In lieu of actual results
In another chapter of “making things difficult”, yesterday was the first of the primaries in the US. Now, I don’t exactly understand the process, but it sounds like a small, intimate election. Which leaves a whole nation wondering why there are no published results (as of late this afternoon).
A quick recap of the process. In the beginning, people would gather together and show support for a candidate. Sometimes, an audible “Aye” was sufficient. In larger venues, people would raise their hand (one hand) and then someone with the rudiments of counting would do the analysis. A winner would emerge, in almost all cases. As time progressed, the idea of having people mark small pieces of paper was instituted, because it allowed counting AND recounting. Clarity.
In fact, we still use this system up here in the great white North. We call them ballots, and the kinks have been worked out, unless Alice takes one of the boxes home and forgets to tell the others. Or the postal system drops the box off in another area completely. Stuff happens.
But, for whatever reason, some places are given to complicating the process. They use machines, or telephone tallies, or other mysterious systems that can delay the actual results. And, down in Iowa, they’re in for the long haul.
Here’s the glitch. In the absence of actual tallies, a made-up surrogate called “exit polls” allow candidates to assume a win (and announce the news to the news). Yesterday, one candidate called the results in his favour before the actual election. Another brought in a team of lawyers, because justice. The richest one just shrugged off the whole game and announced that he was going to invest huge sums in advertising before any other “primary” takes place.
I’m watching, because I want to unravel the secret behind this whole pageant. Keep following. And because new news can’t be ignored, one candidate is now declared to be “leading”, almost a day after the polls closed. Without all the ballot numbers tallied.
This afternoon, the family tree database moved on past the 92K mark.
