person be different? It's that way in my area, but i thought it was just a traffic flow issue.
@@geeksdo1tbetter I wasn't told but I guessed it was so they can't give you a "special" ballot that's already filled out or something
I live in republican Idaho, and while I’m independent, my political ideologies are much more right leaning than left. We currently are voting for or against a ranked voting system.
It’s my opinion that having that system would actually weaken conservative condidates chances at the polls, but honestly, IDK. I rather have a voting system that more accurately shows what the public actually wants. Voting it may weakened the conservative votes in Idaho, but it would greatly strengthen it in liberal states and thus balance out for everyone.
It would actually give 3rd parties much more ability to actually win too. We need that to help break up the 2-party system that runs the country.
that's super cool
You are right. (said the left-leaning independent) If only...
@@a-liberal-patriot I’m definately not left leaning. Their policies and beliefs are destroying our country and society. I will never vote somebody that happily wants policy to kill the unborn, raise taxes which are already way too high so our government can get lazier and fatter, support sexual ideologies that degrade the nuclear family and personal identity, or support policy that reinforces peoples mental illness as a net good, etc.
I am not left leaning. I just want people votes to be determined by the people, not corrupt political parties.
Fascinating! I ALSO think ranked choice is good because it'll give us a better understanding of what the public wants, but I would expect it to end up benefitting the left (where I am), which is greatly weakened in the current system by infighting. I suppose if we can both come up with reasons it'd benefit us it's more likely to be supported across the board :)
"even though it's hard, it's worth making it more fair" THIS
ok but isn't it dumb that there's an effect that benefits the top person at all? I can't fathom being like, "This first guy, he gets my vote. I can be bothered to vote but I can't be bothered to read the other names on the ballot." If they even read the first name at all.
The effect isn't as strong at the top of the ballot. There are tons of voters who show up knowing 1 or 2 top races and find there are 14 more state, local, judicial, and amendment/initiative questions on the ballot. A fair number just leave them blank, but based on what I've seen in dozens of elections in several states, lots more go down ballot checking off by party, or by name order, or perhaps name recognition, and name order ends up being a significant effect.
It might be that being higher up is an advantage over being lower down, rather than an advantage to only being at the top. If there are a lot of candidates and a lot of things to vote on, I can imagine some people reading the list until they get to a name that's similar to the candidate they want, not reading the whole list, and accidentally voting for the wrong person.
Don't forget some people show up to the polls still conflicted or undecided. If you've been unable to choose between candidates for months and show up, whoever shows up first on the piece of paper may be a swaying factor. I'm sure that's a lot less people than the other responses you've gotten so far, but I'm also sure it happens.
if voting posed bo risk to the ruling class they wouldn't do voter suppression.
It wouldn't anyway; only rich people can afford campaigns.
Average person has no time or money for that, so surprise the entire government is old rich people.
voting threatens stability, but can not depose the rulers on its own.
In North Carolina, one of the kids of a state election official pulls a letter out of a bingo cage then flips a coin determining the letter that starts the alphabet and what order the alphabet goes. This year the alphabet starts with D and goes forward (D, E, F, ....).
I work as an election judge in Minnesota. If you have doubts about the integrity of our elections, I *strongly* encourage you to volunteer as an election judge. When you learn about all of the checks and balances that are in the process to ensure that our elections are free and fair, your confidence in the process will grow.
Except not all are secure. Noone believes these elections have 0% fraud
Thanks for explaining this. I just voted by mail a few days ago and I was very confused as to why a candidate I'd never heard of from a party I'd never heard of was at the top of the ticket 😅
Im in WA, a blue state. Democrats are always listed first.
"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard." You've got this, my American friends. Stand up, speak out, be counted. There is more good in the world than there is evil, it's something the Star Wars prequels got right, evil is small in number but strong in power, good is great in number, but weak in power. I have enough American friends to know that "the man who would be king" does not represent your nation, or it's gloriously diverse, multicultural, peoples. Stand up, speak out, be counted. You have *got* this
Wow it is honestly unexpectedly very nice to hear someone being sympathetic towards americans rather than making fun of them
@@lunafoxfirethat's because OP supposes Harris will win both the popular and electoral vote.
Will OP maintain the same attitude if Trump wins both?
@@mgancarzjr OP supposes nothing. OP is merely aware that Trump has never won the popular vote thus far, and that was *before* he: attempted a self-coup; was adjudged to have assaulted, and repeatedly defamed, E Jean Carrol; his company was adjudged to have committed multiple acts of fraud against the people of New York; was tried and convicted of 34 felonies; was discovered to have willfully retained some of the nation's most sensitive national defence documents, and left them laying around in a bathroom, and even intentionally showing them to unauthorised people; repeatedly bragged about being responsible for overturning Row; repeatedly said he would be "a dictator on day one"; repeatedly maligned, and disrespected, the entirety of the US military, and their families; and at this point, I'm too tired to continue. Could Trump take the White House? Of course it's possible, the aggressive attempts to interfere with vote counting, inserting poll "watchers", and all manner of other schemes, could see the unthinkable happen. But defeatism, and negativity, about things like elections tends to dissuade people from action, and when it is literally a matter of life and death for some of the most vulnerable in society, each and every voice matters. So no, OP supposes nothing, OP believes that there is more kindness, than there is cruelty, in this world, because OP is desperate for a reason to continue drawing breath. What OP will feel if Trump wins, OP doesn't know, because OP cannot observe their future self. However, after a year of pain, misery, and deep overwhelming grief, OP makes a calculated guess that OP will have become too emotionally distraught to feel much of anything anymore. OP hopes that this response answers your query to your satisfaction, because OP won't be engaging with this particular comment thread any further.
@@lunafoxfire I'm British, moreover I am English, as such I stand in something far too greenhouse-like to be hurling chunks of geology at any other nation.
I think part of the issue is that too many things are hard anymore when they should be simple and easy. It's impossible to get away from and I think it's got everyone exhausted by now. But yes please vote, I have already done so.
I highly recommend voting by mail! The best part of voting by mail is that unexpected circumstances don't prevent you from voting. Four years ago, I was horribly sick with COVID. My husband had to call the board of elections the day before elections, take the required documents to obtain a form for me to sign to request a ballot, take the form back so they could give him my ballot, bring the ballot for me to fill out and then take my ballot back. This year, my MIL is in the hospital and not anticipated to be discharged by election day. Thankfully, she had requested a mail in ballot so we were able to get her ballot from her house, take it to the hospital, and popped it in the mail today!
My dad has a medical procedure out of town on election day. Thankfully the appointment was scheduled enough in advance that I could help him sign up for an absentee ballot.
I like see my vote being cast irl just to be sure there was no tampering.
I would love to go out and vote on Tuesday, but I can't.
Since I already voted early on Thursday.
And this is how we get smarter. Thank you for this information and explaining it in a way that not only makes sense, but can easily educate others.
I work in elections and I say on behalf of all of us who are trying to make this system work as best as possible - thank you!!
I wonder, would you support the U.S. adopting a French-style election system? Where there is a national holiday, all paper ballots, and results hand-counted by the end of the night?
@@bakerboat4572 At first blush, no. First point of order: the vast, vast majority of US voters vote on paper. There are only a handful of exceptions. I do not understand this obsession with moving towards paper ballots - we use paper ballots. To the election day, in person only aspect, I am not a policy maker, but I am skeptical a one-size-fits-all option ever truly fits all. Across the US there is vast diversity in population density and infrastructure that require tailored approaches to voting. For example, a county in Arizona has a polling place location at the bottom of the Grand Canyon (really). This of course leaves out the matter of varied election calendars across state and local municipalities - it is only once every other year the entire US casts a ballot for Federal races on the same day. Early and mail voting, are safe, convenient, and increase access for voters. It is complicated, and smart people are working to make it better all the time. Scrapping it for a solution that does not solve the present problems is no solution.
@@bakerboat4572 I don't think many people would have an issue with that as most of the complaints stem from not being able to get to the polls on time due to either work or other obligations. One thing you have to account for is that, the system we currently have isn't anything new as its been used for many election cycles and is secure. A concern one would have with dismantling our current system is the increased logistical effort needed to remove every option but paper ballot voting for a population of 300,000,000+ in comparison to Frances 60,000,000+ population.
I so appreciate the way you slow down and look more closely before you decide to fire up the internet outrage machine. Thank you, Hank.
That was a remarkably even-handed presentation of an election story. Hard to find even-handedness anywhere these days.
I am still astonished to see, how complicated the voting in America is. Here in Czechia, every adult citizen is also automatically an elligible voter. No registration, no voter suppression. Ballots get delivered to every citizen by mail, or you can just ask for replacement ones in the voting room after you show your ID.
That is so much easier!
I wish this was how it worked here, though I don't know if such a system could work at scale, as the Czech Republic is about the size of just one state in the US. Perhaps if every state handled it individually? I hate the closed primary system we use too, because the registration thing is more of a process of choosing which party you want to vote for in the primaries, to determine who the party will run as their nominee.
Very similar here in the Netherlands. If you're an eligible voter you get sent your voting pass. That & your valid ID lets you vote.
"Here in Czechia, every adult citizen is also automatically an elligible voter."
Easy peasy, once you've decided on your borders and what to call the nation. ;-)
We wish ID was a requirement for voting, but that is racist and bad supposedly.
See, as a voter in PA, when I got my ballot and saw Democrats were all on the tops of the lists, my first thought was “oh boy, I’m sure this will be a talking point…”
Overseas voter here. Already did my part and voted last week! Real fast and simple. No excuses ;)
I absolutely love that the brothers start their streams saying good morning to one another.
I have almost no faith or trust in my local election board or the US Post office in my district. The polls ran out of paper last year so the votes couldn't be printed (nor counted). 2 years ago my ballot was apparently lost and when I went to vote I had to fill out a provisional ballot and they weren't counted because of some clerical or representative absences until after the deadline. This year the election manager had to be sued because she thought it would be too "insecure'' to put the drop boxes out. There were only 4 in this very large NE PA county, but as of now there are (as far as I know) only 2 in place... a long drive for many who would use the mail in ballots. I did get my ballot this year and I started getting reminders on my phone to send it in even before I got the ballot. But honestly I'm flummoxed about what to do. We only have one day for in-person voting here in PA and I'd like to mail it but I want to make sure it's counted. Unless I show up at the poll on election day, there seems not way to do that.
Do you have the option to hand in your postal ballot at the polling station on election day?
@@SomeoneBeginingWithI I think when you hand in your ballot they either take the ballot or they give you a provisional ballot. I didn't get a receipt. My problem is that my polling place is 5 miles away and in early November the weather is as iffy in this area as my transportation. I will check into that though. If I have to drive into the city center - that's 15 miles.
@@nellies-taekook-journalsin my SE PA county, they take your paper ballot on election day. provisional would be if you'd requested paper but never received it.
Wow, that's actually a good way to do it. My state has a list of "here's the order of the letters of the alphabet that all candidates will be sorted by for all races this election" and they randomize that order every election.
But it does mean that for a given election, whatever order that randomization creates causes *every* ballot that election statewide to be in that order. Maybe this time it has "Candidate A" first - for everyone.
If you're in NC, only assuming because we do something similar based on bingo and coin tosses, it happens to be candidate D first this year
Wow, I just assumed that any remotely civilized voting system randomized the order of candidates on the ballot, per-voter.
I strongly believe in the power of voting. But the past three elections it has just felt like I've been selling my soul to the devil.
It is hard to put such faith in politicians when you hear about gerrymandering and voter suppression. I live next to the Georgia line. Hear about their wait time and how it is illegal to distribute water is scary. It has never taken me more than an hour to vote. Still vote, trust me.
For an example of people organizing about ballot order this year, look at New Jersey's "county line" system for primaries. A relic of the political machine days, whomever an obscure group of county party officials decided to endorse in each race would be listed first, and all in one column as if they were all running on one ticket. So if the incumbent president was running for reelection, then all of the county party's favored candidates would be listed under the president, and all of their disfavored candidates would be listed under the president's challenger. Obviously super unfair and enough people finally tuned in and were fed up about it that it was abolished just a few months ago.
Sounds like Union bosses may have been involved...
Kamala was the first option in mine and that's who i voted for ❤
I also live in your town and wondered about the order, which seemed somewhat random (Tester was first but Harris was in the middle). Thanks for the explainer! i already verified that our mailed ballots were received!
Happily already submitted my mail-in ballot!
Thanks for this! See it actually made me curious about how my state chose the order of candidates, I have discovered it’s basically chosen via a bingo machine and coin flip
and no, I *dont* live in Vegas….. though I kinda hope Nevada does something very similar 😂 rolling the dice for candidate order is a very Vegas thing
Nope…. Nevada does names via alphabetical order😞
100% sure that this video originated with Hank getting SO excited about a potential hit tweet, then stopping himself and fact-checking first. Good job, buddy.
On uk ballot papers all the candidates have a picture of their party logo next to them, and the name of their party, so it's easy to find the one you want. Candidates are always in alphabetical order. You're right that is a type of bias, but it also maximises ease to find your candidate, and it's easy for everyone to know the order hasn't been interfered with.
That is how they do it in South Africa. You can see the name of the party, logo and the person
We do this in survey-based research! Its called counterbalancing. We randomize the order of the questionnaires for each participant
50 seconds in: did they finally implement randomized batches mailed out randomly
Oh!! I just looked at my ballet and I think Colorado does this too!
In the Netherlands we elect parties proportionally, and the party lists are ordered based on performance in the previous election of the same type, and any parties that didn't participate yet get assigned a place at the end through a lottery system.
Within each party list, the candidates are listed in an order determined by the party itself.
You vote for a specific person, but when counting, your vote is initially considered as a vote for the party, which is used to assign seats to the parties, and then secondarily, the votes for each individual get counted, and all candidates who make it above a certain threshold of these preferential votes get priority in getting one of their party's seats (in order of number of votes), and then any remaining party seats are given to the remaining candidates of the party in list order.
If we ranked parties alphabetically, it would just result in there being an advantage in calling your party AAAAAAAA or something like that.
The system you described would work better (there could technically be a slight edge if the total number of ballots isn't divisible by the number of parties, but it would be minimal, our record for parties participating is 37, meaning you could at most get 36 extra ballots if you're listed first compared to those listed last, on a total number of ballots of over 13 million), but I still don't see it working here.
People are used to seeing the ballot listed based in the order from last elections, parties often also advertise their list number to help their voters easily find them, which would become more difficult with a system like that. And many actually consider it quite fair that popularity in previous elections allows being listed first, whereas new and obscure parties get listed at the end.
People also get send an example of the list to help them select in advance who they wish to vote for, but as you wouldn't know who will receive which version of the ballot (unless you're compromising voter anonymity, which is a vital part of the election integrity), you'd make it much more difficult for people to find their preferred candidate.
And listing the individuals within a party list alphabetically makes even less sense with the system we have, as the whole point is that parties can list their most favoured candidates higher on their own list.
And mixing all candidates from all parties and then alphabetically would just be utter chaos.