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Topologists tackle the trouble with poll placement
- oldpersonintx 3y ago[dead]
- klyrs 3y ago> Porter notes that mathematicians have had success using sophisticated mathematical techniques to quantify gerrymandering, the deliberate skewing of legislative districts. If only politics followed science, and not partisan loyalties!
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- alkonaut 3y agoA simple hack used elsewhere is to simply open for voting in select locations a few weeks earlier. If 1/4 or a 1/2 of voters already voted the queues will be much smaller. Another simple hack is to ensure it’s a Sunday so more people can vote throughout the day and don’t need to vote outside of work hours. Or let’s vote everyone all at once on a Tuesday and try to solve the queue problem with…math.
- reidjs 3y agoOr better yet, have the majority of people vote by mail and make it easier for everyone.
- pulisse 3y agoIf a jurisdiction is reducing the number of election day polling places in an area, they're also going to reduce opportunities to vote in other ways. An egregious example is Houston, where there is now one (1) place to drop off early ballots in a county of 4 million people.
- klyrs 3y agoSpoiler: disenfranchisement is tactical. If serving all voters was a shared goal, we'd find it extremely easy.
- mlazos 3y agolol or just use mail! Done!
- stronglikedan 3y agoBanned in so many countries because it's rife for abuse, yet somehow people think it's a safe option in a country as big as the US.
- ok_dad 3y agoCitation needed. For all the claims of massive voter fraud, I’ve seen about three convictions in the news. I certainly haven’t seen evidence of massive fraud in the many, many states that allow mail in voting.
- gotoeleven 3y agoIt is very difficult if not impossible to catch fraudulent mail in votes. The rules surrounding mail-in and absentee ballots seem like they're actually designed to make fraud easier (ie ballot harvesting).
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- gus_massa 3y agoHere in Argentina in some places we had "chain voting" (Spanish) https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraude_electoral#:~:text=Voto%20cadena https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraude_electoral#:~:text=Voto%... autotranslation> Chain vote, allows the purchase of votes, the first one who enters to vote, puts another envelope (not the authorized one, but any one). That vote will probably be contested, but they take the valid envelope with them. Then he inserts a ballot from his party into it and closes it tightly, then he can organize a chain of votes making sure that they are in his favor, even if there is a dark room. He offers each person a reward if they bring the empty envelope in exchange for taking the full envelope. Frequently used in low-income areas where political leaders organize the chain. It's a lot of work to avoid the checks of voting in person. Without those checks it's too easy to force or pay someone to vote for a party and verify it 100%.
- bigbillheck 3y agoIt's hard to solve social problems (intentional voter disenfranchisement) with technological solutions.
- JohnVideogames 3y agoI love persistent homology; it's such a weirdo bit of maths that topologists keep trying to make useful. Similarly its bigger cousin, Topological Data Analysis, which as far as I can tell is used by people who love weirdo maths but also want to be paid. I don't see how much good the persistent topology adds here, though. Why bother to do the abstract birth-death diagram and measure the variance in lifetime of these simplices, when the variance and median of the areas in the Voronoi diagram will give you a much easier and more interpretable result?
- vouaobrasil 3y ago> I don't see how much good the persistent topology adds here, though. Why bother to do the abstract birth-death diagram and measure the variance in lifetime of these simplices, when the variance and median of the areas in the Voronoi diagram will give you a much easier and more interpretable result? Well, my personal feeling as someone who has published math papers is that there is a bit of a pressure in mathematics to continually do things in new ways, even if they are not the best ways of doing things. Topological data analysis seems to be of that sort. Of course, there could be debate here...but I do think that a lot of mathematics has gone past the point of diminishing returns when it comes to its usefulness or even artistic elegance as an abstract art of the intellect. Yet, the show must go on I suppose.
- xanderlewis 3y ago> a lot of mathematics has gone past the point of diminishing returns when it comes to its usefulness or even artistic elegance as an abstract art of the intellect. This reads like a quote from 200 years ago.
- vouaobrasil 3y agoJust because something might have been incorrect 200 years ago does not mean it is not correct now. At some point, the false claims of diminishing returns will turn out to be true. It is foolishness to believe in an infinite supply of wealth from anything, including scientific research.
- dmckeon 3y agoIn my opinion, wait times for voters of more than 30 minutes should be grounds for civil suit or impeachment of the election officials responsible. Other variables of interest would include voter dwell time - the time it takes for one voter to cast their ballot - and the likelihood of machine malfunction, whether from inadequate preparation or maintenance, or from active sabotage by voters. Worst case is a polling place with minimal staff, fragile and antiquated machines, and a high proportion of impatient, frustrated, or angry voters. The procedure for repair of machines (never use the word "fixed" during an election) is to mark the machine as out of order, call the elections office, and begin a long wait. For non-Americans, note that US general elections typically involve 2 or 3 dozen contests, so marking paper ballots just for one party or another is not an effective option in the US.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- codeflo 3y agoI'm sorry, but as evidenced by literally the rest of the world, voting wait times are not a research-level mathematics problem, but purely one of resources. Census data and a tiny bit of queuing theory (or alternatively, historical data) will tell you the peak load of a voting booth. Staff accordingly, problem solved.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- lupire 3y agoThis is a gimmick to draw pretty pictures. A simple geo plot is enough to identify and visualize locations with long wait times.
- larodi 3y agoThere’s an article in GIS for science, (vol 2 I think) by ESRI press which tells the story of students in certain US school using ArcMap to analysis polling stations accessibility, density and distribution. High School Students. Very insightful book and article, recommended.