4 ms·

> As the results were being released, FairVote noticed issues specifically related to how to count a second- or third-choice vote if the voter did not select a

> As the results were being released, FairVote noticed issues specifically related to how to count a second- or third-choice vote if the voter did not select a first choice. Ballots with blank spots in ranked-choice races are considered “suspended.” > The Alameda County registrar explained that if a voter didn’t select a candidate as first choice, then the second choice should have been counted as the first choice in the first round. The same would occur in subsequent rounds moving lower choices up into the empty slot. Did they not have a unit test for this?! Now I'm curious how many unit tests they have, and what they cover. Shouldn't the software be public too? If voting machines are here to stay, the public ought to be able to see what code they're supposed to be running, no?

toast0 4y ago
> Shouldn't the software be public too? Eh? The inputs to the software need to be public and accurate, and then the public can run their own interpretations of the algorithms and yell when things aren't right. I'm assuming that's what FairVote, the organization mentioned in the article as alerting the county registrar, did.
heavyset_go 4y ago
> Shouldn't the software be public too? If voting machines are here to stay, the public ought to be able to see what code they're supposed to be running, no? You'd hope so, but governments just contract out to companies that build the machines and software, and those machines and software remain proprietary IP of the companies that built them.